S P Crater

S P Crater is a cinder cone volcano in the San Francisco volcanic field about 25 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Rising 820 feet above the surrounding landscape, it is paired with a dark lava flow extending roughly 4.3 miles north from the same vent. Its basaltic andesite cone and agglomerate rim have helped preserve its notably fresh form. Although the exact sequence of the cone and lava flow has been debated, newer optically stimulated luminescence dating places the eruptions around 6,000 to 5,500 years ago, much younger than earlier unreliable estimates. The crater is also known for the Old West origin of its name and for later use in astronaut moonwalking training.

Arizona · United States