Cerro Prieto

Cerro Prieto, called Wee Ñaay or “Dark Hill” in Cocopah, is a volcano in Baja California, Mexico, southeast of Mexicali. It sits in an active rifting zone in the northern Gulf of California region, where the earth’s crust is being pulled apart. The volcano stands on a spreading center connected to the East Pacific Rise and aligned with the Imperial Fault and Cerro Prieto Fault, all part of the system gradually separating the Baja California peninsula from mainland Mexico. This tectonic activity also created a major geothermal field beneath the volcano, whose heat is used to generate electricity at the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station.

Baja California · Mexico