![]() Red Mountain rises about 1,000 feet above the surrounding landscape, and its crest is at 7,965 feet elevation. ![]() ![]() Geologists call this belt of volcanoes the San Francisco Volcanic Field, named for San Francisco Mountain, whose tallest peak is 12,633 feet above sea level, the highest elevation in Arizona. Red Mountain is one of several hundred cinder cones within a swath of volcanic landscape that extends 50 miles eastward from Williams, Arizona, through Flagstaff to the canyon of the Little Colorado River. (Copyrighted photo courtesy of Michael Collier) The center of the volcano, the site of the vent where molten rock (magma) was erupted, is on the far side of the ridge. The dipping layers of volcanic cinders that make up the cone can be seen in the walls of the amphitheater. The back wall of the amphitheater is a nearly vertical 800-foot cliff, which tapers off to the right and left. The deep depression in the center of the image is a natural amphitheater, whose origin has been something of a geologic mystery. This aerial view of Red Mountain cinder cone in northern Arizona shows the deeply sculpted northeast flank of the volcano. Geological Survey (USGS) and Northern Arizona University scientists suggest that Red Mountain formed in eruptions about 740,000 years ago. Erosional pillars called "hoodoos" decorate the amphitheater, and many dark mineral crystals erode out of its walls. In addition, a large natural amphitheater cuts into the cone's northeast flank. It is unusual in having the shape of a "U," open to the west, and in lacking the symmetrical shape of most cinder cones. Red Mountain, located in the Coconino National Forest of northern Arizona, 25 miles northwest of Flagstaff, is a volcanic cinder cone that rises 1,000 feet above the surrounding landscape.
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