Ubehebe Craters
| Ubehebe Craters | |
|---|---|
View onto Ubehebe Crater and Little Hebe Crater | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,467 ft (752 m) |
| Coordinates | 37°00′36″N 117°27′03″W / 37.01000°N 117.45083°W |
| Naming | |
| Etymology | Etymology |
| Geography | |
Ubehebe Craters | |
| Parent range | Death Valley, Basin and Range Province |
| Geology | |
| Rock age | Holocene |
| Mountain type | Volcanic field |
| Last eruption | 150 BCE? |
| Climbing | |
| Access | Death Valley National Park |
The Ubehebe Craters are a volcanic field in the northern Death Valley of California, consisting of 14–16 craters in a 3-square-kilometre (1.2 sq mi) area. The largest of the craters is the 800 metres (2,600 ft) wide and 235 metres (771 ft) deep Ubehebe Crater. Many of the craters, though, are partially buried and thus hardly recognizable. Other volcanic features there include a remnant of a scoria cone and a tuff cone.
The Ubehebe Craters are associated with a fault system that runs across them. The region has been affected by volcanism for the last 10 million years. The volcanic field is in the Death Valley National Park and is accessible to tourists. The fault system is within the tectonically active Basin and Range Province physiographic region.
Various estimates have been put forward for the age of the craters. Recent research has shown that the Ubehebe Craters all formed in a single phreatomagmatic eruption episode about 2,100 years ago, making it one of the most recent volcanic events in southern California. The risk of renewed volcanic activity is low.