A Diverse Land - Siskiyou County, CA
N 41° 44.288 W 121° 31.745
10T E 622317 N 4621748
This orientation table is located within the Lava Beds National Monument (seasonal fees may apply) and at the Schonchin Butte Fire Lookout in Siskiyou County, CA.
Waymark Code: WMGWAM
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 04/15/2013
Views: 3
This orientation table is located at the Schonchin Butte Fire Lookout and focuses on the lava beds in this area and reads:
A Diverse Land
The Lava Beds area is home to many diverse volcanic features. The landscape is dotted with cinder cones like the one you are standing upon. Each cone represents a separate vent from which chunks of frothy lava were blown high into the air, quickly building up a steep cone where they fell back to the ground. Simlarly, tuff cones at Petroglyph Point and the Peninsula formed as hot magma surfaced beneath ancient Tule Lake and caused explosions of ash, rock, and steam.
Less explosive events occurred at Mammoth and Modoc Craters where streams of lava flowed northward, creating expansive networks of lava tube caves many miles long. See if you can trace the course of the Merrill-Skull tube system across the landscape. A series of caves alternate with sections of jumbled rocks--the collapsed roofs of former caves.
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Visitors who are able to make the trek up here are welcomed with some spectacular views of the surrounding landscape.