Strawberry Crater Cinder Cone, San Francisco volcanic field

Beautiful aerial photo of Strawberry Crater of the northeastern part of the Mio-Pleistocene-Holocene San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona. The cone is reported to be about 50,000 years old. In the final stages of eruption, a lava flow broke out at the east base and rafted much of the cone interior away, hence the breached cone appearance. Following the breach event, the vent went back into fire-fountaining, armoring the summit and upper flanks with fused agglutinate. Immediately behind (west) of Strawberry Crater is the rhyodacite dome, O'leary Peak. Behind that and just to the right is one of the peaks of San Francisco Mountain. To the left of O'Leary Peak in the background is Mount Elden, a dacitic dome complex. Strawberry Crater's name probably stems from the strawberry-colored oxidized agglutinate that armors the cone. Another possibility is the abundance of strawberry-sized volcanic bombs that litter the ground around the vent. Online resources: Hanson, S.L., 2003, Roadside Geology: Wupatki and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monuments. Arizona Geological Survey Down to Earth, DTE #15, 36 p. http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/1527 Wolfe, EW and Hahn DA, 1982, Geologic and geochemical analysis of the Strawberry Crater area, Coconino County, Arizona. USGS MF-1394-A https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_7112.htm