The Cerro Prieto compound rhyodacite lava dome is the only volcanic feature of the Cerro Prieto geothermal field. A 200-m-wide crater is located at the summit of the NE-most dome. The dome probably formed during at least five eruptive stages between about 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, with both magmatic and phreatic activity. Explorers in the mid-1500s reported steam and sulfuric gases.

Photo by Brian Hausback, 1995 (California State University, Sacramento).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Galleries: Geothermal Features

Keywords: geothermal | lava dome

Cerro Prieto