Global Volcanism Program | Golden Trout Creek

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Golden Trout Creek.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Golden Trout Creek.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Golden Trout Creek.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Toowa Valley | Golden Trout Volcanic Field

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Groundhog

Pyroclastic cone

2854 m

36° 21' 33" N

118° 19' 1" W

Little Whitney

Pyroclastic cone

2682 m

36° 23' 6" N

118° 20' 9" W

South Fork
Red Hill

Pyroclastic cone

2881 m

36° 21' 23" N

118° 17' 3" W

Tunnel Cone

Pyroclastic cone

2839 m

36° 21' 59" N

1118° 16' 56" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

323170

Pleistocene

2,886 m / 9,469 ft

36.358°N
118.32°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field

Rock Types

Major
Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Tectonic Setting

Rift zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

3
3
273
461,496

Geological Summary

The Golden Trout Creek volcanic field consists of a group of Quaternary alkali olivine basalt cinder cones and lava flows in the Toowa Valley about 25 km S of Mount Whitney. Lava flows erupted through Mesozoic granitic rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith during episodes dating back to about 743,000 years ago, when the Little Whitney cinder cone and lava flows were erupted. The South Fork cone erupted about 176,000 years ago and produced the largest lava flow in the field, which traveled over 7 km W to the Kern River Canyon. Tunnel Cone to the north of South Fork (Red Hill) cone is undated, but its lava flow is overlain by glacial deposits and it is thought to be only slightly younger than South Fork. The youngest lava flow, from Groundhog Cone, traveled 6 km W down Golden Trout Creek on top of the South Fork flow. Based on a lack of glaciated features, Moore and Lanphere (1983) considered the Groundhog flow to be about 5-10,000 years old. Cosmogenic 36Cl exposure determinations by Browne et al. (2017b) showed a 59-52 ka eruption age for the Groundhog Cone material; this was after the Tahoe glaciation maximum, and subsequent Tioga glaciers did not reach the Toowa Valley floor, so did not affect these deposits.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Browne B L, Becerra R, Campbell C, Saleen P, Wille F R, 2017. Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the Golden Trout Volcanic Field, southern Sierra Nevada, California. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 343, p. 25-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.05.028

Browne B L, Sion B D, Phillips F, Nicholson R, 2017. Eruption styles and late Pleistocene ages from 36Cl dating of Groundhog Cone, the most recent and unglaciated basaltic volcano in the Golden Trout Volcanic Field, Kern Plateau, Sierra Nevada. GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA (2017), Paper No. 392-6.

California Div. Mines and Geology, 1958-69. Geologic atlas of California, 1:250,0000 scale.. Calif Div Mines Geol.

Miller C D, 1989. Potential hazards from future volcanic eruptions in California. U S Geol Surv Bull, 1847: 1-17.

Moore J G, Lanphere M, 1983. Age of the Golden Trout Creek volcanic field, Sierra Nevada, California (abs). Eos, Trans Amer Geophys Union, 64: 895.

Webb R W, 1950. Volcanic geology of Toowa valley, southern Sierra Nevada, California. Geol Soc Amer Bull, 61: 349-357.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Golden Trout Creek. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Golden Trout Creek page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Golden Trout Creek.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Golden Trout Creek.

Photo Gallery

Reddish oxidized scoria mantles the slopes of Groundhog cinder cone, the youngest of Golden Trout Creek volcanic field. The cone is seen here from the west, with Tunnel cone (left center) and South Fork cone (beyond the right-hand rim of Groundhog) behind it. The light-colored area at the left center is Groundhog Meadow. Basaltic lava flows from Groundhog cone visible at the lower left extended 6 km down Golden Trout Creek.

Photo by Rick Howard, 2002 (courtesy of Del Hubbs, U S Forest Service).

Groundhog cinder cone, the youngest of the Golden Trout Creek volcanic field, is breached to the NE. Groundhog cone was the source of a Holocene lava flow that traveled 6 km to the west down Golden Trout Creek The volcanic field consists of a group of Quaternary alkali olivine basaltic cinder cones and lava flows in the Sierra Nevada about 25 km south of Mount Whitney. Lava flows erupted through light-colored Mesozoic granitic rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith visible behind Groundhog cone and on its upper right side.

Photo by Rick Howard, 2002 (courtesy of Del Hubbs, U S Forest Service).

Tunnel cinder cone (lower left) and South Fork cone (upper right) are seen from the NW with Ramshaw Meadow at the upper left. The South Fork cone was erupted about 176,000 years ago and produced the largest lava flow of the volcanic field, which traveled 10 km to the west, possibly as far as the floor of Kern Canyon. Tunnel cone to the north of South Fork (Red Hill) cone is undated, but its lava flow is overlain by glacial deposits and it is thought to be only slightly younger than South Fork cone.

Photo by Rick Howard, 2002 (courtesy of Del Hubbs, U S Forest Service).

Groundhog cinder cone is the youngest of the Golden Trout volcanic field. It is seen here from the west with South Fork cone behind it at the upper left and Olancha Peak on the crest of the Sierra Nevada on the right horizon. Groundhog cone is breached to the NE and was the source of large lava flows (visible in the foreground) that traveled 6 km to the west. The flows filled the valley of Golden Trout Creek and displaced it to the north side, separating Golden Trout Creek from Volcano Creek at the southern margin of the flow.

Photo by Rick Howard, 2002 (courtesy of Del Hubbs, U S Forest Service).

South Fork cinder cone (center) is seen from the NW with Ramshaw Meadow (upper left) behind it. Templeton Mountain is the rounded peak beyond South Fork cone, and Olancha Peak on the crest of the Sierra Nevada is on the center horizon. South Fork (Red Hill) cone was formed about 176,000 years ago and produced a lava flow 10 km to the west that may have reached as far as the Kern River. The cinder cone was erupted through a bedrock ridge of the Sierra Nevada, and inclusions of quartz monzonite are common near the vents.

Photo by Rick Howard, 2002 (courtesy of Del Hubbs, U S Forest Service).

Groundhog cinder cone (center) is seen from the NE with Tunnel Meadow in the foreground. Peaks of the Great Western Divide across Kern Canyon in Sequoia National Park are visible on the right horizon. Groundhog cone is the youngest of the group of cinder cones forming the Golden Trout Creek volcanic field in the Golden Trout Wilderness Area. This nomenclature derives from the renowned Golden trout, which is a sub-species of rainbow trout and has been designated as the official state fish of California.

Photo by Rick Howard, 2002 (courtesy of Del Hubbs, U S Forest Service).

GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Golden Trout Creek in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Golden Trout Creek. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Golden Trout Creek. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Golden Trout Creek

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).