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Little Hebe Crater

Little Hebe Crater is one of several steam explosion craters in Death Valley which occurred when a magma intrusion made contact with an aquifer. The force of these explosions covered the nearby landscape with blackened rock and cinders which are clearly visible here on the slopes of Little Hebe Crater. Little Hebe Crater sits within a second, older and larger crater. The light colored patch in the lower left is sediment that has washed from the slopes and collected in the lowest part of the crater.

 

Ubehebe Crater is the largest (approximately 0.5 mi or 0.8 km in diameter) crater in the group and sits just to the north (right of the picture) of Little Hebe Crater. Several other craters occur close by.

 

The road to Racetrack Playa runs behind the crater in the valley leading to the southwest.

 

Photo taken from the northeast rim of the larger crater in which Little Hebe sits.

 

 

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Uploaded on January 28, 2012
Taken on January 27, 2012