Layered Mountains Haze
Tucson’s "A Mountain" against the larger Tucson Mountains to the west of Tucson. Viewed from Reid Park entrance on Country Club (road or boulevard.)
Tucson is in the valley surrounded by a ring of mountains that were formed by an ancient, very large, volcano.
The residual relatively small mountains left after millions of years of erosion are:
North: Santa Catalina mountains.
West: Tucson mountains.
South: Santa Rosa mountains.
East: Rincon mountains.
www.kold.com/story/2377754/ancient-volcano-lies-in-tucson...
Arizona doesn't have any active volcanoes now, but all around the city is evidence of the area's fiery past.
Magma millions of years ago once burned hotter than the desert floor does today, only it was miles beneath the earth's surface.
Geologists at the University of Arizona say the volcano system that burned below was not very different from the one currently raising plumes of steam and ash in Washington state.
"If you walked from the Tucson Mountains to the Santa Catalinas, you would follow from lava flows in the Tucson Mountains to magma chambers a few miles beneath," said Mihai Ducea, a Geologist and professor at the U of A.
Those magma chambers solidified, and over millions of years, they were pushed up out of the earth's surface and became the Santa Catalinas.
Meanwhile, the Tucson Mountains split from the Catalinas and left a valley between.
That's the nook in the earth's crust that Tucson now inhabits.
Layered Mountains Haze
Tucson’s "A Mountain" against the larger Tucson Mountains to the west of Tucson. Viewed from Reid Park entrance on Country Club (road or boulevard.)
Tucson is in the valley surrounded by a ring of mountains that were formed by an ancient, very large, volcano.
The residual relatively small mountains left after millions of years of erosion are:
North: Santa Catalina mountains.
West: Tucson mountains.
South: Santa Rosa mountains.
East: Rincon mountains.
www.kold.com/story/2377754/ancient-volcano-lies-in-tucson...
Arizona doesn't have any active volcanoes now, but all around the city is evidence of the area's fiery past.
Magma millions of years ago once burned hotter than the desert floor does today, only it was miles beneath the earth's surface.
Geologists at the University of Arizona say the volcano system that burned below was not very different from the one currently raising plumes of steam and ash in Washington state.
"If you walked from the Tucson Mountains to the Santa Catalinas, you would follow from lava flows in the Tucson Mountains to magma chambers a few miles beneath," said Mihai Ducea, a Geologist and professor at the U of A.
Those magma chambers solidified, and over millions of years, they were pushed up out of the earth's surface and became the Santa Catalinas.
Meanwhile, the Tucson Mountains split from the Catalinas and left a valley between.
That's the nook in the earth's crust that Tucson now inhabits.