A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is gone. The ground surface then collapses into the emptied or partially emptied magma chamber, leaving a large depression at the surface (from one to dozens of kilometers in diameter). Although sometimes described as a crater, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through subsidence and collapse rather than an explosion or impact. Compared to the thousands of volcanic eruptions that occur each century, the formation of a caldera is a rare event, occurring only a few times per century. Only seven caldera-forming collapses are known to have occurred between 1911 and 2016. More recently, a caldera collapse occurred at Kīlauea, Hawaii in 2018.

Etymology

The term ''caldera'' comes from Spanish ', and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

', meaning "cooking pot". In some texts the English term ''cauldron'' is also used, though in more recent work the term ''cauldron'' refers to a caldera that has been deeply eroded to expose the beds under the caldera floor. The term ''caldera'' was introduced into the geological vocabulary by the German geologist Leopold von Buch when he published his memoirs of his 1815 visit to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Mo ...

, where he first saw the Las Cañadas caldera on

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

, with Mount Teide dominating the landscape, and then the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma.

Caldera formation

Origin of volcanic caldera via analogue model

A collapse is triggered by the emptying of the magma chamber beneath the volcano, sometimes as the result of a large explosive volcanic eruption (see Tambora in 1815), but also during effusive eruptions on the flanks of a volcano (see Piton de la Fournaise in 2007) or in a connected fissure system (see Bárðarbunga in 2014–2015). If enough

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...

is ejected, the emptied chamber is unable to support the weight of the volcanic edifice above it. A roughly circular fracture, the "ring fault", develops around the edge of the chamber. Ring fractures serve as feeders for fault intrusions which are also known as ring dikes. Secondary volcanic vents may form above the ring fracture. As the magma chamber empties, the center of the volcano within the ring fracture begins to collapse. The collapse may occur as the result of a single cataclysmic eruption, or it may occur in stages as the result of a series of eruptions. The total area that collapses may be hundreds of square kilometers.

Mineralization in calderas

Some calderas are known to host rich ore deposits. Metal-rich fluids can circulate through the caldera, forming hydrothermal ore deposits of metals such as lead, silver, gold, mercury, lithium, and uranium. One of the world's best-preserved mineralized calderas is the Sturgeon Lake Caldera in northwestern Ontario, Canada, which formed during the Neoarchean era about 2.7 billion years ago. In the San Juan volcanic field, ore veins were emplaced in fractures associated with several calderas, with the greatest mineralization taking place near the youngest and most silicic intrusions associated with each caldera.

Types of caldera

Explosive caldera eruptions

Explosive caldera eruptions are produced by a magma chamber whose

is rich in

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is o ...

. Silica-rich magma has a high

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

, and therefore does not flow easily like

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

. The magma typically also contains a large amount of dissolved gases, up to 7 wt% for the most silica-rich magmas. When the magma approaches the surface of the Earth, the drop in confining pressure causes the trapped gases to rapidly bubble out of the magma, fragmenting the magma to produce a mixture of

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer ...

and other tephra with the very hot gases. The mixture of ash and volcanic gases initially rises into the atmosphere as an

eruption column An eruption column or eruption plume is a cloud of super-heated ash and tephra suspended in gases emitted during an explosive volcanic eruption. The volcanic materials form a vertical column or plume that may rise many kilometers into the air ...

. However, as the volume of erupted material increases, the eruption column is unable to entrain enough air to remain buoyant, and the eruption column collapses into a tephra fountain that falls back to the surface to form pyroclastic flows. Eruptions of this type can spread ash over vast areas, so that ash flow

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

s emplaced by silicic caldera eruptions are the only volcanic product with volumes rivaling those of

flood basalt A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot reac ...

s. For example, when

Yellowstone Caldera The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park in the Western United States. The caldera and most of the park are located in the northwest corne ...

last erupted some 650,000 years ago, it released about 1,000 km³ of material (as measured in dense rock equivalent (DRE)), covering a substantial part of North America in up to two metres of debris. Eruptions forming even larger calderas are known, such as the La Garita Caldera in the San Juan Mountains of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, where the Fish Canyon Tuff was blasted out in eruptions about 27.8 million years ago. The caldera produced by such eruptions is typically filled in with tuff, rhyolite, and other

igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or l ...

s. The caldera is surrounded by an outflow sheet of ash flow tuff (also called an ash flow sheet). If magma continues to be injected into the collapsed magma chamber, the center of the caldera may be uplifted in the form of a '' resurgent dome'' such as is seen at the Valles Caldera, Lake Toba, the San Juan volcanic field,

Cerro Galán Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain". Toponyms ;Bolivia: * Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia ;Brazil: *Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul *Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...

, Yellowstone, and many other calderas. Because a silicic caldera may erupt hundreds or even thousands of cubic kilometers of material in a single event, it can cause catastrophic environmental effects. Even small caldera-forming eruptions, such as Krakatoa in 1883 or Mount Pinatubo in 1991, may result in significant local destruction and a noticeable drop in temperature around the world. Large calderas may have even greater effects. The ecological effects of the eruption of a large caldera can be seen in the record of the Lake Toba eruption in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. At some points in geological time, rhyolitic calderas have appeared in distinct clusters. The remnants of such clusters may be found in places such as the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

Rum Complex of Scotland, the San Juan Mountains of Colorado (formed during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

, and

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Saint Francois Mountain Range The St. Francois Mountains in southeast Missouri are a mountain range of Precambrian igneous mountains rising over the Ozark Plateau. This range is one of the oldest exposures of igneous rock in North America. The name of the range is spelled ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

(erupted during the

Proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

eon).

Valles

For their 1968 paper that first introduced the concept of a resurgent caldera to geology, R.L. Smith and R.A. Bailey chose the Valles caldera as their model. Although the Valles caldera is not unusually large, it is relatively young (1.25 million years old) and unusually well preserved, and it remains one of the best studied examples of a resurgent caldera. The ash flow tuffs of the Valles caldera, such as the Bandelier Tuff, were among the first to be thoroughly characterized.

Toba

About 74,000 years ago, this Indonesian volcano released about dense-rock equivalent of ejecta. This was the largest known eruption during the ongoing Quaternary period (the last 2.6 million years) and the largest known explosive eruption during the last 25 million years. In the late 1990s, anthropologist Stanley Ambrose proposed that a volcanic winter induced by this eruption reduced the human population to about 2,000–20,000 individuals, resulting in a

population bottleneck A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Go ...

. More recently, Lynn Jorde and Henry Harpending proposed that the human species was reduced to approximately 5,000–10,000 people. There is no direct evidence, however, that either theory is correct, and there is no evidence for any other animal decline or extinction, even in environmentally sensitive species. There is evidence that human habitation continued in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

after the eruption. La Cumbre - ISS

Non-explosive calderas

Some volcanoes, such as the large shield volcanoes Kīlauea and

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...

on the island of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

, form calderas in a different fashion. The magma feeding these volcanoes is

, which is silica poor. As a result, the magma is much less viscous than the magma of a rhyolitic volcano, and the magma chamber is drained by large lava flows rather than by explosive events. The resulting calderas are also known as subsidence calderas and can form more gradually than explosive calderas. For instance, the caldera atop Fernandina Island collapsed in 1968 when parts of the caldera floor dropped .

Extraterrestrial calderas

Since the early 1960s, it has been known that volcanism has occurred on other planets and moons in the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. Through the use of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, volcanism has been discovered on

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

, the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

, and Io, a satellite of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...

. None of these worlds have

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label= Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large t ...

, which contributes approximately 60% of the Earth's volcanic activity (the other 40% is attributed to

hotspot Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tra ...

volcanism). Caldera structure is similar on all of these planetary bodies, though the size varies considerably. The average caldera diameter on Venus is . The average caldera diameter on Io is close to , and the mode is ;

Tvashtar Paterae Tvashtar Paterae compose an active volcanic region of Jupiter's moon Io located near its north pole. It is a series of paterae, or volcanic craters. It is named after Tvashtar, the Hindu god of blacksmiths. Tvashtar was discovered in IRTF imag ...

is likely the largest caldera with a diameter of . The average caldera diameter on Mars is , smaller than Venus. Calderas on Earth are the smallest of all planetary bodies and vary from as a maximum.

The Moon

The

has an outer shell of low-density crystalline rock that is a few hundred kilometers thick, which formed due to a rapid creation. The craters of the Moon have been well preserved through time and were once thought to have been the result of extreme volcanic activity, but actually were formed by meteorites, nearly all of which took place in the first few hundred million years after the Moon formed. Around 500 million years afterward, the Moon's mantle was able to be extensively melted due to the decay of radioactive elements. Massive basaltic eruptions took place generally at the base of large impact craters. Also, eruptions may have taken place due to a magma reservoir at the base of the crust. This forms a dome, possibly the same morphology of a shield volcano where calderas universally are known to form. Although caldera-like structures are rare on the Moon, they are not completely absent. The Compton-Belkovich Volcanic Complex on the far side of the Moon is thought to be a caldera, possibly an ash-flow caldera.

Mars

The volcanic activity of

is concentrated in two major provinces: Tharsis and Elysium. Each province contains a series of giant shield volcanoes that are similar to what we see on Earth and likely are the result of mantle hot spots. The surfaces are dominated by lava flows, and all have one or more collapse calderas. Mars has the largest volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons, which is more than three times the height of Mount Everest, with a diameter of 520 km (323 miles). The summit of the mountain has six nested calderas.

Venus

Because there is no

, heat is mainly lost by conduction through the lithosphere. This causes enormous lava flows, accounting for 80% of Venus' surface area. Many of the mountains are large shield volcanoes that range in size from in diameter and high. More than 80 of these large shield volcanoes have summit calderas averaging across.

Io

Io, unusually, is heated by solid flexing due to the tidal influence of

and Io's orbital resonance with neighboring large moons Europa and Ganymede, which keep its orbit slightly eccentric. Unlike any of the planets mentioned, Io is continuously volcanically active. For example, the NASA ''

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin '' Voyager 2'', ''Voy ...

'' and ''

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, ''Voyager 1'', on ...

'' spacecraft detected nine erupting volcanoes while passing Io in 1979. Io has many calderas with diameters tens of kilometers across.

List of volcanic calderas

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Ngorongoro Crater The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (, ) is a protected area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Ngorongoro District, west of Arusha City in Arusha Region, within the Crater Highlands geological area of northern Tanzania. The area is n ...

(Tanzania) ** Menengai Crater (Kenya) ** Mount Elgon (Uganda/Kenya) ** Mount Fogo (Cape Verde) ** Mount Longonot (Kenya) ** Mount Meru (Tanzania) ** Erta Ale (Ethiopia) ** Nabro Volcano (Eritrea) ** Mallahle (Eritrea) ** ''See ''Europe'' for calderas in the Canary Islands * Americas **

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

*** Aguas Calientes, Salta Province *** Caldera del Atuel,

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic ...

*** Galán, Catamarca Province **

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

*** Pastos Grandes **

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

***

Mount Aniakchak Mount Aniakchak (russian: Аниакчак) is a 3,700-year-old volcanic caldera approximately in diameter, located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska, United States. Although a stratovolcano by composition, the pre-existing mountain collapsed i ...

(

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. National Monument and National Preserve, consisting of the region around the Aniakchak volcano on the Aleutian Range of south-western Alaska. The monument is one of the least-visited places in ...

) (

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

) *** Crater Lake on Mount Mazama ( Crater Lake National Park,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

) *** Mount Katmai (Alaska) *** Kīlauea (

) ***

(

) *** La Garita Caldera (

) *** Long Valley (

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

) *** Henry's Fork Caldera (

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

) *** Island Park Caldera (Idaho,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

) *** Newberry Volcano (Oregon) *** McDermitt Caldera (Oregon) *** Medicine Lake Volcano (California) *** Mount Okmok (Alaska) *** Valles Caldera (

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

) ***

(Wyoming) **

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

*** Silverthrone Caldera (

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

) *** Mount Edziza (British Columbia) *** Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex (British Columbia/

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

) *** Mount Pleasant Caldera (

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

) *** Sturgeon Lake Caldera (

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

) ***

Mount Skukum Volcanic Complex The Mount Skukum Volcanic Complex is an early Eocene caldera complex, located 43 km west of Carcross and 32 km northeast of Mount Porsild in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The complex composes the Skukum Group. It is a northeast-trending ...

(Yukon) ***

Blake River Megacaldera Complex The Blake River Megacaldera Complex is a giant subaqueous caldera cluster or a nested caldera system that spans across the Ontario–Quebec border in Canada. The caldera complex is around 2.7 billion years old, consisting of a series of overlappi ...

(

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

/Ontario) **** New Senator Caldera (Quebec) ****

Misema Caldera The Misema Caldera is a 2,704-2,707 million year old caldera in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Geographic extent It is the caldera that forms the Blake River Megacaldera Complex Noranda Caldera The Noranda Caldera is a well-known large subaqueous Archean caldera complex within the Blake River Megacaldera Complex, Quebec, Canada. The caldera contains a 7-to-9-km-thick succession of bimodal mafic-felsic tholeiitic to calc-alkaline volcan ...

(Quebec) ** Colombia *** Arenas crater caldera, Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Caldas Department *** Laguna Verde caldera, Azufral volcano, Narino Department **

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

*** La primavera Caldera (

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal ...

) ***

Amealco Caldera Amealco is a town in the Mexican state of Querétaro. Its name is thought to mean ''place of springs'' in Nahuatl. The municipality seat, also called Amealco, is located 63 km southeast of Santiago de Querétaro. Its elevation is 2,605 meters ...

(

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities. Its capi ...

) *** Las Cumbres Caldera (

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

- Puebla) ***

Los Azufres Caldera LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

( Michoacán) ***

Los Humeros Caldera LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

(Veracruz-Puebla) ***

Mazahua Caldera Mazahua may refer to: * Mazahua people, an indigenous people of Mexico * Mazahua language The Mazahua language ( maz, Jñatrjo) is an Oto-Pamean language spoken in the central states of Mexico by the ethnic group that is widely known as the Ma ...

( Mexico State) **

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

*** Chaitén *** Cordillera Nevada Caldera *** Laguna del Maule *** Pacana Caldera ***

Sollipulli Sollipulli (; in the Mapuche language) is an ice-filled volcanic caldera and volcanic complex, which lies southeast of the small town of Melipeuco in the La Araucanía Region, Chile. It is part of the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes, on ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

*** Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve ***

Cuicocha Cuicocha (Kichwa: ''Kuykucha'', "lake of guinea pigs" or ''Kuychikucha'', "rainbow lake") is a wide caldera and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes. Its name comes from the Kichwa in ...

***

Quilotoa Quilotoa () is a water-filled crater lake and the most western volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The -wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacite volcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroc ...

*** Fernandina Island,

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands ( es, Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the Equator west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with ...

*** Sierra Negra (Galápagos) **

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...

*** Lake Ilopango *** Lake Coatepeque ** Guatemala *** Lake Amatitlán *** Lake Atitlán *** Xela *** Barahona ** Other *** Masaya (Nicaragua) *

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

** East Asia *** Dakantou Caldera (大墈头) (Shanhuyan Village, Taozhu Town, Linhai, Zhejiang, China) *** Ma'anshan Caldera (马鞍山) (Shishan Town (石山镇), Xiuying, Hainan, China) ***

Yiyang Caldera Yiyang () is a prefecture-level city on the Zi River in Hunan province, China, straddling Lake Dongting and bordering Hubei to the north. According to the 2010 Census, Yiyang has a population of 4,313,084 inhabitants residing in an area of . The ...

(宜洋) (Shuangxi Town (双溪镇宜洋村), Pingnan County, Fujian, China) *** Aira Caldera ( Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) *** Kussharo (

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

, Japan) *** Kuttara (Hokkaido, Japan) *** Mashū (Hokkaido, Japan) *** Aso Caldera,

Mount Aso Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

(

Kumamoto Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, Miyaza ...

, Japan) *** Kikai Caldera (Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) ***

Towada is a city in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 60,697, and a population density of 84 persons per km2 in 27,677 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Towada is in the foothills of the Hakkōda ...

(

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the ea ...

, Japan) *** Tazawa (

Akita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its geographic area is 1 ...

, Japan) *** Hakone (

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

, Japan) *** Mount Halla ( Jeju-do, South Korea) *** Heaven Lake ( Baekdu Mountain, North Korea/ Changbai Mountains, China) ** Southeast Asia Pinatubo92pinatubo caldera crater lake

*** Apolaki Caldera ( Benham Rise, Philippines) *** Corregidor Caldera (Manila Bay, Philippines) *** Mount Pinatubo (

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, ...

, Philippines) *** Taal Volcano (Luzon, Philippines) *** Laguna Caldera (Luzon, Philippines) *** Irosin Caldera (Luzon, Philippines) *** Batur (

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Indonesia) *** Krakatoa ( Sunda Strait, Indonesia) *** Lake Maninjau ( Sumatra, Indonesia) *** Lake Toba (Sumatra, Indonesia) *** Mount Rinjani (

Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is ...

, Indonesia) *** Mount Tondano ( Sulawesi, Indonesia) *** Mount Tambora ( Sumbawa, Indonesia) *** Tengger Caldera (

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

, Indonesia) ** Southwest Asia *** Derik (

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location ...

, Turkey) ***

Nemrut (volcano) Nemrut ( tr, Nemrut Dağı, hy, Սարակն ''Sarakn'', "Mountain spring", , ku, Çiyayê Nemrudê) is a dormant volcano in Eastern Turkey, close to Lake Van. The volcano is named after King Nimrod who is said to have ruled this area in about ...

(Turkey) **

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

*** Akademia Nauk (

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and we ...

) *** Golovnin ( Kuril Islands) *** Karymsky Caldera (

) ***

Karymshina Karymshina is a large volcanic caldera located in the southern Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. It was discovered in 2006 by Vladimir L Leonov and Aleksey N. Rogozin.http://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2010/1238.pdf Location Kar ...

(

) *** Khangar (

) *** Ksudach (

) *** Kurile Lake (

) *** Lvinaya Past ( Kuril Islands) *** Tao-Rusyr Caldera ( Kuril Islands) ***

Uzon Uzon (russian: Узон) is a 9 by 12 km volcanic caldera located in the eastern part of Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. Together with the Geyzernaya caldera it hosts the largest geothermal field in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The calderas were ...

(

) *** Zavaritski Caldera ( Kuril Islands) *** Yankicha/Ushishir ( Kuril Islands) *** Chegem Caldera ( Kabardino-Balkarian Republic,

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

) *

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

** Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia) ** Bakuriani/Didveli Caldera (Georgia) ** Samsari (Georgia) **

Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera ( English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is th ...

(Greece) ** Nisyros (Greece) ** Askja (Iceland) ** Grímsvötn (Iceland) ** Bárðarbunga (Iceland) ** Katla (Iceland) **

Krafla Krafla () is a volcanic caldera of about 10 km in diameter with a 90 km long fissure zone. It is located in the north of Iceland in the Mývatn region and is situated on the Iceland hotspot atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which forms th ...

(Iceland) ** Phlegraean Fields (Italy) ** Lake Bracciano (Italy) ** Lake Bolsena (Italy) ** Mount Somma which contains

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

(Italy) **

Las Cañadas Teide, or Mount Teide, ( es, El Teide, Pico del Teide, , "Peak of Teide") is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit (at ) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlan ...

(

, Spain) ** Glen Coe (Scotland) ** Scafell Caldera ( Lake District, England) ** Laacher See (Germany) **

Lagoa das Sete Cidades Lagoa (Portuguese for ''lagoon'') may refer to the following: People *Barbara Lagoa, Cuban-American federal judge Places Brazil *Campina da Lagoa, Paraná * Lagoa, Paraíba, Paraíba *Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro, a quarter of Rio de Janeiro * Lagoa Al ...

& Furnas ( São Miguel,

the Azores ) , motto= ( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem=( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, Portugal) ** Caldeira do Faial ( Faial, Portugal) ** Caldeirão do Corvo ( Corvo, Portugal) *

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

Cerberean Cauldron This is a sortable summary of the pages Timeline of volcanism on Earth, List of Quaternary volcanic eruptions, and Large volume volcanic eruptions in the Basin and Range Province. Uncertainties as to dates and tephra volumes are not restated, a ...

(Australia) ** Dakataua (Papua New Guinea) ** Kapenga (New Zealand) ** Kilauea (

, US) ** Lake Ohakuri (New Zealand) **

Lake Ōkataina Lake Ōkataina (also spelled Okataina; mi, Te Moana i kataina ā Te Rangitakaroro or ) is the northernmost and largest of four smaller lakes lying between Lake Rotorua and Lake Tarawera in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Isla ...

(New Zealand) ** Lake Rotorua (New Zealand) ** Lake Taupō (New Zealand) ** Maroa (New Zealand) ** Moku‘āweoweo Caldera on

(Hawaii, US) ** Mount Warning (Australia) ** Prospect Hill (Australia) ** Rano Kau (

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, Chile) ** Reporoa caldera (New Zealand) *

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

** Deception Island *

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

** Cirque de Mafate, Cirque de Salazie, Enclos Fouqué, and Cirque de Cilaos on

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

Extraterrestrial volcanic calderas

** Olympus Mons caldera *

Maat Mons Maat Mons is a massive shield volcano on the planet Venus and the planet's second-highest mountain and highest volcano. It rises above the mean planetary radius at , and nearly 5 km above the surrounding plains. It is named after the ...

caldera

Erosion calderas

* Americas **

Guaichane-Mamuta Guaichane-Mamuta is a volcano in Chile. It is formed by a caldera and lava flows which form two separate systems. The volcano is of Miocene age. Guaichane-Mamuta lies northeast of Pisagua. One half is formed by the wide and deep erosion calde ...

(Chile) ** Mount Tehama (

, US) * Europe ** Caldera de Taburiente (Spain) * Oceania ** Tweed Valley (

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia) * Asia ** Chegem Caldera ( Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Northern Caucasus Region, Russia) ** Taal volcano (Philippines) Batangas Province

Explanatory notes

References

External links

USGS page on calderas

List of Caldera Volcanoes

Collection of references on collapse calderas
(43 pages)

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes_script.shtml Supervolcanoes
Time-lapse video of Kīlauea caldera collapse, 2018
{{Authority control Depressions (geology) Igneous rocks Volcanism Volcanic landforms .

Etymology

Caldera formation

Mineralization in calderas

Types of caldera

Explosive caldera eruptions

Valles

Toba

Non-explosive calderas

Extraterrestrial calderas

The Moon

Mars

Venus

Io

List of volcanic calderas

Extraterrestrial volcanic calderas

Erosion calderas

See also

Explanatory notes

References

Further reading

External links