Bandera Volcano Ice Cave, also known as Zuni Ice Cave, is a

lava tube A lava tube, more rarely called a pyroduct, is a 'roofed conduit through which molten lava travels away from its vent'. If lava in the tube drains out, it will leave an empty cave. Lava tubes are common in low-viscosity volcanic systems. La ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

with an internal temperature significantly less than above-ground summertime ambient temperature; it contains perennial ice. The inside temperatures can fluctuate between . Some areas of the

ice cave An ice cave is any type of natural cave (most commonly lava tubes or limestone caves) that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all ye ...

never reach above freezing. For years, local

Indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

used the cave to store food.

Geology

The lava tube was formed during the Bandera Crater eruption sometime between 9,500 and 10,900 years ago, during one of the many basaltic eruptions in the

Zuni-Bandera volcanic field Zuni-Bandera volcanic field (also known as Bandera lava field, Grants Malpais and Malpais volcanic field) is a volcanic field located in the state of New Mexico, United States. The volcanic field has been considered for geothermal exploitation ...

over the past million years. The crater's cinder cone is 900-feet high reaching 8,309 feet above sea level. The eruption produced numerous formations in addition to lava tubes including a cinder cone, collapse pits, spatter cones and

lava spine A lava spine (or lava spire) is a vertical growth of solid lava that is forced from a volcanic vent. A lava spine can either be formed by viscous lava slowly being pushed out of the vent, or by magma that has solidified within the vent before bein ...

. The type of lava is

ʻAʻā Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or unde ...

which is more viscous than

pāhoehoe Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or unde ...

. There are many lava tubes and several ice caves in the area including Giant Ice Cave. One has been developed as a commercial ice cave near the Candelaria Trading Post. Lava tubes in the area, "some dating back 115,000 years, formed a network of underground tubes stretching for 17 miles — the longest such system in the continental United States."

Location

The cave system is located in the El Malpais

lava field A lava field, sometimes called a lava bed, is a large, mostly flat area of lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of kilometers across the underlying terrain. Morp ...

within the boundaries of

El Malpais National Monument El Malpais National Monument is a National Monument located in western New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. The name El Malpais is from the Spanish term '' Malpaís'', meaning ''badlands'', due to the extremely barren and dramatic volc ...

. The cave's location is N34° 59.556', W108° 04.926'.

Gallery

File:Ice_Cold.jpg, Ice Cold File:Ice_Cave_Icicles.jpg, Ice Cave Icicles File:Down_in_the_Depths.jpg, Down in the Depths File:Descension_into_the_Ice_Cave.jpg, Descension into the Ice Cave

References

{{coord, 34.9916, -108.0829, type:landmark_region:US-NM, display=title Caves of New Mexico Lava tubes Geology of New Mexico