A maar is a broad, low-

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

volcanic crater A volcanic crater is an approximately circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a bowl-shaped feature containing one or more vents. During volcanic eruptions, molten magma and volcanic gases rise from an ...

caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

comes into contact with hot

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake, which may also be called a maar.David S.G. Thomas and Andrew Goudie (eds.), ''The Dictionary of Physical Geography'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), 301. . Maars range in size from across and from deep. Most maars fill with water to form natural lakes. Most maars have low rims composed of a mixture of loose fragments of

volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...

s and rocks torn from the walls of the diatreme.

Etymology

The name ''maar'' comes from a

Moselle Franconian Moselle Franconian (; ) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. Overview Moselle Franconian is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle, i ...

dialect word used for the circular lakes of the Daun area of Germany. The word evolved from its first use in German in the modern geological sense in 1819 and is now used in English and in the geological sciences as the term for the explosion crater, even if water from rainfall might always have drained from the crater after the formation event. This extension in meaning was due to recognising that the lake may no longer exist. Since maar lakes are formed after initially ground or subsurface water interacts with a

intrusion to create an explosion crater, the name came to be used for the crater type as well. Notes: * According to German Wikipedia's ''"Maar"'' article, in 1544 in his book ''Cosmographia'', Sebastian Münster (1488–1552) first applied the word "maar" (as ''Marh'') to the Ulmener Maar and the

Laacher See Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic Volcanic crater lake, caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel ...

. See: Sebastian Münster, ''Cosmographia'' (Basel, Switzerland: Heinrich Petri, 1544)
p. 341.
From p. 341: ''"Item zwen namhafftiger seen seind in der Eyfel / einer bey de schloß Ulmen / und ein ander bey dem Closter züm Laich / die seind sere tieff / habe kein ynflüß aber vil außflüß / die nennet man Marh unnd seind fischreich."'' (Also two noteworthy lakes are in the Eifel, one by the Ulmen castle, and another by the monastery at Laich; they are very deep; heyhave no streams flowing in but many flowing out; one calls them "maars" and heyare rich in fish.) * In 1819, Johann Steininger (1794–1874), a secondary-school teacher from Trier, coined the term "maar" in its modern sense. See: Steininger, J., ''Geognostische Studien am Mittelrhein'' eological studies on the middle Rhein(Mainz, (Germany): Kupferberg, 1819). * In 1825,

George Julius Poulett Scrope George Julius Poulett Scrope Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (10 March 1797 – 19 January 1876) was an English geologist and political economist as well as a Member of Parliament and magistrate for Stroud in Gloucestershire. While an und ...

(1797–1876) introduced the term "maar" into English. See: Scrope, G.P., ''Considerations on Volcanoes'' (London, England: Philipps, 1825)
p. 166.
* Horst Noll, a geologist at the University of Köln (Cologne), Germany, said that the local term ''maar'' might even have derived from the Latin word ''mare'' (i.e. sea) and been introduced into local language during the Roman occupation of the West Eifel. See: Noll, H. (1967) "Maare und Maar-ähnliche Explosionskrater in Island. Ein Vergleich mit dem Maar-Vulkanismus der Eifel" (Maars and maar-like explosion craters in Iceland. A comparison with the maar-volcanism of the Eifel.), Special publication of the Geological Institute of the University of Köln, p. 1. * Wilhelm Meyer, ''Geologie der Eifel'' eology of the Eifel(Stuttgart, Germany: Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1986), p. 311. * Herbert Lutz and Volker Lorenz (2013
"Early volcanological research in the Vulkaneifel, Germany, the classic region of maar–diatreme volcanoes: the years 1774–1865."
On-line publication of Springer International Publishing, Berlin, Germany. *

states that the word "maar" derives from the Latin ''mare'' (sea), as does the German languag
Universal Lexikon
The present definition of the term relates to both its common and scientific discourse use in language over two centuries. Depending upon context there may be other descriptors available to use in the geological sciences such as the term tuff ring or ''maar-diatreme'' volcanoes. These last are volcanoes produced by explosive eruptions that cut deeply into the country rock with the maar being "''the crater cut into the ground and surrounded by an ejecta ring''". A 2011 geological clarification of a maar is "''Maar volcanoes are distinguished from other small volcanoes in having craters with their floor lying below the pre-eruptive surface''".

Maar lakes and dry maars

''Maar lakes'', also referred to simply as ''maars'', occur when

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

fills the funnel-shaped and usually round hollow of the maar depression formed by volcanic explosions. Examples of these types of maar are the three maars at Daun in the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

mountains of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. A ''dry maar'' results when a maar lake dries out, becomes aggraded or silted up. An example of the latter is the Eckfelder Maar. Near Steffeln is the

Eichholzmaar The Eichholzmaar is one of the smaller maars in the Volcanic Eifel and lies on the ''Landstraße'' between Steffeln and Duppach. It has a diameter of c. 120 metres. Its greatest depth is 3 metres. The circular shape of the bowl of the maar can s ...

(also called the ''Gussweiher'') which has dried out during the last century and is being renaturalised into a maar. In some cases the underlying rock is so porous that maar lakes are unable to form. After winters of heavy snow and rainfall many dry maars fill partially and temporarily with water; others contain small

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

s or often artificial ponds that, however, only occupy part of the hollow.

Distribution

The largest known maars are found at Espenberg on the

Seward Peninsula The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi ...

in northwest Alaska. These maars range in size from in diameter and a depth up to . These eruptions occurred in a period of about 100,000 years, with the youngest (the Devil Mountain Maar) occurring about 17,500 years ago. Their large size is due to the explosive reaction that occurs when

comes into contact with

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

. Hydromagmatic eruptions are increasingly explosive when the ratio of water to magma is low. Since permafrost melts slowly, it provides a steady source of water to the eruption while keeping the water to magma ratio low. This produces the prolonged, explosive eruptions that created these large maars. Examples of the Seward Peninsula maars include North Killeak Maar, South Killeak Maar, Devil Mountain Maar and Whitefish Maar. Maars occur in western North America,

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

in South America, the

region of

(where they were originally described), and in other geologically young volcanic regions of Earth. Elsewhere in Europe, La Vestide du Pal, a maar in the

Ardèche Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (river), Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Kilbourne Hole and Hunt's Hole, in southern

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 ...

near

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, are maars. The Crocodile Lake in Los Baños in the Philippines, though originally thought to be a volcanic crater, is a maar. The

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

-saturated Lake Nyos in northwestern

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

is another example, as is Zuñi Salt Lake in

, a shallow saline lake that occupies a flat-floored crater about across and deep. Its low rim is composed of loose pieces of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, 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 planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic lava and wall rocks (

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

) of the underlying diatreme, as well as chunks of ancient

crystalline A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macrosc ...

rocks blasted upward from great depths. Maars in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

are found in the

Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field The Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, also called the Clearwater Cone Group, is a potentially active monogenetic volcanic field in east-central British Columbia, Canada, located approximately north of Kamloops, British Columbia, Kamloops. It ...

of east-central

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and in

kimberlite Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known as the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an 83.5-Car ...

fields throughout Canada. Another field of maars is found in the Pali-Aike Volcanic Field in

, South America. and in the Sudanese Bayuda Volcanic Field. The Auckland volcanic field in the urban area of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, has several maars, including the readily accessible Lake Pupuke in the North Shore suburb of Takapuna.

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

's Meteor Crater was for many years thought to be a maar of volcanic origin but it is now known to be an

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

Examples

Germany

= Eifel maars

= In the Volcanic Eifel there are about 75 maars. Both lake-filled and dry maars are typical, though the latter are more common. The last eruptions took place at least 11,000 years ago, and many maars are older, as evidenced by their heavy

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

and less obvious shapes and volcanic features.

Water-filled maars of the Eifel

Dry maars of the Eifel

In the Eifel and Volcanic Eifel there are numerous dry maars: * Mosbrucher Weiher (4 km SE of Kelberg) * Booser Doppelmaar (W of Boos; near Kelberg) * Dreiser Weiher (W of Dreis-Brück, N of Daun) * Dürres Maar (SW of Gillenfeld) * Duppacher Weiher (near Duppach, NW of Gerolstein) * Geeser Maar (E of Gerolstein, N of Gees) * Eckfelder Maar (near Eckfeld) * Eigelbacher Maar (near Kopp, county of Daun; maar basin: c. 1200 m × 1200 m) * Hitsche Maar (NW of the Dürre Maar, smallest Eifel maar; Ø = 60 m) * Immerather Risch (

Middle Low German Middle Low German is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in writing since about 1225–34 (). During the Hanseatic period (from about 1300 to about 1600), Mid ...

: ''risch'' = reed bed; N of the Immerather Maar) * Gerolsteiner Maar (NE of Gerolstein) * Schalkenmehrener Maar E (of Schalkenmehren) * Schönfelder Maar (SW of Stadtkyll-Schönfeld) * Steffelner Laach or "Laach Maar" (near Steffeln) * Dehner Maar (near Reuth) * Walsdorfer Maar ("Schilierwiese"; S of Walsdorf; maar basin: c. 1150 m × 1000 m) * Wollmerather Maar (near Wollmerath)

Broader use of the term ''maar''

The following volcanic features are often colloquially referred to as a "maar" or "maar lake", although they are not, strictly speaking, maars: * Windsborn Crater Lake and Hinkelsmaar in the Manderscheid Volcano Group near Bettenfeld, crater lakes of the Mosenberg (Eifel), Mosenberg *

near Maria Laach, lake in a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

of the Laacher See volcano * Strohner Märchen (south of the Pulvermaar), volcanic pipe which has become a maar * Papenkaule, a

, and the associated eruption site of the Hagelskaule * Elfenmaar near Bad Bertrich, an almost entirely eroded

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

* Rodder Maar near Niederdürenbach, the origin of which is unclear

= Maars outside the Eifel

= In Germany there are also several maars outside of the Eifel. A well-known example is the

Messel pit The Messel Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene Epoch (geology), epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlie ...

, a former maar lake near Messel in the county of Darmstadt-Dieburg and which is known for its well preserved

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s. In addition in the Swabian Jura and the Albvorland (the Swabian Volcano) there are maar-forming volcanoes. Because the over 350 eruption points were only active in the Upper

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...

17 to 11 million years ago, all the maars, apart from the dry maar, Randecker Maar and the Molach, are only detectable geologically. In the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

near Hammerunterwiesenthal, the Hammerunterwiesenthal Maar formed about 30 million years ago during the Oligocene; the maar measures 2 kilometres from east to west and 1.4 kilometres from north to south.

Rest of Europe

The Chaîne des Puys in France contains numerous maars; Lake Albano in the Alban Mountains is a complex maar, and there is also a submarine maar ( Kolumbo) near

Santorini Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...

in Greece. The Campo de Calatrava Volcanic Field in Spain contains numerous maars; a typical example being the maar of Hoya del Mortero at Poblete in the

Province of Ciudad Real The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located ...

. Active maars were commonplace in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

and

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

, Scotland during the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

period. The location of one such maar was Elie Ness.

Americas

Active maar volcanoes are mainly known outside Europe. In the US there are numerous maar areas, such as in Alaska ( Ukinrek maars, Nunivak in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

); in Washington ( Battle Ground Lake); in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

( Fort Rock basin with the maars of

Big Hole The Kimberley Mine or Tim Kuilmine () is an open-pit mining, open-pit and underground mine in Kimberley, South Africa. It has been considered the deepest hole excavated by hand, contending the title with Jagersfontein Mine. History and size ...

, Hole-in-the-Ground, Table Rock); in

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is a national park of the United States that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern sect ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

( Ubehebe Crater); in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

( Soda Lakes); as well as the maars of the White Rock Canyon, Mount Taylor, the Potrillo volcanic fields ( Kilbourne Hole and Hunt's Hole), and Zuñi Salt Lake in New Mexico. In Central Mexico, the Tarascan volcanic field contains several maars in the states of

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

and

Guanajuato Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 32 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guanajuato, 46 municipalities and its cap ...

. The Río Cuarto and Hule maars are in Costa Rica. In Nicaragua is the maar of Laguna de Xiloa, part of the Apoyeque volcano. From South America, there are known maars in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

(e.g. Cerro Overo and Cerro Tujle in northern Chile). Jayu Khota is a maar in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Middle East and Africa

The maar of Lake Ram lies on the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

; further south maars occur in Africa ( Bilate Volcanic Field and Haro Maja in the Butajiri- Silti-Volcanic Field, Ethiopia, the Bayuda Volcanic Field in the Sudan and Lake Nyos in the Oku Volcanic Field in Cameroon). In

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

the Al Wahbah crater formed as a result of a maar eruption.

Asia and Oceania

In Japan there are maars in the Kirishima- Yaku volcanic field in the Kirishima-Yaku National Park on

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

. These include the several maars of the Ibusuki volcanic field such as Lake Unagi. On

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

in Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan National Park there is Kagamiike Pond as well as many on the volcanic island of Miyake-jima,

Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōsh ...

(Furumio, Mi'ike, Mizutamari, Shinmio). Koranga Maar and Numundo Maar are in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Kawah Masemo maar is on Mount Sempu volcano in Indonesia. The San Pablo Volcanic Field in the Province of Laguna on the island of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

in the Philippines contains maars. The Newer Volcanics Province in the States of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and Victoria, Australia, has numerous maars, such as

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with a population of 25,591 as of the 2021 census. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about ...

, Mount Schank and

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...

, whose complex system of nested maars is enclosed by one of the largest maars in the world. Foulden Maar in

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, is an important fossil site, but there are many more maars in New Zealand. As already mentioned these include Lake Pupuke, but the Auckland volcanic field has other easily accessible maars such as the Mangere Lagoon, Orakei Basin, Panmure Basin, and Pukaki Lagoon. Elsewhere a recent example, only 4000 years old, is Lake Rotokawau in the Bay of Plenty Region.

Gallery

Image:Totenmaar weinfelder maar eifel.jpg, Weinfelder Maar, one of the three maars originally described Image:Maar Israel.JPG, The maar at Birkat Ram, the

Image:Zengena Hayq.JPG, Zengena Lake, a maar in

Amhara Region The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Image:Pinacate_volcanic_field.jpg, El Elegante Crater, in Sonoran Desert,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Image:BVFMuweilihCrater.jpg, El Muweilih Crater, a maar in Bayuda volcanic field, Sudan: Natron-rich clay on the crater floor File:Hunt's Hole aerial 1.jpg, Hunt's Hole in the Potrillo volcanic field of New Mexico File:Kluft-photo-SodaLake-rim-2018-11.jpg, Big Soda Lake in Nevada File:Lake Rotokawau.jpg, Lake Rotokawau in New Zealand

Footnotes

References

Seetiefe der Maare bei mittlerem Wasserstand zu ''Ungeklärte Herkunft des Rodder Maars''

Literature

USGS photo glossary: Maar

External links

Formation of volcanoes - maar
animation on YouTube, Czech Geological Survey, 2019, duration 1 min 56 sec. English subtitles available. Retrieved 2025-02-04.
List of Maar VolcanoesLa Vestide du Pal
{{Authority control Depressions (geology) Volcanic landforms .