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 Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...

(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 Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the Western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

, 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 A diatreme, sometimes known as a maar-diatreme volcano, is a volcanic pipe associated with a gaseous explosion. When magma rises up through a crack in Earth's crust and makes contact with a shallow body of groundwater, rapid expansion of heated ...

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 Daun () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the ' of Daun. Geography Location The town lies in the , a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geog ...

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 Sebastian Münster (20 January 1488 – 26 May 1552) was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, ...

(1488–1552) first applied the word "maar" (as ''Marh'') to the

Ulmener Maar The Ulmener Maar is a maar in the Eifel mountains of Germany in the immediate vicinity of the town of Ulmen in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The lake is up to 37 metres deep and is surrounded by an embankment of tuff with an average height o ...

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;

hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

have no streams flowing in but many flowing out; one calls them "maars" and

are 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 Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

. An example of the latter is the

Eckfelder Maar The Eckfelder Maar is a former volcanic lake, that was formed during the Middle Eocene around 44.3 million years ago and is thus the oldest known maar. It lies in the southwestern Eifel mountains near Manderscheid in Germany.

. Near

Steffeln Steffeln is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, whos ...

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 Lake Nyos ( ) is a crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located about northwest of Yaoundé, the capital. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcan ...

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 Zuñi Salt Lake, also Zuni Salt Lake is a rare high desert lake, and a classic maar, located in Catron County, New Mexico, United States, about south of the Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. Description Zuñi Salt Lake is extremely shallow, with a dep ...

, a shallow

saline lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

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 rock Wall rock is the rock that constitutes the wall of an area undergoing geologic activity. Examples are the rock along the neck of a volcano, on the edge of a pluton that is being emplaced, along a fault plane, enclosing a mineral deposit, or where a ...

s (

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

, 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 The Pali-Aike volcanic field is a volcanic field along the Argentina–Chile border. It is part of a family of back-arc volcanoes in Patagonia, which formed from processes involving the collision of the Chile Ridge with the Peru–Chile Trench. ...

, South America. and in the Sudanese Bayuda Volcanic Field. The

Auckland volcanic field The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a divers ...

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 Lake Pupuke (traditionally known in Māori as Pupukemoana) is a heart-shaped freshwater lake occupying a volcanic crater (or maar) between the suburbs of Takapuna and Milford on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The heart shape is a r ...

in the North Shore suburb of

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is an isthmus between Shoal Bay, New Zealand, Shoal Bay, arm of the Waitematā Harbour, and the Hauraki Gulf. Lake Pupuke, a volca ...

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 ...

Meteor Crater Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is an impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called ...

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 The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel () consists of three areas of volcanic activity, known as the West Eifel, High Eifel, and East Eifel volcanic fields. Volcanic Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large e ...

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 The Mosbrucher Weiher, also called the ''Mosbrucher Maar'', is a silted up maar east of the municipal boundary of the village of Mosbruch in the county Vulkaneifel in Germany. It is located immediately at the foot of the 675-metre-high Hochkelberg ...

(4 km SE of

Kelberg Kelberg is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palat ...

) *

Booser Doppelmaar The Booser Doppelmaar ("Double Maar of Boos") comprises two maars that have silted up and, today, form shallow depressions in the countryside. They lie on the territory of the village of Boos (in the collective municipality of Vordereifel), a few ...

(W of

Boos Boos or BOOS may refer to:.. Places France * Boos, Seine-Maritime, in Seine-Maritime, France *Boos, Landes, in Landes, France Germany * Boos, Bavaria, in Bavaria, Germany * Boos, Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Boos, Mayen ...

; near Kelberg) * Dreiser Weiher (W of

Dreis-Brück Dreis-Brück is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Daun, whose ...

, N of

) *

Dürres Maar __NOTOC__ The Dürres Maar is a maar located in the vicinity of the village of Gillenfeld, Germany in the West Eifel mountains about 400 metres northwest of the Holzmaar. The Dürres Maar ist a dry maar, the original maar lake has silted u ...

(SW of

Gillenfeld Gillenfeld is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Daun, whose se ...

) * Duppacher Weiher (near

Duppach Duppach is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' (a municipality), part of a group of municipalities called the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, which is located in the town of ''Gerolstein'' in the Vulkaneifel district of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germ ...

, NW of

Gerolstein Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a ''Luftkurort'' (spa town). History As early as the Stone ...

) * Geeser Maar (E of

, N of Gees) *

(near Eckfeld) * Eigelbacher Maar (near Kopp, county of

; 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

) *

Schalkenmehrener Maar The Schalkenmehrener Maar is a maar roughly southeast of the town of Daun in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is one of the Daun Maars (''Dauner Maare'') or Daun Maar Group and is a double maar, comprising a western maar ...

E (of

Schalkenmehren Schalkenmehren is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland ...

) * Schönfelder Maar (SW of

Stadtkyll Stadtkyll is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a '' Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, ...

-Schönfeld) * Steffelner Laach or "Laach Maar" (near

) * Dehner Maar (near Reuth) * Walsdorfer Maar ("Schilierwiese"; S of Walsdorf; maar basin: c. 1150 m × 1000 m) * Wollmerather Maar (near

Wollmerath Wollmerath is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Ulmen, whose se ...

)

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 Windsborn Crater Lake () is a water-filled volcanic crater in the Eifel mountains in Germany. It is located near Bettenfeld in the county of Bernkastel-Wittlich and in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and belongs to a group of four craters known ...

and Hinkelsmaar in the Manderscheid Volcano Group near

Bettenfeld Bettenfeld is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The village lies in the southern Vul ...

, crater lakes of the Mosenberg (Eifel), Mosenberg *

near

Maria Laach Maria Laach Abbey (in German: ''Abtei Maria Laach'', in Latin: ''Abbatia Maria Lacensis'' or ''Abbatia Maria ad Lacum'') is a Benedictine abbey situated in Glees, on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), in the Eifel regio ...

, 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 Volcanic pipes or volcanic conduits are subterranean geology, geological structures formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of deep-origin volcanoes. They are considered to be a type of ''diatreme''. Volcanic pipes are composed of a deep, narro ...

which has become a maar * Papenkaule, a

, and the associated eruption site of the Hagelskaule * Elfenmaar near

Bad Bertrich Bad Bertrich is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Ulmen, wh ...

, 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 Messel is a municipality in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in Hesse near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The village is first mentioned, as ''Masilla'', in the Lorsch codex. Messel was the property of the lords of Groschlag from ca. 1400 to 1799 ...

in the county of

Darmstadt-Dieburg Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis (district) in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds. Histo ...

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 The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

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 The Randecker Maar is a maar – a volcanic crater about wide. It is in the Swabian Jura mountains, in the municipality Bissingen an der Teck near Stuttgart and was formed around 17 million years ago. A lake formed in the crater and its bed i ...

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 Oberwiesenthal (; officially Kurort Oberwiesenthal) is a town and a ski resort in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony in Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, on the border with the Czech Republic, 19 km south of Annaberg-Buchho ...

, 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 The Chaîne des Puys (; ) is a north-south oriented chain of cinder cones, lava domes, and maars in the Massif Central of France. The chain is about 40 km (25 mi) long, and the identified volcanic features, which constitute a volcanic ...

in France contains numerous maars;

Lake Albano Lake Albano (Italian: ''Lago Albano'' or ''Lago di Castel Gandolfo'') is a small volcanic crater lake in the Alban Hills of Lazio, at the foot of Monte Cavo, southeast of Rome. Castel Gandolfo, overlooking the lake, is the site of the Papal ...

in the

Alban Mountains The Alban Hills () are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio. The high Monte Cavo forms a highly visible peak in the centre of the caldera, but the highest point is ...

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 The Campo de Calatrava volcanic field is a volcanic field in Spain. The volcanic field is in the centre of the province of Ciudad Real, in a region known as Campo de Calatrava. The volcanic field has an area of more than 5000 km2 and more th ...

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 The Ukinrek maars () are two volcanic craters on the north side of the Aleutian Range in Alaska that were formed by a phreatomagmatic eruption in 1977. The maars are 1.5 km south of Becharof Lake and 12 km northwest of Peulik Volcano, o ...

, 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 Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

(

Battle Ground Lake Battle Ground Lake State Park is a public recreation area located northeast of the city of Battle Ground, Washington. The state park is covered by an evergreen forest that surrounds a crater lake of volcanic origin. The park is managed by the ...

); 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 A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

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 Hole-in-the-Ground is a large maar (volcanic explosion crater) in the Fort Rock–Christmas Lake Valley basin of Lake County, central Oregon, northeast of Crater Lake, near Oregon Route 31. It is about across, a little longer N-S than E-W. ...

, 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 Ubehebe Crater ( ) is a large volcanic crater of the Ubehebe Craters volcanic field in the northern half of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, California, United States. Geography Ubehebe Crater is located at the north tip of the C ...

); 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 The Soda Lakes are two lakes located northwest of Fallon, Nevada. They occupy two basaltic maar volcano craters which may have erupted in the last 1,500 years. The larger lake, called Soda Lake or Big Soda Lake, is somewhat elongated, stretching ...

); as well as the maars of the

White Rock Canyon White Rock is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Los Alamos County, New Mexico. It is one of two major population centers in the county; the other is Los Alamos (the county seat). The population was 5,725 at the 2 ...

, Mount Taylor, the Potrillo volcanic fields ( Kilbourne Hole and

Hunt's Hole Kilbourne Hole is a maar volcanic crater, located west of the Franklin Mountains (Texas), Franklin Mountains of El Paso, Texas, in the Potrillo volcanic field of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Another maar, Hunt's Hole, lies just south. Kilbour ...

), and

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 Cerro Overo is a volcanic crater in Chile. It lies at the foot of Chiliques volcano and close to Laguna Lejía, over ignimbrites of Pliocene age erupted by the La Pacana volcano. It is wide and deep and formed through combined explosive-effusi ...

and

Cerro Tujle Cerro Tujle (also known as Cerro Tucle or Cerro Tugle) is a mafic volcanic centre in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, Chile. It forms a maar that may have formed half a million years ago. Its eruption products are aphyric. Previously in 1 ...

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 Lake Ram ( and Birkat el-Ram. ) is a crater lake (maar) in the northeastern Golan Heights near the village of Mas'ade and Mount Hermon. History Josephus referred to it as Lake Phiala. The sources of the lake are rain water and an underground sp ...

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

in the

Oku Volcanic Field The Oku Volcanic Field or Oku Massif is a group of volcanoes based on a swell in the Cameroon Volcanic Line, located in the Oku region of the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. The Mount Oku stratovolcano rises to 3,011 m above sea level. ...

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 Al Wahbah Crater (), also ''Maqlaʿ Ṭamiyyah'' (), is a volcanic crater, which is about away from Ta'if on the western edge of the Harrat Kishb basalt plateau in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia (lat. 22.90632, lon. 41.13849). The Harrat K ...

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 is a national park in Kyūshū, Japan. It is composed of Kirishima-Kagoshima Bay, an area of Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture known for its active volcanoes, volcanic lakes, and onsen. The total area is . History On March 16, 1934, ...

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 ...

Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan National Park is a national park in Niigata Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Established in 2015, and formerly part of Jōshin'etsu-kōgen National Park, the park comprises an area of in the municipalities of Itoigawa and Myōkō in Niigata Prefect ...

there is Kagamiike Pond as well as many on the volcanic island of

Miyake-jima is a Volcano, volcanic island in the Izu Islands, Izu archipelago in the Philippine Sea approximately southeast of Tokyo, Japan. As with the other islands in the Izu Island group, Miyake-jima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. ...

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 Mount Sempu is a volcano in the northern arm of Sulawesi, Indonesia, which contains a 3 km wide caldera. A maar, called Kawah Masem, was formed in the south-west of the caldera and contains a crater lake. Sulfur deposits have been extracted ...

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 The Newer Volcanics Province is a geological area which is a volcanic field, formed by the East Australia hotspot across south-eastern Australia. It covers an area of , with over 400 small shield volcanoes and volcanic vents. The area contains ...

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 Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, 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 Mount Schank is a high dormant volcano in the southeast corner of South Australia, near Mount Gambier. It was sighted by James Grant on 3 December 1800 and named after Admiral John Schank, designer of Grant's ship, HMS '' Lady Nelson''. Mo ...

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 Foulden Maar is a fossil site near Middlemarch in Otago, New Zealand. The fossils were deposited in the small deep crater lake of a maar formed around 23 million years ago by a volcano in the Miocene era. The crater lake existed for a period of ...

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

, but the

has other easily accessible maars such as the Mangere Lagoon, Orakei Basin,

Panmure Basin The Panmure Basin (traditionally known in Māori as Kaiahiku or Te Kopua Kai-a-Hiku), also sometimes known as the Panmure Lagoon, is a tidal estuary within a volcanic crater or maar in New Zealand's Auckland volcanic field. It is located to the ...

, and Pukaki Lagoon. Elsewhere a recent example, only 4000 years old, is Lake Rotokawau in the

Bay of Plenty Region The Bay of Plenty Region is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region in the North Island of New Zealand. Also called just the Bay of Plenty (BOP), it is situated around the Bay of Plenty, marine bight of that same name. The bay was name ...

Gallery

Image:Totenmaar weinfelder maar eifel.jpg,

Weinfelder Maar __NOTOC__ The Weinfelder Maar, also called the Totenmaar, is a maar around two kilometres southeast of the town of Daun in the Eifel Mountains, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Geography The maar lake was formed about 10,500 years ...

, one of the three maars originally described Image:Maar Israel.JPG, The maar at

Birkat Ram Lake Ram ( and Birkat el-Ram. ) is a crater lake ( maar) in the northeastern Golan Heights near the village of Mas'ade and Mount Hermon. History Josephus referred to it as Lake Phiala. The sources of the lake are rain water and an undergrou ...

, the

Image:Zengena Hayq.JPG,

Zengena Lake Zengena Lake () is a crater lake located at in the Awi Zone of the Amhara Region in Ethiopia. It is situated between the towns of Injibara and Kessa, only 200 m from the Addis Ababa-Bahir Dar highway at an elevation of 2500 m. The diameter of t ...

, 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 El Elegante (Spanish for ''elegant one'') is a maar (a type of volcanic crater) located in the Gran Desierto de Altar in the Sonoran Desert, Mexico. At deep and across, it is the largest in the volcanic complex of Pinacate Peaks. Formation ...

, in

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

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 Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate ( Na2CO3·10H2O, a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. ...

-rich clay on the crater floor File:Hunt's Hole aerial 1.jpg,

in the

Potrillo volcanic field The Potrillo volcanic field is a Monogenetic volcanic field, monogenetic volcanic field located on the Rio Grande Rift in southern New Mexico, United States and northern Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua, Mexico. The volcanic field lies southwest of ...

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 .

Etymology

Maar lakes and dry maars

Distribution

Examples

Germany

= Eifel maars

= Maars outside the Eifel

Rest of Europe

Americas

Middle East and Africa

Asia and Oceania

Gallery

See also

Footnotes

References

Literature

External links