A Sleeping Giant, Medicine Lake Volcano and The Lava Beds ...
Lava Beds National Monument is located about ten miles south of Tule Lake, California, USA, just over the Oregon-California border. Comprising the northern side of Medicine Lake Volcano, the lava beds consist of 46,000 acres of lava tube caves, lava flows and fields, cinder and splatter cones, fumeroles, craters and fault scarps.
The area was designated a National Monument in 1925 by US President Calvin Coolidge and had over 28,000 acres named as a National Wilderness Area in 1972 by the US Congress. The area was also the site of the Modoc War of 1872-1873, where Modoc leader Kientpoos, also known as Captain Jack, with a group of 50 Modoc warriors including women and children, held off 300 US soldiers in a lava rock formation that was later known as Captain Jack's Stronghold. Indigenous habitation of the area can be traced back to about 6000 years ago in the form of pictographs and petroglyphs at three different locations within the monument.
Medicine Lake VolcanoThe lava beds are part of Medicine Lake Volcano, the largest quaternary shield volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. Similar to Newberry Volcano located south of Bend, Oregon, USA, Medicine Lake Volcano began forming about one million years ago during the Pleistocene era. The primary eruption began roughly 500,000 years BP in the form of tholeiitic alumina basalt, which covers most of the lower flanks of the volcano.
Subsequent eruptions of andesite are found at the higher elevations with rhyolite and dacite covering the areas around the caldera. The most recent eruption occurred approximately 1000 years ago to create Glass Mountain, an obsidian flow that sits on the eastern rim of the caldera. The flows that created the lava tube caves occurred roughly 30,000 years BP from Mammoth and Modoc craters. The basaltic lava from these flows comprise about two thirds of the rock that covers the lava beds.
Lava Tube CavesOne of the major geologic features of the lava beds are the lava tube caves that cover the monument. There are over 700 documented caves with 22 of them having been augmented with trails, stairs and lighting for easier access. Lava tubes are formed when highly fluid lava flows down a gradual slope and quickly cools. Coming into contact with the ground and air, the bottom, sides and top of the lava cool and solidify, creating an insulated channel that allows the inside rock to remain liquid. The lava eventually drains out leaving a hollow tube. Over time, weathering and erosion create openings in the tubes forming a system of caves that cover the lava field.
Lava Tubes Tulelake California - Bookshelf
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Lava Beds National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
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Lava Beds National Monument - Tulelake, CA
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Lava Beds National Monument - Tulelake, CA - Kid friendly ...
Lava Beds National Monument Tulelake - CA: Reviews from families visiting Lava Beds ... Lava Beds National Monument features the largest concentration of lava tubes in North ...
Northern California's Lava Beds National Monument - Senior Travel
... south of Klamath Falls, Oregon and 29 miles north of the small farming community of Tulelake, California will bring you to Lava Beds National Monument. ...