How about Mammoth Mountain this week. It’s quite the pretty mountain, and sits right next to Long Valley Caldera.
Now, the cool thing is that this volcano formed pretty rapidly – in about 2000 years, which is fantastically fast for an 11,000 foot volcano – during an eruptive sequence of the caldera. A study has recently been done on the age of the rocks there.
The Long Valley Caldera has also been in the news recently, with an article on MSNBC talking about the two different kinds of eruptions the caldera has produced. The article mentions a recent study on the radioactive isotopes in the rocks; I’m thinking that it’s the same study that the Mammoth Mountain article talks about.
Also, speaking of calderas, Valles Caldera has a new science center. If only it had been open last year, when I did my field class in the area!