The cone was named by John Wesley Powell, first director of the U.S. Geological Survey, for the topmost cap of oxidized, red spatter which makes it appear bathed in the light of the sunset. The last eruption took place sometime between about 1080 and 1150 AD. Once things cooled down, the new cinder cone stood 1,000 feet tall where flat land with open meadows and forests were before. Stay tuned! About half of the scoria fell very near its source and built Sunset Crater cinder cone, the rest blanketed the region with ash and other small volcanic particles. Less than a thousand years ago, around 1085 CE, Sunset Crater Volcano erupted, spewing red-hot rock and fire up to 850 feet into the air. The last eruption from the Sunset Crater was an explosive eruption, an eruption that is destructive and may blow out ash, gas, and hot debris. Click here to view the full activity on the K … San Francisco Mountain and Sunset Crater are only two of the hundreds of volcanoes in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, which covers about 1,800 square miles of northern Arizona. The ring of colorful cinders reminded the people of a bright sunset, giving the cone the name Sunset Crater, which I have never considered to be a very clever name. It is one of the youngest volcanoes in the United States. At the same time, lava flows issued from the cone vent and reached up to 11 km (nearly 7 mi) from the source. Structure built by Anasazi and Singuan people north of Sunset Crater, Arizona, in Wupatki National Monument. Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Flagstaff: "How far did rocks travel from the eruption in..." | Check out answers, plus see 2,056 reviews, articles, and 1,280 photos of Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, ranked No.9 on Tripadvisor among 194 attractions in Flagstaff. Gas pressure produced a roaring fountain of lava estimated at 850 feet (260m) high. The last great Volcanic period in Northern Arizona started in 1,064-65 AD.. Sometime between 1040 and 1100 A.D., Sunset Crater erupted; the last in a six million year history of volcanic activity in Flagstaff. The Sunset Crater eruptions continued for 150 years on and off. The eruptions created one of the youngest scoria cones in the contiguous United States. Photo by Ed Wolfe, 1977 (U.S. Geological Survey). The eruption was Strombolian in style and large, with eruption columns as high as several hundred feet (meters). The cone is about 1,000 feet (300 m) high and 1 mile (1.6 km) in base diameter. The monument is managed by the National Park Service in conjunction with nearby Wupatki National Monument. Volcanoes and Lava Flows Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument preserves two volcanoes. The volcano has partially revegetated, with pines and wildflowers. This feels like a land born of water, not fire. Sunset Crater, located in north-central Arizona, actually the youngest volcano found on the 130,000-square-mile at Colorado Plateau. Sunset Crater erupted about 1085 A.D. Sunset Crater Volcano erupted over 900 years ago, making it the youngest cinder cone in a field of over 600 volcanoes. Much of the ground surface is covered by lava flows or deep volcanic ash and cinder deposits (all of LIST OF DATES PERTAINING TO THE ERUPTION Sunset Crater in northern Arizona is one of the youngest volcanoes in the USA. The date of the eruptions that formed the 340-meter-high cone (1,120 ft) was initially derived from tree-ring dates, suggesting the eruption began between the growing seasons of AD 1064–1065. A 1-mile (1.6 km), self-guided loop trail is located at the base of Sunset Crater, but hiking to the summit is not permitted. The crater is within the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. 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