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- Zuni Bowl
Description: Zuni bowl from the Museum of Northern Arizona gift shop. Originally acquired from the CG Wallace Collection in the 1960s. Made circa 1925. Design is comprised of geometric shapes painted in brownish/orange and dark brown on white. Dimensions: 6 in (Diam), 2.5 in (H). Collection: On display at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument (catalog card). - Zuni Bowl
Description: Zuni bowl from the Museum of Northern Arizona gift shop. Originally acquired from the CG Wallace Collection in the 1960s. Made circa 1925. Design is comprised of geometric shapes painted in brownish/orange and dark brown on white. Dimensions: 6 in (Diam), 2.5 in (H). Collection: On display at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument (catalog card). - Xenolith
Patterns often reveal forces otherwise invisible to us. As you cross the bridge, look to your right for a small light-colored rock embedded in the dark basalt rock. This is a xenolith (zee-no-lith), a rock fragment foreign to the body of rock in which it occurs. When magma rose to the surface, it brought up pieces of limestone from 700 to 1,000 feet below us. Uplift and erosion have exposed this rock (known as Kaibab limestone) elsewhere: at the rims of Grand Canyon and nearby Walnut Canyon and in cliffs at Wupatki National Monument. - Why are Volcanoes Here?
Most volcanoes are found along tectonic plate boundaries where continents and seafloors collide or move apart. We are far from a plate boundary; consequently, geologists debate why volcanoes occur here. One theory proposes that the North American plate is moving over a stationary “hot spot.” But this theory does not explain why there are young volcanic fields all along the southern margin of the Colorado Plateau and then east to New Mexico and Oklahoma. Another more accepted theory focuses on a disruption in the flow of Earth’s mantle at the boundary between the Colorado Plateau, where the Earth’s crust is very thick, and the Basin and Range region (to the south and west), where the crust is very thin. At this transition, heat from the mantle rises and melting occurs. Ancient faults, activated by stretching of the North American plate (which has created the Basin and range and is extending into the Colorado Plateau), serve as pathways for magma to move to the surface. - Volcanoes
- Undercurrents
Beneath the lava you now stand on are perhaps dozens of caves. As lava flowed, the top surface cooled first due to contact with air. A hardened crust formed. Meanwhile, rivers of lava continued flowing below, periodically breaking through the crust to form the spatter cones you saw earlier. When the flows ceased, the remaining lava drained out the downhill end of the crusted-over channels, leaving behind tube-like caves. Most of these caves were sealed with hardened lava and have no openings to the surface. A collapse created the opening you see here. - Tree-ring Sample
Description: Dendrochronology sample from a Douglass Fir dating from the pith at A.D. 1013 to the outside ring at A.D. 1120. The ring marked "1064" is the most commonly accepted date for the eruption of the Sunset Crater volcano. Dimensions: 6.75 in (L), 1 in (Th). Collection: On display at the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Traditions
The ancestors of today’s Hopi and Zuni Indians witnessed the eruption. In some Hopi accounts, the Qa’na Katsina caused Palatsmo (Sunset Crater) to erupt after people engaged koyaanisqatsi, a life out of balance. For Hopi people, Palatsmo is a living reminder: if people stray from their religious ideals and lifeway, there may be another eruption. In Zuni traditions, stories of the eruption were carefully guarded because of the belief if people continually dwell upon negative events those events will happen.
Regardless of our worldview, places like Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument help us to better understand each other and the forces that continually affect our lives. - The Birth of a Mountain
- Testing the Surveyor Camera System
Description: In 1964, the camera system ultimately used on during the Surveyor missions was tested on the Bonito Lava Flow in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The lava flow was selected for the test because it was thought that it would reflect light the same way as expected on the lunar surface. Collection: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 013; USGS photo, P879B, F651112. - Testing the Lunar Staff
Description: Preparing to test the Lunar Staff. This is probably Gene Phillippi, a member of the Branch of Astrogeology. Collection: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 016h. - Testing the First Spacesuits, 1964
Description: The first spacesuits were tested in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in 1964, but not by astronauts. Although members of the Apollo crew were present, the suits were too small for any of them, so the actual tests were done by Gene Shoemaker, Jerry Harbor, and Gene Phillippi, all of the Branch of Astrogeology, which later became NASA. Collection: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 016a. - Testing Suits on the Bonito Lava Flow
Description: One test of the suits involved climbing on the Bonito Lava Flow, where sharp stones and loose footing were both hazards. Collection: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 016b. - Testing an Early Concept of the Lunar Staff
Description: Standing on the edge of the Bonito Lava Flow, a fully suited Gene Phillippi tests an early concept of the Lunar Staff, which is topped by a sun compass. Collection: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 016c. - Testing "Grover" at Sunset Crater Volcano NM
Description: The "Grover" - short for geologic rover - was tested on the Bonito Lava Flow in Sunset Crater Volcano NM in 1964, as well. Driving the "Grover" are Gene Cernan (fore) and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, both of whom walked on the moon as members of Apollo 17 in 1972. The lunar rover they drove while there remains at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. Collection: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 097c; NASA photo S-72-54502.