- 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. - Penstemon
Along the perimeter of the flow, a unique microhabitat for plants exists. In places, water collects on the surface of the flow and is then channeled through fractures to the edge where it locally benefits plants. White-barked aspen trees grow around the perimeter of the flow and along fracture systems. In area of deep cinder, like the dunes in the distance to your left, specialized plants have evolved. The Sunset Crater penstemon evolved new traits which allow it to live on cinder soils but also make this endemic plant dependent on this habitat. It cannot survive elsewhere. - 1 01
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