Below Is A Diagram Of The Process Of The Mount Mazama Explosion, And The Building Of Crater Lake By Harold L. Levin
7,700 years ago, one of the biggest recent volcanic explosions of our planet occurred. Mount Mazama erupted. Technically, Mount Mazama was referred to as a series of actives volcanoes which were part of the Cascades Mountain range. However, the explosion began when an incomprehensible lava erupted from the volcanoes. Over 50 cubic kilometers of magma spewed forth from the volcano! This lava melted and moved rock, forcing the 12,000 feet (3658 meters) tall volcano to collapse on itself and create a pit nearly 2,000 feet (588 meters) deep. This pit called a caldera, or a great gap formed from the collapsing of a volcano. Over time, this caldera continually filled with water to become the largest North American lake today. Mount Mazama is one of our planet's most catastrophic, bewildering, and earth-changing, eruptions in earth's history, and is certainly the highlight of Crater Lake National Park's geology.