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Volcanic activity similar to Kilauea's shaped Northern Arizona

Violent volcanic activity much like what we've seen from Kilauea in Hawaii helped shape Arizona in the not-too-distant past.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Violent volcanic activity much like what we’ve seen from Kilauea in Hawaii helped shape Arizona in the not-too-distant past.

The science center director with the U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Laszlo Kestay, said activity much like what we’ve seen in Hawaii helped form Sunset Crater Volcano and that it was only a matter of time before another eruption like this one happened in Northern Arizona.

Kestay said the more explosive activity coming out of Kilauea was out of the ordinary for this volcano. He said a more common sight over the last three decades was lava slowly making its way to the Pacific Ocean.

“What has changed is where the lava is coming out of the ground, and it has shifted down into a location where people have homes as opposed to being in the national park,” Kestay said.

The science center director said though devastating to these communities, there was a greater threat in the dropping level of the active lava lake at Kilauea’s summit.

“When it drops that quickly that far, it means that water can rush into the space that the lava has basically vacated and you can start mixing very hot rock and water, and that could lead to some very large steam explosions,” Kestay said.

This would send missiles of ash and huge boulders into the air, much like Mount St. Helens did in 1980, but tourists at the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona said such violence can turn into a peaceful serenity years later.

Richard Nopprapun of Thailand was amazed by the beauty and diversity of the scenery in the High Country.

“It’s scary, but I’m sure that after it’s cooled down, it’s probably as beautiful as this place here,” Nopprapun said.

Much of Northern Arizona between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon is dotted with dormant volcanoes.

“I respect it, and it’s a fascinating geology,” Todd Spencer said during his visit from Massachusetts.

All the volcanic activity gave our state the youngest volcano in the southwest, Sunset Crater.

“That erupted roughly a thousand years ago, and that’s the kind of eruption we would expect to see again in the future someday, probably in a few thousand years,” Kestay said.

The 18,000 square-mile San Francisco volcanic field also gave birth to Arizona’s highest point, Humphreys Peak—part of the scenic extinct volcano known as the San Francisco peaks.

Kestay said there was no need to for humans to worry about the next eruption out of the San Francisco volcanic field. He warned instead, we should be concerned with the amount of tourism an event like that would bring to the area.

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