CRISISBOOM

In California’s Death Valley, death is looking just a bit closer. Geologists have determined that the half-mile-wide Ubehebe Crater, formed by a prehistoric volcanic explosion, was created far more recently than previously thought—and conditions for a sequel may exist today.

Scientists dated the crater using rock fragments thrown out when it exploded. Lead author Peri Sasnett contemplates a sample.

Credit: Brent Goehring/Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Up to now, geologists were vague on the age of the 600-foot-deep crater, which formed when a rising plume of magma hit a pocket of underground water, creating an explosion. The most common estimate was about 6,000 years before present, based partly on Native American artifacts found under debris. Now, a team based at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has used isotopes in rocks blown out of the crater to show that it formed just 800 years ago, around the year 1300. That geologic youth means it probably still has Read more…