Volcanic Remnants on Cedar Mountain

The bright yellow hilltop of East Cedar Mountain overlooks a line of volcanic “neck” remnants which stand, towering above the reddish desert floor of Mussentuchit Flat.  Located in Utah, just east of the Last Chance Desert, this is an ancient land full of volcanic lava flows and debris fields and dotted with fossil beds full of dinosaur bones.   

In this image I lensed while exploring the area north of Capitol Reef and the Moroni Slopes, you can clearly see the remains of a line of small volcanic eruptions, once buried under the ground, erosion has exposed these towering black volcanic “necks” or “throats”.   

 Please open it up full screen to see the necks close up and get the full effect!  

A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if rising volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an explosive eruption. 

Glacial erosion can lead to exposure of the plug on one side, while a long slope of material remains on the opposite side. Such landforms are called crag and tail. If a plug is preserved, erosion may remove the surrounding rock while the erosion-resistant plug remains, producing a distinctive upstanding landform.
(Research Source)

In this image you can clearly see a line of 7 volcanic necks along that eroded ridge in the center of the image. Just to the top left of those you can see a small dark line that runs somewhat parallel to the throats, this is a lava feeder tube, there are dozens of these that spread out around Cedar Mountain.

This image is from my ongoing project in which I am trying to raise awareness of the 47% of the USA and 90% of Canada that remain unpopulated wilderness.  

Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition is my personal mission to introduce people to these amazing locations that surround us.  

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Yehaw!!