Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Big Cave.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Big Cave.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Big Cave.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

323805

Pleistocene

1,259 m / 4,131 ft

40.955°N
121.365°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Shield

Volcano Types
Shield
Pyroclastic cone(s)

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Geological Summary

The Big Cave shield volcano, at the northern end of an area of late-Quaternary volcanism extending north from Lassen Peak, is a small basaltic shield with young pyroclastic cones at the summit and north flank. Big Cave volcano was considered to be of either Holocene (Luedke and Smith, 1981; Miller, 1989) or latest Pleistocene or Holocene age (Sarna-Wojcicki et al., 1983). The inconspicuous low shield volcano, located between Big Lake on the north and Bald Mountain on the south, is surrounded by an extensive now forested lava field. Big Cave was considered by Clynne, 2007 pers. comm.) to probably be of similar age as nearby Cinder Butte volcano, which was dated at 38,000 ± 7000 years.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

California Div. Mines and Geology, 1958-69. Geologic atlas of California, 1:250,0000 scale.. Calif Div Mines Geol.

Clynne M A, 2007. (pers. comm.).

Luedke R G, Smith R L, 1981. Map showing distribution, composition, and age of late Cenozoic volcanic centers in California and Nevada. U S Geol Surv Map, I-1091-C.

Sarna-Wojcicki A M, Champion D E, Davis J O, 1983. Holocene volcanism in the conterminous United States and the role of silicic volcanic ash layers in correlation of latest Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. In: Wright H E (ed) Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States, Minneapolis: Univ Minnesota Press, 2: 52-77.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Big Cave. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Big Cave page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Big Cave.

Photo Gallery

Big Cave shield volcano, at the northern end of an area of late-Quaternary volcanism extending north from Lassen Peak, is a small shield with young pyroclastic cones at the summit and north flank. The volcano is seen here from the west, with the summit cones forming the low forested hills right of the photo center. Forested lava flows extend from the summit of the low shield volcano. The age of Big Cave volcano is not known precisely, but it formed in either the Holocene or latest Pleistocene.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1998 (Smithsonian Institution).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Big Cave in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Big Cave. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Big Cave. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Big Cave

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).