thumb|Interior of Amboy Crater showing a [[lava lake and the distant breach in the cinder cone rim.]]

thumb|Interior of Amboy Crater from near breach showing lava lakes.

Amboy Crater is a dormant cinder cone volcano that rises above a 70-square-kilometer (27 sq mi) lava field in the eastern Mojave Desert of southern California, within Mojave Trails National Monument.

thumb|Amboy Crater at dusk

Location

The crater's location is southwest of the town of Amboy and the Route 66-National Old Trails Road. The Bullion Mountains are to the west, and the Bristol Mountains to the northeast. and was formed in layers of mostly vesicular pāhoehoe during the Pleistocene geological period. The interior has a solidified lava lake. Lava flows as old as Amboy Crater blanket the surrounding area. The most recent eruption was approximately 10,000 years ago.

Media

Amboy Crater was used as a location in the 1959 movie Journey to the Center of the Earth, with matte paintings used to alter the shape of the cone and place it within the landscape of Iceland. Fires were set inside the crater to simulate a volcanic eruption. Amboy Crater was also featured in the Viceland network show Abandoned, Season 1, episode 6: "Route 66". In HBO's From the Earth to the Moon Apollo 15 episode, Amboy Crater is overflown during astronaut training as a stand-in for the terrain of the San Francisco Volcanic Field outside of Flagstaff, Arizona.

See also

  • Lavic Lake volcanic field
  • Pisgah Crater
  • Cima volcanic field
  • Mojave National Preserve
  • Providence Mountains State Recreation Area
  • Roy's Motel and Café

References

  • Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark at the Bureau of Land Management website
  • BLM: Amboy Crater (panoramic video)