The Valles Caldera 1

VALLES CALDERA 3 - PANORAMA

We had lunch overlooking the southwestern moat of the Valles caldera, above a small tent-rock city. The road to the overlook was steep, windy and very dusty -- we abandoned the bus at the bottom and took turns on the van to the overlook.

Panorama mosaic image from our lunch site, overlooking the interior of the Valles caldera. In the foreground are cliffs and tent rocks developed in the Bandelier tuff, just outside the rim of the caldera. Redondo peak is the resurgent dome of the caldera, now surrounded by domes and flows of obsidian lavas. Click here for an unannotated panorama. Credit.

View from Above. This Space Shuttle image, STS040-614-063c, c/o NASA, shows the locations of the view point for the panorama and the major peaks on the horizon. The whole Valles caldera is about 30 miles in diameter, so it about that far to the 'Far Caldera Rim' on the skyline, and about 15 miles from the view point to Redondo Peak. The Valle Grande itself and the town of Los Alamos can't be seen from the viewpoint. Credit.

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