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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature: Lassen Volcanic National Park


Lassen Volcanic National Park is but one of the active, dormant, or extinct volcanoes that extend around the Pacific Ocean in a great Ring of Fire. This zone of volcanoes and earthquakes marks the edges of plates that form the Earth's crust. Volcanic and seismic disturbances occur as these great slabs override or grind past each other. The theory of plate tectonics holds that as the expanding oceanic crust is thrust beneath the continental plate margins, it penetrates deep enough into the Earth to be partly re-melted. Pockets of molten rock (magma) results. These become the feeding chambers for volcanoes.

Lassen Peak is the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range, which extends from here to Canada. The western part of the park features great lava pinnacles, huge mountains created by lava flows, jagged craters, and steaming sulfur vents. It is cut by spectacular glaciated canyons and is dotted and threaded by lakes and rushing clear streams. Snow banks persist year-round and beautiful meadows are spread with wildflowers in spring. Lassen Volcanic National Park started as two separate national monuments designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907: Cinder Cone National Monument and Lassen Peak National Monument.
Lassen Volcanic National Parkhas a live volcano and hydro thermal features Nestled within Lassen's peaceful mountain forests you will find that hissing fumaroles and boiling mud pots still shape and change the land.

Hydrothermal (hot water) features at Lassen Volcanic fascinate visitors to this region of northeastern California. Boiling mud pots, steaming ground, roaring fumaroles, and sulfurous gases are linked to active volcanism and are all reminders of the ongoing potential for eruptions in the Lassen area. Nowhere else in the Cascade Range of volcanoes can such an array of hydrothermal features be seen.

Lassen Peak is made of dacite, and is one of the world's largest plug dome volcanoes. It is also the southernmost non-extinct volcano of the Cascade Range. The 10,457 foot  tall volcano sits on the north-east flank of the remains of Mount Tehama, a strato-volcano that was a thousand feet higher than Lassen and 11 to 15 miles wide at its base. After emptying its throat and partially doing the same to its magma chamber in a series of eruptions, Tehama either collapsed into itself and formed a two-mile  wide caldera in the late Pleistocene or was simply eroded away with the help of acidic vapors that loosened and broke the rock, which was later carried away by glaciers.
The Lassen area was a meeting point for at least four American Indian groups: Atsugewi, Yana, Yahi, and Maidu. Because of its weather and snow conditions, generally high elevation, and seasonally mobile deer populations, the Lassen area was not conducive to year-round living. These Native American groups camped here in warmer months for hunting and gathering.

Lassen Volcanic National Park provides habitat for approximately 216 species of birds in which 96 have been known to breed in the park. Most of the species that occur in the park are Neo-tropical migrants. These birds use the park in summer to breed and forage and then fly to Central and South America to spend the winter.

Although Lassen is primarily known for its volcanic geology, the park boasts a rich diversity of plant and animal life. Over 700 flowering plant species grace the park, providing shelter and food for 250 vertebrates as well as a host of invertebrates including insects.
Lassen Volcanic National Park has boiling water seepin through the land In May 1914, Lassen Peak burst into eruption, beginning a 7-year cycle of sporadic volcanic outbursts. The climax of this episode took place in 1915, when the peak blew an enormous mushroom cloud some 7 miles into the stratosphere. The reawakening of this volcano, which began as a vent on a large extinct volcano known as Tehama, profoundly altered the surrounding landscape.

The park is a compact laboratory of volcanic phenomena and associated thermal features except true geysers. It is part of a vast geographic unit, a great lava plateau with isolated volcanic peaks, that also encompasses Lava Beds National Monument, California, and Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. Before the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens in Washington, Lassen Peak was the most recent volcanic outburst in the continuous 48 states.

The eastern part of the park is a vast lava plateau more than 1 mile above sea level. Here are found small cinder cones such as Fairfield Peak, Hat Mountain, and Crater Butte. Forested with pine and fir, this area is studded with small lakes, but it boasts few streams. Warner Valley, marking the southern edge of the Lassen plateau, features hot spring areas including Boiling Springs Lake, Devils Kitchen, and Terminal Geyser. This forested, steep valley also has gorgeous large meadow.
Hiking in Lassen Volcanic National Park can be a fun and rewarding experience, as well as a great way to both see and experience the park. Lassen Volcanic National Park contains 150 miles of hiking trails, including 17 miles of Pacific Crest Trails. Trails vary in length and difficulty, winding through coniferous forest, alpine tundra and along water ways.  Boiling water may be present at or near the surface in park thermal areas. Stay on trails and boardwalks where provided. The crusts over some thermal features are brittle. Breaking through them can plunge you into boiling water. Keep close watch and physical control over young children. The man who named Bumpass Hell lost a leg as a result of falling into the boiling waters.

Weather plays a dramatic role at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Winter, especially, shapes the landscape; snow generally begins to accumulate each year in October, doesn't melt in most places until July, and can remain in isolated areas year round.  Summer weather is more predictable, with warm, dry days, blue skies, and cool nights. Visitors to Lassen Volcanic National Park should be prepared for any kind of weather, any time of the year.
 
 
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