The Institute team set out early and arrived in the region around 11:00 AM MST, choosing to first explore the Inyo Craters, phreatic volcanoes that erupted about 600 years ago. After exploring the craters, the team moved to the nearby Earthquake Fault, a misnamed volcanic fissure that opened around the same time as the Inyo Craters erupted. Subsequent to that, the team then visited Hot Creek, an area of geothermal activity that includes fumaroles, boiling pools and springs. Within the creek itself superheated water wells up from multiple subsurface vents. The next stop for the team was Obsidian Dome, a mountain made from brittle, glass-like obsidian lava. Following the stop at Obsidian Dome, the group moved to nearby Devil's Punchbowl, another phreatic crater with a large resurgent dome in the middle. From there the team traveled to Panum Crater, yet another phreatic crater on the shore of Mono Lake. Nearby the group visited the shore of Mono Lake itself, a salt water lake with no outlet. Numerous limestone towers known as tufa are found there, formed when the calcium carbonate in the lake formed around underwater springs. This final exploration complete, the science team returned to Molossia, having gained new insight into the amazing, powerful and sometimes violent forces that mold and shape our world.
Visit the webpage of the Molossian Institute of Volcanology here.
Long Valley Caldera and Mono Lake.
Inyo Craters
from Above.
North Crater.
North Crater Panorama.
