San Francisco Mountain

by Frances Murphy

20” by 40”

The San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona are the eroded remains of a single, much higher stratovolcano called San Francisco Mountain which stood over 16,000 feet high and is over 1,000,000 years old. 92,000 years ago, the top and northeast flank of San Francisco Mountain collapsed in a giant avalanche leaving the present-day San Francisco Peaks as the edges of the collapsed mountain top. San Francisco Mountain lost 4,000 feet of elevation in the collapse. Volcanic activity in the American Southwest has shaped our landscape as well as our environment. What a sight that huge volcanic peak must have been!