The western USA

The United States are both blessed and cursed with some of the most beautiful, fascinating, and dangerous volcanoes in the world. The USA ranks third in the world as the country with the most historically active volcanoes, being topped only by Indonesia and Japan. The USA, however, can be considered tops in terms of variety. The almost–constant, relatively benign activity of the Hawaiian volcanoes is contrasted by the imposing mountains in the Cascades Range and in Alaska, potentially lethal volcanoes that are a source of fear but also pride for the local population. Who does not remember the May 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens and the remarkable change it brought to the peaceful landscape? It could erupt again, as could many of the other equally impressive volcanoes along the western edge of the Ring of Fire. Unknown to many people, there are volcanic areas further inland in the USA that still have the potential to unleash violent activity, such as Yellowstone, once the site of a gigantic caldera-forming eruption.

There are whole books dedicated to volcanoes in the continental USA. Here I have chosen to highlight four that are rather diverse, easily accessible, and representative of the variety of volcanic landforms in the continental USA. Lassen Peak is a dome made up of viscous dacitic lava. Mount St. Helens is fascinating both as a composite volcano and as a site of a recent, devastating eruption. Yellowstone, a large caldera, is one of the world's prime geothermal areas, full of attractions beyond the famous Old Faithful. Sunset Crater in Arizona represents a smaller, milder type of volcano, the cinder cone, and is probably the world's most picturesque example of one.