Qualla: Lavic Lake Volcanic Field

Lavic Lake Volcanic Field: Introduction

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Cuneo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The lava field appears suddenly alongside the freeway between Barstow and Ludlow — a dark, flat expanse of basalt that contrasts sharply with the pale desert floor on either side. Pisgah Crater rises from the field's surface as a symmetrical cinder cone, dark against the sky, one of four Holocene volcanic features in the Lavic Lake Volcanic Field. Route 66 originally ran directly alongside it. Interstate 40 does the same.

Image: Jeff Cuneo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lavic Lake Volcanic Field: What Pahoehoe Looks Like from the Air

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Cuneo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Lavic Lake Volcanic Field covers approximately 100 square kilometers of the central Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County. The dominant feature is basaltic pahoehoe lava — the smooth, ropy type of basalt flow that forms when lava with low viscosity moves slowly and cools fro...

Image: Jeff Cuneo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lavic Lake Volcanic Field: Pisgah Crater

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Cuneo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pisgah Crater is the most accessible of the field's four Holocene cinder cones. It stands approximately 100 meters tall and rises to an elevation of 2,545 feet above sea level, enough to make it visible from some distance in the flat Mojave terrain. The crater's age is estimated ...

Image: Jeff Cuneo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lavic Lake Volcanic Field: Route 66 and the 1999 Earthquake

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Cuneo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The historic Route 66 alignment passed directly alongside Pisgah Crater, making the volcanic field one of the more dramatic roadside features on the old highway between Chicago and Los Angeles. Travelers on the original road would have driven within a few hundred feet of the cone...

Image: Jeff Cuneo | CC BY-SA 4.0