Volcanic Caldera

A volcanic caldera is a large bowl-shaped volcanic depression, which is formed as a result of subsidence. As the magma founders, so the center of the volcano collapses. The Plateau of Giant Craters in Tanzania contains many impressive calderas, including Ngorongoro, which attains a diameter of 22 km. A volcanic caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption such as the ones at Yellowstone National Park in the US and Glen Coe in Scotland. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters. The word comes from Spanish caldera, and this from Latin CALDARIA, meaning "cooking pot". In some texts the English term cauldron is also used.

Calderas occur primarily in three different volcanic settings, each of which affects their shape and evolution: basaltic shield cones, stratovolcanoes, and volcanic centers consisting of preexisting clusters of volcanoes. These last calderas, associated with broad, large-volume andesitic to rhyolitic ignimbrite sheets, are generally the largest and most impressive, and are those generally denoted by the term.

A collapse is triggered by withdrawal of magma from an underlying chamber some 2.4 – 3.6 miles beneath the surface, resulting in foundering of the roof into the chamber. If enough magma is ejected, the emptied chamber is unable to support the weight of the volcanic edifice above it. A roughly circular fracture - the "Ring Fault" develops around the edge of the chamber. These ring fractures serve as feeders for fault intrusions which are also known as ring dykes. Secondary volcanic vents may form above the ring fracture. As the magma chamber empties, the center of the volcano within the ring fracture begins to collapse. The collapse may occur as the result of a single cataclysmic eruption, or it may occur in stages as the result of a series of eruptions. The total area that collapses may be hundreds or thousands of square kilometers.

In 1815, the German geologist Leopold von Buch visited the Las Cañadas Caldera Teide, Tenerife, and the Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma, both in the Canary Islands. When he published his memoirs he introduced the term "caldera" into the geological vocabulary.

Formation of a volcanic caldera

Volcanic Caldera on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos