Within Arizona is a massive but hidden near-supervolcano. Although it is long extinct, its eruptions were responsible for the creation of unusual geologic formations which are part of Chiricahua National Monument. The near-supervolcano I am referring to is called the Turkey Creek Caldera, which produced an eruption 385 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens more than 25 million years ago. Today, much of this caldera and the surrounding landscape is being considered for national park status. This video will discuss this fascinating volcanic system, and state how it formed. If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links: (Patreon: http://patreon.com/geologyhub) (YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeGh5VML5XPr5jYnzh3J6g/join) (Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: http://prospectingarizona.etsy.com) (GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: http://geologyhub.etsy.com) Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [email protected] and I will make the necessary changes. Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image (and this list does not include every license used in this video and/or thumbnail image): Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode Sources/Citations: [1] U.S. Geological Survey [2] Pallister, J., and Yager, D., 1997, Geologic map of the Turkey Creek Caldera, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey IMAP 2544, 2 maps on 2 sheets :1 col. ;111 x 71 cm., and 102 x 71 cm., sheets 125 x 78 cm. and 146 x 104 cm., folded in envelope 30 x 24 cm., https://doi.org/10.3133/i2544. [3] Pallister, J., Du Bray, E., and Hall, D., 1997, Interpretive map and guide to the volcanic geology of Chiricahua National Monument and vicinity, Cochise County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey IMAP 2541, 1 map :col. ;54 x 46 cm. on sheet 105 x 145 cm., folded in envelope 30 x 24 cm. +1 pamphlet (11 p. ; 28 cm.), https://doi.org/10.3133/i2541. [4] Robinson, J.E., Dutton, D.R., Ramsey, D.W., Lipman, P.W., and Felger, T.J., 2006, Database for the geologic map of the central San Juan Caldera cluster, southwestern Colorado in Lipman, P.W., Geologic map of the central San Juan Caldera cluster, southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2799, scale 1:50,000, 34 p. [CD-ROM]. [5] Wikipedia, "List of large-volume volcanic eruptions in the Basin and Range Province", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_large-volume_volcanic_eruptions_in_the_Basin_and_Range_Province, CC BY-SA 4.0 license [6] USGS Denver Library Photographic Collection [7] Cascades Volcano Observatory [8] Alaska Volcano Observatory [9] University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute 0:00 Strange Pillars 0:47 Chiricahua National Monument 1:26 Caldera Extent 3:09 Mid-Tertiary Ignimbrite Flare-up 3:42 Geologic Setting 4:18 Major Eruption 5:29 Post Caldera Activity