Four Craters Lava Field Four Craters Lava Field Four Craters Lava Field is a basaltic volcanic field located south east of Newberry Caldera in the U.S. state of Oregon. The volcanic field covers about 30 square kilometers. Four Pleistocene cinder cones are the source of the flows in the field and are aligned along a fissure trending N 30° W. The cones rise 75 to 120 meters above the flows and the distance between the northern most and southern most cones is about 3.5 kilometers. Closely related to the Four Craters lava field is Crack-in-the-Ground located at the southwest corner of the field. The
West Rock Ridge in faults created by the rifting apart of North America from Eurasia and Africa over a period of 20 million years. Erosion occurring between the eruptions deposited deep layers of sediment between the lava flows and around the dike, which formed sedimentary rocks. The resulting "layer cake" of igneous and sedimentary sheets was later faulted and tilted upward. Subsequent erosion wore away the weaker sedimentary layers a faster rate than the lava layers, leaving the abruptly tilted edges of the lava sheets exposed, creating the distinct linear ridge and dramatic cliff faces visible today along the Metacomet Ridge. West Rock