The Great Basin Atlantic Seaboard Central Valley El Elegante is a bare and black hole in the Earth. It is so hot, so raw, that NASA decided it would be the perfect place to send its astronauts before they headed for the first walks on the moon. Along time ago, 400-some volcanoes erupted in the Pinacate, spewing black pumice, rock, sand, ash and giant lava tubes. What stands today is a moonscape of cinder cones, volcanoes, and 18 massive calderas. 10 of these are the rare maar craters which dominate the landscape.
Scientists theorize that rising magma met up with ground water, creating highly pressurized steam.
The ensuing pressure caused explosions as powerful as atomic blasts and left these holes in the Earth.