page_title: Mono–Inyo Craters
section_title: Early impressions
hierarchical_section_title: Mono–Inyo Craters / History / Early impressions
caption_attribution_description: Sketch of the central part of Mono Craters
context_page_description: The Mono–Inyo Craters are a volcanic chain of craters, domes and lava flows in Mono County, Eastern California. The chain stretches 25 miles from the northwest shore of Mono Lake to the south of Mammoth Mountain. The Mono Lake Volcanic Field forms the northernmost part of the chain and consists of two volcanic islands in the lake and one cinder cone volcano on its northwest shore. Most of the Mono Craters, which make up the bulk of the northern part of the Mono–Inyo chain, are phreatic volcanoes that have since been either plugged or over-topped by rhyolite domes and lava flows. The Inyo volcanic chain form much of the southern part of the chain and consist of phreatic explosion pits, and rhyolitic lava flows and domes. The southernmost part of the chain consists of fumaroles and explosion pits on Mammoth Mountain and a set of cinder cones south of the mountain; the latter are called the Red Cones.
  Eruptions along the narrow fissure system under the chain began in the west moat of Long Valley Caldera 400,000 to 60,000 years ago. Mammoth Mountain was formed during this period.
context_section_description: The chain of craters has been the subject of several writers and naturalists. Mark Twain visited Mono Basin in the 1860s and wrote about Mono Lake, but did not mention any of the Mono–Inyo Craters except for the lake's two volcanic islands. He wrote in Roughing It (1872) that the lake was in a "lifeless, hideous desert ..." that was the "loneliest spot on earth ... little graced with the picturesque."
  Naturalist John Muir explored the area in 1869. He described the "Mono Desert" as a "... country of wonderful contrasts. Hot deserts bounded by snow-laden mountains,—cinders and ashes scattered on glacier-polished pavements,—frost and fire working together in the making of beauty. In the lake are several volcanic islands, which show that the waters were once mingled with fire."  Muir described the Mono Craters as "... heaps of loose ashes that have never been blest by either rain or snow ..."
  In the spring of 1881 and the fall of 1882, geologist Israel Russell studied the area as a side-trip during his field research of Lake Lahontan, a now dry lake that covered much of nearby Nevada during the last glacial period. His Quaternary History of the Mono Valley (1889), which included a topographic survey by Willard D. Johnson, was the first thorough scientific description of Mono Lake and its volcanic features.
  Russell named the Mono Craters and wrote: "The attention of every one who enters Mono Valley is at once attracted by the soft, pleasing colors of these craters as well as by the symmetry and beauty of their forms. They are exceptional features in the scenery of the region, and are rendered all the more striking by their proximity to the angular peaks and rugged outlines of the High Sierra."
caption: Drawing of the Mono Craters by John Muir
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