| has gloss | eng: Kilbourne Hole is a maar volcanic crater, located west of the Franklin mountains of El Paso, Texas, in the Potrillo Volcanic Field of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Nearby Hunt's Hole lies several miles just south of Kilbourne Hole. These holes are rare examples of volcanic action without a mountainous rim. The theory of formation is that a volcanic eruption occurs in the presence of ground waters, beneath the surface of the earth. As the magma encounters the groundwater, explosive interactions occur. Country rocks are fragmented and expelled in the atmosphere (together with fragments of the magma), eventually creating a deep crater, the bottom of which sits below the pre-eruptive ground surface. The crater is thought to be 80,000 years old. |
