Hike Through Crack in the Ground Christmas Valley, Oregon

Crack-in-the-Ground” is a volcanic fissure over two miles long and up to 70 feet deep, marks the western edge of this small, volcano-tectonic depression. The crack is the result of a tension fracture – a rock fracture at right angles to the direction of the most tension – the result of lava flows coming over the edge of a concealed fault zone. Normally, fissures like this one are filled with soil and rock by the processes of erosion and sedimentation. However, because it is located in such an arid region, very little filling has occurred and Crack-in-the-Ground exists today nearly as it did shortly after its formation thousands of years ago.