Sutter Buttes: The lone volcano in California's Great Valley

Fact Sheet 2011-3024
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Abstract

The volcanic spires of the Sutter Buttes tower 2,000 feet above the farms and fields of California's Great Valley, just 50 miles north-northwest of Sacramento and 11 miles northwest of Yuba City. The only volcano within the valley, the Buttes consist of a central core of volcanic domes surrounded by a large apron of fragmental volcanic debris. Eruptions at the Sutter Buttes occurred in early Pleistocene time, 1.6 to 1.4 million years ago. The Sutter Buttes are not part of the Cascade Range of volcanoes to the north, but instead are related to the volcanoes in the Coast Ranges to the west in the vicinity of Clear Lake, Napa Valley, and Sonoma Valley.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Sutter Buttes: The lone volcano in California's Great Valley
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 2011-3024
DOI 10.3133/fs20113024
Year Published 2011
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Contributing office(s) Volcano Science Center-Menlo Park
Description 4 p.
Country United States
State California
Other Geospatial Sutter Buttes
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details