Comondu-La Purisima

The Comondú-La Purísima volcanic field, located in southern Baja California, west of the Sierra de la Giganta, dates back to the Miocene. However, the youthful morphology of some cinder cones suggested possible Holocene ages (Sawlan, 1991). The youngest lavas form blocky flows with flow ridges and are mostly located in the area between Comondú and the La Purísima river. Vents usually occur along NNW-trending faults, and many lava flows are offset, sometimes repeatedly, along grabens. Both basaltic and andesitic lava flows are present. The former are typically 5-10 m thick, and the latter are up to 60-80 m thick and form dense, glassy flows with subhorizontal fractures.