NEW ANIMATIONS DEPICTING VOLCANIC FEATURES AND PROCESSES AT CRATERS OF THE MOON NATIONAL MONUMENT AND PRESERVE, IDAHO

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho, contains textbook examples of basaltic volcanism, yet some of the Monument’s volcanic geology remains poorly understood. As ongoing research offers new and more detailed understanding of the basaltic volcanic processes that formed the resource, Monument personnel are faced with the challenge of presenting new and complicated interpretive material. While posters at trail-side or visitor-center kiosks have been the classic instructional tools, animation has the potential to reach a larger audience and serve it more effectively by portraying complex volcanic products and processes by combining visual and auditory methods of presentation.

We have created animations illustrating volcanic processes and products within the Monument and unique, regional geologic features of the eastern Snake River Plain with aid from the Educational Multimedia Visualization Center (EMVC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. FLASH, Adobe Illustrator, ArcGIS, and Final Cut Pro software were used. Animations depict and explain the formation of Monument feature attractions, such as tree molds, cinder cones (including cinder cone breaching and cinder block-rafting events), dike emplacement processes in volcanic rift zones, and formation and evolution of rhyolite domes. Animations are accompanied by narrative text, including professional and introductory levels, and/or an audio track. The target audience includes Monument visitors and earth science students and teachers of all education levels. Animations are displayed at the Monument Visitor Center as well as at workshops held at the Monument, and are available on the EMVC website for free download (http://animations.geol.ucsb.edu/). Though these animations describe regional geologic features and processes found within the Monument and elsewhere in the eastern Snake River Plain, they depict volcanic processes characteristic of basaltic volcanism throughout the world. For example, animation clips of lava tree mold formation are based on Hawaiian observations. Animations of the formation and emplacement of dikes and associated structures are applicable to Hawaiian and Icelandic basaltic volcanism.