A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1068 entries
caldera
A large, roughly circular depression formed by the collapse of a volcano’s summit after an eruption empties or partially empties the magma chamber beneath it. The mountain falls into the void it created. Calderas can be miles across and thousands of feet deep. Crater Lake in Oregon fills a caldera. Yellowstone sits inside one.
Etymology
Spanish caldera, a cauldron or large pot, from Latin caldaria, a cooking pot.