complex volcano

{{Short description|Landform of more than one related volcanic centre}}

{{Redirect2|Volcano complex|Volcanic complex|a group of related volcanos|Volcanic group}}

{{More citations needed|date = March 2016}}

File:Mount Ararat and the Yerevan skyline in spring (50mm).jpg, Turkey]]

Image:Homa mountain.jpg, Kenya in 1994]]

Image:Pacaya erupting in 1976.jpg, Guatemala in 1976 ]]

Image:Banahaw.jpg, Luzon, the Philippines in 1989 ]]

Image:Flores Moni Kelimutu.jpg, Flores, Indonesia]]

A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano or a volcanic complex, is a mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock.{{Cite web|url = http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/dieng-volcanic-complex|title = Dieng Volcanic Complex – Volcano World – Oregon State University|website = volcano.oregonstate.edu|date = 29 September 2010|publisher = Oregon State University|access-date = 2016-03-21}} They may form due to changes in eruptive habit or in the location of the principal vent area on a particular volcano.{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OhKWHJqZy8cC|title = Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes|publisher = Rosen Publishing|year = 2010|isbn = 9781615301065|editor-last = Rafferty|editor-first = John P.|location = New York|pages = 174}} Stratovolcanoes can also form a large caldera that gets filled in by a lava dome, or else multiple small cinder cones, lava domes and craters may develop on the caldera's rim.{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BilBFXIW5c4C|title = Volcanoes|last1 = Decker|first1 = Robert|last2 = Decker|first2 = Barbara|publisher = W. H. Freeman and Company|year = 2006|isbn = 9780716789291|edition = 4th|location = New York|pages = 170|author-link = Robert W. Decker}}

Although a comparatively unusual type of volcano, they are widespread in the world and in geologic history. Metamorphosed ash flow tuffs are widespread in the Precambrian rocks of northern New Mexico, which indicates that caldera complexes have been important for much of Earth's history. Yellowstone National Park is on three partly covered caldera complexes. The Long Valley Caldera in eastern California is also a complex volcano; the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado are formed on a group of Neogene-age caldera complexes, and most of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks of Nevada, Idaho, and eastern California are also caldera complexes and their erupted ash flow tuffs. The Bennett Lake Caldera in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory is another example of a Cenozoic (Eocene) caldera complex.