How?

[sunoco]

I am new here. Is it possible to make a mountain or edit the terrain on google earth? I need to do an experiment. If it is possible what utillities do i need?

[GEH4EVR]

Sadly that is not possible as the information is drawn off the internet.

Sorry.

[sunoco]

is there another program similar to google earth where i can do this?

[BradG7]

There is a program called Terragen, but I doubt it's what you're looking for :slant:

[sunoco]

ok. heres the deal, a local moutnain near where i live used to be a volcano. 5 million years ago it blew its to. now it is 11,000 feet in elavation. i want a program to estimate how high it would be had it not exploded.
so is there a program?

[Gandolf]

What is the name of the volcano / mountain where you live?

[sunoco]

Mount taylor New Mexico. elevation= 11,301 feet.

[sunoco]

anybody?

[BradG7]

I'm guessing that there is no such program, but a geologist could probably help you with that question. Maybe at a local museum there is somebody that can help you. ;)
However, from my shallow knowledge of geography, mountains won't loose much elevation at all after an eruption, they may "blow thier lid", but that just means that they broke a shell inside the crater. Mountains don't become volcanic, they either are or aren't volcanic when they're formed. So maybe add an extra 40 feet at the most :slant:

[Gandolf]

This is all I could come up with. I asked JPL/Nasa group but they have no way of estimating the height of a volcano that old. (no historical data other than alkali balsalt from the area dating to 2 million years.)

Mount Taylor
One of the great volcanic cones of the Colorado Plateau, Mount Taylor rises to an elevation of 11,301 feet and last erupted some 2 million years ago. Numerous fissure eruptions since that time and as recently as about 1,200 years ago have created lava flows that create malpais or badlands along portions of this route.

[sunoco]

find it on google earth. as you can see the mountin is a giant crater. It seems the eruptions were very large.

[shrinkingman]

Mount Taylor is estimated to have been at least 12000 feet, possibly as much as 22000 feet, before the eruption. For comparison, Mount St Helens lost about 1300 feet in the 1980 eruption.

[sunoco]

I estimated it at 19,000 feet. Very large. I of course could be wrong. I guesed based on the trajectory and slope of the mountain. I will do more research and maybe contct a geologist. At the abq museum i belive there is some info. havnt ben there in a long time. I will continue this.

PS:i am doing all this just for fun if you want to know.

[BradG7]

I think that your projectins could be off, because normal mountains are formed by two chunks of the crust meeting, but volcanoes are formed from overlapping lava. This means that the angles of the edge of the crater can't help determine height. So your calculations, unfortunatly, cannot be right :slant:

[sunoco]

mount taylors last eruption is believed to be exsplosive. even though my way will definately not be right, i can at least get somewhat close. how about studying the rock? i dont know. If the mountain was say 15,000 feet. a large eruption would have blown the top off. judjing by the amount of volcanic rock around the mountain, it can be assumed that it was a very large eruption. the crater is 8 and a half miles around. the summits topographical prominence is in the somewhere in the region of 4,000 feet. The main question is how many times did it erupt? how big was the crater after the first eruption , and how long ago this happened. At its absolute peak(millions of years ago.) 22,000 feet dosnt sound too far fetched.(Although it does sound a little high.)

[Gandolf]

Remember also that Mount Saint Helens spread debris over a very large area. This is not the fact at Mount Taylor. It does have lava fissures that spread lava at a low area. This was done during the past 1200 years. There is also a coal deposit on or near the mountain which shows the age. But it also shows that there was erosion, possibly by glacial activity.

[BradG7]

Sunoco, you are still missing the point that a mountaon doesn't blow it's top off, it's a crater to brgin with if it's volcanic. So an eruption comes from the center of the equator, not loosing much elevation, in fact it most likely raises it.
If you need, I can make an illusatration ;)

[Gandolf]

Actually they do lose height. Mount Saint Helens lost several hundred feet from its top. It has grown back because it is active. Mount Taylor is not active as a volcano; in fact if you check volcanoes in GE it is not even listed. It is active as the lava fissures are close to the surface and have moved magma to the top with-in the past 1200 years. They are low on the side of the mountain.

Reference from The Albuquerque Volcanoes:
If you were to look down on the Albuquerque Volcanoes you would see that they are arranged in a nearly straight line. This also is apparent if you stand on top of one volcano and look across to the next one. This is simply because they erupted along a fracture in the crust. Fractures of this type along which eruptions take place are referred to as "fissure eruptions".

Small volcanoes do not reactivate like big volcanoes, but the area around Albuquerque remains potentially active, mainly because of its location in the Rio Grande Rift. A new volcano could erupt, if not along the Albuquerque Volcanoes, at least somewhere within the rift.

One of the larger earthquake swarms in New Mexico occurred in 1972 beneath the Volcanoes. There is no particular evidence that this was new magma moving up a crack. Instead, the earthquake swarm may have been re-adjustments of dikes and faults at great depth as the deeper portions of the dike continue to cool and contract.

[sunoco]

Ok. I have researched everything i can.
Here is my summary:
The mountains last eruption was belived to be much more powerfull than mount saint helens eruption. The mountain had previously erupted, but theese were small ones. Each one added to the height. At its peak the mountain was ?????? high. The major eruptions that destroyed the mountain was (My estimate.) a vei 6.(For those who dont know, that is a VERY powerfull volcano.) My estimate? An eruption would take off at least 1000 feet from the moutnin. My estimate on the size? 12,000-18,000 feet lowered to 11,301 feet.

[Ebinn725]

Bradg7, not all volcanoes erupt up. Mt. St. Helens was a lateral eruption, which means it erupted sideways. Mt. Taylor was also a lateral eruption, about twice the size of St. Helens. If St. Helens lost 1300 ft. I would estimate Taylor lost anywhere from 1300-2600 ft.

Brad take a look at this site, an illustration for you :)

http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html

Natural history museum in ABQ has some info on Mt. Taylor, one of the over looked volcanoes in NM... Just like the Valles Caldera and the Socorro magma body. NM is not finished with its volcanoes.