A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes such as cinder cones. Lava flows may also occur. They may occur as a monogenetic volcanic field or a polygenetic volcanic field. Description Alexander von Humboldt observed in 1823 that geologically young volcanoes are not distributed uniformly across the Earth's surface, but tend to be clustered into specific regions. Young volcanoes are rarely found within cratons, but are characteristic of subduction zones, rift zones, or in ocean basins. Intraplate volcanoes are clustered along hotspot traces. Within regions of volcanic activity, volcanic fields are clusters of volcanoes that share a common magma source. Scoria cones are particularly prone to cluster into volcanic fields, which are typically in diameter and consist of several tens to several hundred individual cones. The unusually large Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt has nearly 1000 cones covering an area of . Examples Canada Atlin Volcanic Field, British Columbia Desolation Lava Field, British Columbia Garibaldi Lake volcanic field, British Columbia Mount Cayley volcanic field, British Columbia Tuya Volcanic Field, British Columbia Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, British Columbia Wrangell Volcanic Field, Yukon Territory Mexico San Quintín Volcanic Field, Baja California Durango volcanic field, Durango United States Boring Lava Field, Oregon Central Colorado volcanic field, Colorado Clear Lake Volcanic Field, California Coso Volcanic Field, California Indian Heaven, Washington Jemez Mountains, New Mexico Latir volcanic field, New Mexico Marysvale Volcanic Field, Utah Raton-Clayton volcanic field, New Mexico San Bernardino Volcanic Field, Arizona San Francisco volcanic field, Arizona San Juan volcanic field, Colorado Taos Plateau volcanic field, Taos County, New Mexico Trans-Pecos Volcanic Field, Texas Wrangell Volcanic Field, Alaska Others Aguas Zarcas volcanic field, Alajuela, Costa Rica Antofagasta de la Sierra volcanic field, Antofagasta de la Sierra Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina Auckland volcanic field, North Island, New Zealand Bayuda Volcanic Field, Sudan Tawau volcanic field, Sabah, Malaysia Central Skåne Volcanic Province, Sweden Chaîne des Puys, Auvergne, France Cu-Lao Re Group, Vietnam Haruj, Fezzan, Libya In Teria volcanic field, Algeria Laguna Volcanic Field, Philippines Manzaz volcanic field, Algeria Meidob Volcanic Field, Sudan Nemours-Nedroma, Algeria Newer Volcanics Province, Australia Oujda volcanic field, Morocco Oulmés volcanic field, Morocco Rekkame volcanic field, Morocco Todra volcanic field, Niger Vulkan Eifel, Germany Jeju Island, South Korea References See