Bandera Volcano Ice Cave: Strange lava tube in New Mexico where temperatures are constantly below freezing

Bandera Volcano Ice Cave is a cavity in the ground in New Mexico where temperatures never exceed 31 degrees Fahrenheit (-0.6 degrees Celsius).

The cave was formed about 10,000 years ago when the nearby Bandera Volcano erupted violently, causing lava to harden on the surface and form a cave in the layers below. The cave’s unusual geology has allowed ice to form inside, keeping it frigid for at least 3,400 years.

The ice within the ice cave reaches a floor thickness of up to 6 meters (20 feet) throughout the year. According to the ice cave’s website, the ice cave is colonized by arctic algae, which grow on top of the ice and form a blue-green living blanket.

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Paul Mauerman, an environmental educator and director of New Mexico’s Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, said in a video that the cave is “one of the strangest places in New Mexico where it’s hot and cold at the same time.”

Ice caves are frozen because they are located inside collapsed lava tubes. Lava tubes are natural tunnels that form beneath the earth’s surface lava flows during volcanic eruptions. Because surface flows are in contact with air, they cool and solidify faster than lava flowing close to the ground. As a result, when the volcano stops erupting, the core of the lava flow drains away and the outside hardens, leaving an empty conduit or cavern.

The Ice Cave has porous walls and openings that are perfectly shaped to trap cold air inside the lava tube and keep warm air outside. According to the Ice Cave’s website, this “natural icebox” is continually replenished by rainfall and snowmelt that freezes on contact with the ice bed.

Bandera Volcano is notable because it is one of the finest and most accessible examples of cinder cone eruptions in North America. This type of eruption is brief but explosive, with droplets of lava crystallizing in the air before falling to the ground. As a result, a steep cone is formed covered with loose debris, making it difficult to climb parts of the volcano’s crater.

Bandera is currently dormant. During the eruption, one of the craters collapsed, forming an 800-foot (240 m) deep crater that visitors can observe through a fissure on the south side. The lava likely flowed through the gap into the valley below, forming a 23-mile (37-kilometer) river of lava that then solidified into a lava field, according to the website.

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