Since Ecuador is replete of volcanoes, there are also many craters.  These are basically smaller volcanoes with craters.  Some are still at work, releasing steam and gas, while others are sleeping and others are extinct.  Several harbor glaciers inside; others have lakes, forests and even small villages and farms. ome volcanic craters harbor huge quantities of lava and gas, and in a spectacularly destructive explosion, eject all this material creating an empty space into which the volcano collapses, creating a caldera. 

Calderas in other parts of the world include Crater Lake as well as Yellowstone National Park in the United States and Karakatau in Indonesia.  Crater Lake’s caldera was formed in a cataclysmic eruption of a mountain the size of Mount Ranier.  The volcano collapsed leaving a void which has been filled by water, creating the beautiful lake you see today.  Yellowstone National Park is a great example of a caldera that continues to be active.   Krakatau is considered one of the most dramatic examples of caldera formation when the Krakatau volcano destroyed itself and the island of the same name in a devastating explosion that completely destroyed itself forming an underwater caldera.  Its edges formed Verlaten and Lang Islands along with the remains of Krakatau Island. In Ecuador, Pululahua and El Reventador are examples of calderas.  Both of these are in continued activity; the inhabited Pululahua being in extremely mild activity, while el Reventador has been extremely explosive.  Cotopaxi and Tungurahua are both volcanoes that have risen from the calderas of ancient volcanoes. 

The Highest Peaks