China Hat is a volcanic butte on the southeastern flank of Newberry Volcano in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is a rhyolitic dome dating from the age of the Middle Pleistocene. Both China Hat and nearby East Butte are covered by Mazama Ash and Newberry Ash.
Although China Hat is often thought of as a side vent of Newberry Volcano less than ten miles away,Jensen, Robert A. Roadside Guide to the Geology of Newberry Crater. Third edition. Bend, OR: CenOreGeoPub 2000 it is estimated to be older than first formation of the Newberry Caldera, 780,000 thousand years old Harris, Stephen L. Fire Mountains of the West. Third edition. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing 2005 versus 500,000 years ago Jensen, page 24 and is on the western edge of a series of high lava plains eruptions derived from a tongue of the same mantle plume that fuels the Yellowstone CalderaOrr, Elizabeth L. and William N. Oregon Geology. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press 2012 page 115
China Hat Road, named after the butte, starts in Bend and heads to Fort Rock. The road is a hotspot for law enforcement. China Hat Campground is a campground located near China Hat butte along this road.
The butte was named for its similarity in appearance, when viewed from Fort Rock, to the Asian conical hat worn by Chinese immigrant laborers.
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