The Zambales Mountains is a mountain range on western Luzon island in the Philippines. The mountains spread along a north-south axis, separating Luzon's central plain from the South China Sea. The range extends into five provinces: Zambales, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, and Bataan. One of its most prominent sections is known as the Cabusilan Mountain Range composed of Mount Pinatubo, Mount Negron and Mount Cuadrado, which are believed to be remnants of the ancestral Pinatubo peak. The highest elevation in the Zambales Mountains is Mount Tapulao, also known as High Peak, in Zambales province which rises to 2,037 metres (6,683 ft).
The Zambales Mountains include JurassictoMioceneophiolite massifs, overlain by more recent sedimentary formation, including the Cagaluan Formation and the Santa Cruz Formation.[3]
Although the mountains are volcanic in origin,[2]Mount Pinatubo is the only active volcano in the mountain range. Its eruption on June 15, 1991 was the second most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska. The volcanic eruption, which was complicated by the arrival of Typhoon Yunya, covered the region with thick volcanic ash and lahar including the U.S. military base at Clark Field near Angeles City.
^Dimalanta, C. B.; Salapare, R. C.; Faustino-Eslava, D. V.; Ramos, N. T.; Queaño, K. L.; Yumul, G. P.; Yang, T. F. (2015). "Post-emplacement history of the Zambales Ophiolite Complex: Insights from petrography, geochronology and geochemistry of Neogene clastic rocks". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 104: 215–227. Bibcode:2015JAESc.104..215D. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2014.07.021.