Kulshan caldera

Last updated
Kulshan caldera's intracaldera ignimbrite deposit near Upper Swift Creek Kulshan intracaldera ignimbrite deposit.jpg
Kulshan caldera's intracaldera ignimbrite deposit near Upper Swift Creek
Ptarmigan ridge trail, overlooking Mt. Baker and the remnants of the Kulshan caldera rim. Along the Ptarmigan Ridge trail...Mt Baker (8124197563).jpg
Ptarmigan ridge trail, overlooking Mt. Baker and the remnants of the Kulshan caldera rim.

The Kulshan caldera is a Pleistocene volcano in the North Cascades of Washington and one of the few calderas identified in the entire Cascade Range. [1] [2] It is the product of the Mount Baker volcanic field, which has a history stretching back to possibly 3.722 million years ago.

Contents

Geology

Precaldera activity

About ten precaldera units have been identified, [3] but none have been attributed to a major edifice like the Mount Baker we see today. Four of the ten units are composed mostly of rhyodacite which is similar in composition to the rhyodacite that was erupted in the climactic eruption. The other six are andesite dikes and scraps of dacite that are outside of the caldera margin; these six are prominent at Barometer Mountain, Slate Mountain, Chowder Ridge, Lake Ann, and Park Glacier. The rhyodacite units can be found at Dobbs Cleaver, Cougar Divide, Deadhorse Creek, and Swift Rainbow divide. [3] Some of these dikes contain pyroclastic material which indicates that explosive activity occurred before the climactic eruption.

Climactic eruption

Process of caldera-collapse Mount Mazama eruption timeline.PNG
Process of caldera-collapse

Formation of the caldera about 1.149 [3] million years ago was accompanied by the largest eruption in the history of the Mount Baker volcanic field. [4] The eruption was subglacial, blasting upward through the continental ice sheet. [1] Over 124 km3 [5] (29.7 cubic miles) of rhyodacite magma erupted from a shallow magma chamber in an ultra-plinian eruption. The magma in this water/ice interaction was quenched and shattered in phreatomagmatic explosions to produce only small fragments of pumice. [6] As the magma escaped from the shallow reservoir, the rock above it collapsed downward forming a massive 4.5 x 8 km (2.8 x 5 mi) depression. As the eruption progressed, the caldera was filled with up to 1,000 meters (3,280 ft.) of ignimbrite and tephra. [3] Tephra fell beyond the limits of the ice sheet and is preserved today at Lake Tapps [7] 125 mi (201 km) south of the caldera, and at Washtucna, Washington 300 km southeast of the caldera. [8] While rhyodacite took up the bulk composition of the eruption some andesitic pumice can be sparsely found in the rhyodacite bands. [3] After the eruption, subsequent glacial recession removed most of the tephra fallout near the caldera. Eventually stripping away all remnants of extracaldera ash flows. [3] The eruption that created the caldera was significantly larger in volume than the one that produced Crater Lake in Oregon.

Postcaldera volcanism

After the climactic eruption between 1.149 and 0.99 million years ago, about a dozen dike-fed eruptions produced rhyodacitic lava domes and lava flows inside the caldera. Another volcanic phase 1.1 to 0.5 million years ago emplaced over 60 andesite dikes, the eruptive products of which have since been stripped away by glacial erosion. It is speculated that the eruptive rocks from this volcanic phase formed one or more large andesitic cone now completely removed. [9]

Location of the Kulshan caldera Map of the Kulshan %25 Hannegan Calderas, Washington.jpg
Location of the Kulshan caldera

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Baker</span> Mountain in Washington state, United States

Mount Baker, also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a 10,781 ft (3,286 m) active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington in the United States. Mount Baker has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens. About 30 miles (48 km) due east of the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Mount Baker is the youngest volcano in the Mount Baker volcanic field. While volcanism has persisted here for some 1.5 million years, the current volcanic cone is likely no more than 140,000 years old, and possibly no older than 80–90,000 years. Older volcanic edifices have mostly eroded away due to glaciation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Bachelor</span> Dormant stratovolcano in Oregon, United States

Mount Bachelor, formerly named Bachelor Butte, is a dormant stratovolcano atop a shield volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range of central Oregon. Named Mount Bachelor because it stands apart from the nearby Three Sisters, it lies in the eastern segment of the central portion of the High Cascades, the eastern segment of the Cascade Range. The volcano lies at the northern end of the 15-mile (24 km) long Mount Bachelor Volcanic Chain, which underwent four major eruptive episodes during the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The United States Geological Survey considers Mount Bachelor a moderate threat, but Bachelor poses little threat of becoming an active volcano in the near future. It remains unclear whether the volcano is extinct or just inactive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mono–Inyo Craters</span> Volcanic chain in eastern California, United States

The Mono–Inyo Craters are a volcanic chain of craters, domes and lava flows in Mono County, Eastern California. The chain stretches 25 miles (40 km) from the northwest shore of Mono Lake to the south of Mammoth Mountain. The Mono Lake Volcanic Field forms the northernmost part of the chain and consists of two volcanic islands in the lake and one cinder cone volcano on its northwest shore. Most of the Mono Craters, which make up the bulk of the northern part of the Mono–Inyo chain, are phreatic volcanoes that have since been either plugged or over-topped by rhyolite domes and lava flows. The Inyo volcanic chain form much of the southern part of the chain and consist of phreatic explosion pits, and rhyolitic lava flows and domes. The southernmost part of the chain consists of fumaroles and explosion pits on Mammoth Mountain and a set of cinder cones south of the mountain; the latter are called the Red Cones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of the Lassen volcanic area</span> Geology of a U.S. national park in California

The Lassen volcanic area presents a geological record of sedimentation and volcanic activity in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California, U.S. The park is located in the southernmost part of the Cascade Mountain Range in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Pacific Oceanic tectonic plates have plunged below the North American Plate in this part of North America for hundreds of millions of years. Heat and molten rock from these subducting plates has fed scores of volcanoes in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia over at least the past 30 million years, including these in the Lassen volcanic areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaos Crags</span> Mountain in the Cascade range in California

Chaos Crags is the youngest group of lava domes in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. They formed as six dacite domes 1,100-1,000 years ago, one dome collapsing during an explosive eruption about 70 years later. The eruptions at the Chaos Crags mark one of just three instances of Holocene activity within the Lassen volcanic center. The cluster of domes is located north of Lassen Peak and form part of the southernmost segment of the Cascade Range in Northern California. Each year, a lake forms at the base of the Crags, and typically dries by the end of the summer season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newberry Volcano</span> Shield volcano in Oregon, United States

Newberry Volcano is a large active shield-shaped stratovolcano located about 20 miles (32 km) south of Bend, Oregon, United States, 35 miles (56 km) east of the major crest of the Cascade Range, within the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Its highest point is Paulina Peak. The largest volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, Newberry has an area of 1,200 square miles (3,100 km2) when its lava flows are taken into account. From north to south, the volcano has a length of 75 miles (121 km), with a width of 27 miles (43 km) and a total volume of approximately 120 cubic miles (500 km3). It was named for the geologist and surgeon John Strong Newberry, who explored central Oregon for the Pacific Railroad Surveys in 1855.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Mazama</span> Complex volcano in the Cascade Range

Mount Mazama is a complex volcano in the western U.S. state of Oregon, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major eruption approximately 7,700 years ago. The volcano is in Klamath County, in the southern Cascades, 60 miles (97 km) north of the Oregon–California border. Its collapse, due to the eruption of magma emptying the underlying magma chamber, formed a caldera that holds Crater Lake. Mount Mazama originally had an elevation of 12,000 feet (3,700 m), but following its climactic eruption this was reduced to 8,157 feet (2,486 m). Crater Lake is 1,943 feet (592 m) deep, the deepest freshwater body in the U.S. and the second deepest in North America after Great Slave Lake in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medicine Lake Volcano</span> Shield volcano in northeastern California, United States

Medicine Lake Volcano is a large shield volcano in northeastern California about 30 mi (50 km) northeast of Mount Shasta. The volcano is located in a zone of east-west crustal extension east of the main axis of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range. The 0.6 mi (1 km) thick shield is 22 mi (35 km) from east to west and 28 to 31 mi from north to south, and covers more than 770 sq mi (2,000 km2). The underlying rock has downwarped by 0.3 mi (0.5 km) under the center of the volcano. The volcano is primarily composed of basalt and basaltic andesite lava flows, and has a 4.3 by 7.5 mi caldera at the center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerro Azul (Chile volcano)</span> Mountain in Curicó Province, Chile

Cerro Azul, sometimes referred to as Quizapu, is an active stratovolcano in the Maule Region of central Chile, immediately south of Descabezado Grande. Part of the South Volcanic Zone of the Andes, its summit is 3,788 meters (12,428 ft) above sea level, and is capped by a summit crater that is 500 meters (1,600 ft) wide and opens to the north. Beneath the summit, the volcano features numerous scoria cones and flank vents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broken Top</span> Glacially eroded stratovolcano in the US State of Oregon

Broken Top is a glacially eroded complex stratovolcano. It lies in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, part of the extensive Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located southeast of the Three Sisters peaks, the volcano, residing within the Three Sisters Wilderness, is 20 miles (32 km) west of Bend, Oregon in Deschutes County. Eruptive activity stopped roughly 100,000 years ago, and erosion by glaciers has since reduced the volcano's cone to where its contents are exposed. There are two named glaciers on the peak, Bend and Crook Glacier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Meager massif</span> Group of volcanoes in British Columbia, Canada

The Mount Meager massif is a group of volcanic peaks in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc of western North America, it is located 150 km (93 mi) north of Vancouver at the northern end of the Pemberton Valley and reaches a maximum elevation of 2,680 m (8,790 ft). The massif is capped by several eroded volcanic edifices, including lava domes, volcanic plugs and overlapping piles of lava flows; these form at least six major summits including Mount Meager which is the second highest of the massif.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascade Volcanoes</span> Chain of stratovolcanoes in western North America

The Cascade Volcanoes are a number of volcanoes in a volcanic arc in western North America, extending from southwestern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California, a distance of well over 700 miles (1,100 km). The arc formed due to subduction along the Cascadia subduction zone. Although taking its name from the Cascade Range, this term is a geologic grouping rather than a geographic one, and the Cascade Volcanoes extend north into the Coast Mountains, past the Fraser River which is the northward limit of the Cascade Range proper.

Mentolat is an ice-filled, 6 km (4 mi) wide caldera in the central portion of Magdalena Island, Aisén Province, Chilean Patagonia. This caldera sits on top of a stratovolcano which has generated lava flows and pyroclastic flows. The caldera is filled with a glacier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of volcanism on Earth</span>

This timeline of volcanism on Earth includes a list of major volcanic eruptions of approximately at least magnitude 6 on the Volcanic explosivity index (VEI) or equivalent sulfur dioxide emission during the Quaternary period. Other volcanic eruptions are also listed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Cascade Arc</span> Canadian segment of the North American Cascade Volcanic Arc

The Canadian Cascade Arc, also called the Canadian Cascades, is the Canadian segment of the North American Cascade Volcanic Arc. Located entirely within the Canadian province of British Columbia, it extends from the Cascade Mountains in the south to the Coast Mountains in the north. Specifically, the southern end of the Canadian Cascades begin at the Canada–United States border. However, the specific boundaries of the northern end are not precisely known and the geology in this part of the volcanic arc is poorly understood. It is widely accepted by geologists that the Canadian Cascade Arc extends through the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. However, others have expressed concern that the volcanic arc possibly extends further north into the Kitimat Ranges, another subdivision of the Coast Mountains, and even as far north as Haida Gwaii.

Calabozos is a Holocene caldera in central Chile's Maule Region. Part of the Chilean Andes' volcanic segment, it is considered a member of the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ), one of the three distinct volcanic belts of South America. This most active section of the Andes runs along central Chile's western edge, and includes more than 70 of Chile's stratovolcanoes and volcanic fields. Calabozos lies in an extremely remote area of poorly glaciated mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aso Caldera</span> Caldera in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

Aso caldera is a geographical feature of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It stretches 25 kilometers north to south and 18 kilometers east to west. The central core "Aso Gogaku" is the five major mountains in the area. Aso valley (Asodani) runs along the northern base of Mount Aso and Nango valley (Nangodani) along the south. According to research of caldera sediment, lakes used to exist in these valleys. The dried up lake areas have come to be called Old Aso Lake, Kugino Lake, and Aso Valley Lake. The Kikuchi, Shirakawa and Kurokawa rivers now drain the caldera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ikeda Caldera</span> Caldera in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

Ikeda Caldera, is a volcanic caldera filled now with Lake Ikeda and associated with the older Ata Caldera on the Satsuma Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannegan caldera</span> Geologic caldera in Washington (state)

Hannegan caldera is a 3.72 million year old volcanic collapse structure in the North Cascades of the U.S. state of Washington. The caldera collapsed during two separate volcanic eruptions that produced as much as 140 km3 of rhyolite ash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascade Volcanic Arc calderas</span>

The Cascade Volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanoes stretching from southern British Columbia down to northern California. Within the arc there is a variety of stratovolcanoes like Mount Rainier and broad shield volcanoes like Medicine Lake. But calderas are very rare in the Cascades, with very few forming over the 39 million year lifespan of the arc.

References

  1. 1 2 Hildreth, Wes. "Kulshan caldera: A Quaternary subglacial caldera in the North Cascades, Washington". pubs.geoscienceworld.org. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  2. Harris, Stephen L. (1988). Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes . Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company. p.  534. ISBN   978-0-87842-220-3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hildreth, Wes (2003). "Rhyodacites of Kulshan caldera, North Cascades of Washington: Postcaldera lavas that span the Jaramillo". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 3 (130): 38.
  4. Hildreth, Wes. "Eruptive history and geochronology of the Mount Baker volcanic field, Washington". pubs.geoscienceworld.org. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  5. Smith, V.C. (2016). "Identification of a Kulshan caldera correlative tephra in the Palouse loess of Washington State, northwest USA". Quaternary Research. 2 (86): 24 via ResearchGate.
  6. "Pumice: Igneous Rock - Pictures, Definition & More". geology.com. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  7. Westgate, J. A.; Easterbrook, D. J.; Naeser, N. D.; Carson, R. J. (1987-11-01). "Lake Tapps tephra: An early Pleistocene stratigraphic marker in the Puget Lowland, Washington". Quaternary Research. 28 (3): 340–355. Bibcode:1987QuRes..28..340W. doi:10.1016/0033-5894(87)90002-0. ISSN   0033-5894. S2CID   129429216.
  8. King, Georgina; Pearce, Nick; Roberts, Helen; Smith, Victoria; et al. (2016). "Identification of a Kulshan caldera correlative tephra in the Palouse loess of Washington State, northwest USA". Quaternary Research. 86 (2): 232–241. Bibcode:2016QuRes..86..232K. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2016.06.004. hdl: 2160/43910 . S2CID   132977164.
  9. "The Eruption History of Mount Baker". United States Geological Survey. 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2019-04-19.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Kulshan Caldera at Wikimedia Commons

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey .

48°50′0″N121°43′0″W / 48.83333°N 121.71667°W / 48.83333; -121.71667