Mount Emmons (Alaska)

Last updated
Mount Emmons
EmmonsLake.jpg
View, looking northeast, of Mount Emmons in 1987
Highest point
Elevation 4,711 ft (1,436 m) [1]
Listing List of volcanoes in the United States
Coordinates 55°20′27″N162°04′21″W / 55.3409°N 162.0726°W / 55.3409; -162.0726 Coordinates: 55°20′27″N162°04′21″W / 55.3409°N 162.0726°W / 55.3409; -162.0726 [2]
Geography
Relief map of USA Alaska.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Mount Emmons
Location of Mount Emmons within Alaska
Location Alaska Peninsula, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska
United States
Parent range Aleutian Range
Topo map USGS Cold Bay B-1
Geology
Mountain type Caldera
Volcanic arc/belt Aleutian Arc
Last eruption Unknown

Mount Emmons [3] is a post-caldera stratovolcano within the Emmons Lake caldera on the Alaska Peninsula within the Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States.

Contents

Map showing volcanoes of Alaska. The mark is set at the location of Emmons Lake. Map of alaska volcanoes emmons.jpg
Map showing volcanoes of Alaska. The mark is set at the location of Emmons Lake.

Description

The summit is one of three cones constructed within the 7-by-11-mile (11 km × 18 km) caldera, which also contains an elongated crater lake on its southwest side. [1]

The most recent of several caldera-forming eruptions at Emmons Lake occurred more than 10,000 years ago. No historical eruptions have occurred at Emmons Lake. [4]

The peak is located within the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge. [5]

Mount Emmons is a local name published on a USGS map in 1943. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Aleutian Range

The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountains of the Peninsula. The Aleutian Range is special because of its large number of active volcanoes, which are also part of the larger Aleutian Arc. The mainland part of the range is about 600 miles (1000 km) long. The Aleutian Islands are (geologically) a partially submerged western extension of the range that stretches for another 1,600 km (1000 mi). However the official designation "Aleutian Range" includes only the mainland peaks and the peaks on Unimak Island. The range is almost entirely roadless wilderness. Katmai National Park and Preserve, a large national park within the range, must be reached by boat or plane.

Mount Katmai

Mount Katmai is a large stratovolcano on the Alaska Peninsula in southern Alaska, located within Katmai National Park and Preserve. It is about 6.3 miles (10 km) in diameter with a central lake-filled caldera about two by three miles in size, formed during the Novarupta eruption of 1912. The caldera rim reaches a maximum elevation of 6,716 feet (2,047 m). In 1975 the surface of the crater lake was at an elevation of about 4,220 feet (1,286 m), and the estimated elevation of the caldera floor is about 3,400 ft (1,040 m). The mountain is located in Kodiak Island Borough, very close to its border with Lake and Peninsula Borough.

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Region of Alaska

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. National Monument and National Preserve, consisting of the region around the Aniakchak volcano on the Aleutian Range of south-western Alaska. The 601,294-acre (243,335 ha) monument is one of the least-visited places in the National Park System due to its remote location and difficult weather. The area was proclaimed a National Monument on December 1, 1978, and established as a National Monument and Preserve on December 2, 1980. The National Monument encompasses 137,176 acres (55,513 ha) and the preserve 464,118 acres (187,822 ha). Visitation to Aniakchak is the lowest of all areas of the U.S. National Park System, according to the NPS, with only 100 documented recreational visits in 2017. Most visitors fly into Surprise Lake inside Aniakchak Crater, but the frequent fog and other adverse weather conditions make landing in the lake difficult. It is also possible to fly into the nearby village of Port Heiden and proceed overland to the Aniakchak Crater.

Mount Aniakchak

Mount Aniakchak is a 3,700-year-old volcanic caldera approximately 10 kilometers (6 mi) in diameter, located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska, United States. Although a stratovolcano by composition, the pre-existing mountain collapsed in a major eruption forming the caldera. The area around the volcano is the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, maintained by the National Park Service. In November 1967, Aniakchak Caldera was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.

Mount Spurr

Mount Spurr is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Arc of Alaska, named after United States Geological Survey geologist and explorer Josiah Edward Spurr, who led an expedition to the area in 1898. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) currently rates Mount Spurr as Level of Concern Color Code Green. The mountain is known aboriginally by the Dena'ina Athabascan name K'idazq'eni, literally 'that which is burning inside'.

Mount Shishaldin A Symmetrical volcano in Alaska

Mount Shishaldin is a moderately active volcano on Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands chain of Alaska. It is the highest mountain peak of the Aleutian Islands. The most symmetrical cone-shaped glacier-clad large mountain on Earth, the volcano's topographic contour lines are nearly perfect circles above 6,500 feet (1,981 m). The lower north and south slopes are somewhat steeper than the lower eastern and western slopes. The volcano is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes along an east–west line in the eastern half of Unimak Island.

Mount Kaguyak

Mount Kaguyak is a stratovolcano located in the northeastern part of the Katmai National Park and Preserve in the U.S. state of Alaska. The 2.5 km wide caldera is filled by a more than 180 m deep crater lake. The surface of the crater lake lies about 550 m below the rim of the caldera. Postcaldera lava domes form a prominent peninsula in the center of the lake. The volcano is 901 metres (2,956 ft) high and is topographically prominent because it rises from lowland areas near sea level in the south of the Big River. Based on radiocarbon dating the caldera-forming eruption occurred about 5800 years before present. During this eruption at least 120 km2 (46 sq mi) were covered in a dacitic ignimbrite.

Mount Griggs

Mount Griggs, formerly known as Knife Peak Volcano, is a stratovolcano, which lies 10 km behind the volcanic arc defined by other Katmai group volcanoes. Although no historic eruptions have been reported from Mount Griggs, vigorously active fumaroles persist in a summit crater and along the upper southwest flank. The fumaroles on the southwest flank are the hottest, and some of the flank fumaroles can roar so loudly that they can be heard from the valley floor. The slopes of Mount Griggs are heavily mantled by fallout from the 1912 eruption of Novarupta volcano. The summit consists of three concentric craters, the lowest and largest of which contains a recent summit cone topped by two craters. The volume of the volcanic edifice is estimated at about 25 cubic kilometers (6.0 cu mi). Isotopic analysis indicates that the source of Griggs' magma is distinct from the other Katmai volcanoes.

Mount Chiginagak

Chiginagak Volcano is a stratovolcano on the Alaska Peninsula, located about 15 km NW of Chiginagak Bay.

Mount Akutan

Mount Akutan, officially Akutan Peak, is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Akutan Peak, at 4,275 feet (1,303 m), is the highest point on the caldera of the Akutan stratovolcano. Akutan contains a 2 km-wide caldera formed during a major explosive eruption about 1600 years ago. Recent eruptive activity has originated from a large cinder cone on the NE part of the caldera. It has been the source of frequent explosive eruptions with occasional lava effusion that blankets the caldera floor. A lava flow in 1978 traveled through a narrow breach in the north caldera rim to within 2 km of the coast. A small lake occupies part of the caldera floor. Two volcanic centers are located on the NW flank: Lava Peak is of Pleistocene age; and, a cinder cone lower on the flank which produced a lava flow in 1852 that extended the shoreline of the island and forms Lava Point. An older, mostly buried caldera seems to have formed in Pleistocene or Holocene time, while the current caldera formed in a VEI-5 eruption c. 340 AD. AVO has recorded 33 confirmed eruptions at Akutan, making it the volcano with the most eruptions in Alaska.

Makushin Volcano

The Makushin Volcano is an ice-covered stratovolcano located on Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Islands of the U.S. state of Alaska. With an elevation of 2,036 meters (6,680 ft), its summit is the highest point on the island. Makushin is one of the most active among the 52 historically active volcanoes of Alaska. It has erupted at least two dozen times over the past several thousand years, with the last eruption occurring in 1995.

Mount Okmok

Mount Okmok is the highest point on the rim of Okmok Caldera on the northeastern part of Umnak Island in the eastern Aleutian Islands of Alaska. This 9.3 kilometers (5.8 mi) wide circular caldera truncates the top of a large shield volcano. The volcano is currently rated by the Alaska Volcano Observatory as Aviation Alert Level Green and Volcanic-alert Level Normal.

Mount Vsevidof Mountain in Alaska, United States

Mount Vsevidof is a stratovolcano in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its summit is the highest point on Umnak Island, one of the eastern Aleutian Islands. Its symmetrical cone rises abruptly from its surroundings. The base of the volcano is around 10 km (6 mi) wide, steepening from about 15 degrees at 300 m (980 ft) altitude to around 30 degrees near the summit. Some glacial tongues have cut through narrow canyons up to 120 m (390 ft) deep, due to ice filling the crater and extending down the north and east flanks of the cone. Vsevidof's most recent eruption was caused by an earthquake on March 9, 1957. The mountain erupted on March 11, 1957, and the eruption ended the next day.

Mount Cleveland (Alaska)

Mount Cleveland is a nearly symmetrical stratovolcano on the western end of Chuginadak Island, which is part of the Islands of Four Mountains just west of Umnak Island in the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Mt. Cleveland is 5,675 ft (1,730 m) high, and one of the most active of the 75 or more volcanoes in the larger Aleutian Arc. Aleutian natives named the island after their fire goddess, Chuginadak, who they believed inhabited the volcano. In 1894 a team from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey visited the island and gave Mount Cleveland its current name, after then-president Grover Cleveland.

Mount Wrangell Active volcanic mountain in Alaska, United States

Mount Wrangell, in Ahtna K’ełt’aeni or K’ełedi when erupting, is a massive shield volcano located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern Alaska, United States. The shield rises over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) above the Copper River to its southwest. Its volume is over 220 cubic miles (920 km3), making it more than twice as massive as Mount Shasta in California, the largest stratovolcano by volume in the Cascades. It is part of the Wrangell Volcanic Field, which extends for more than 250 kilometers (160 mi) across Southcentral Alaska into the Yukon Territory, and has an eruptive history spanning the time from Pleistocene to Holocene.

Mount Dana (Alaska)

Mount Dana is a small stratovolcano of the Alaska Peninsula, United States, located northeast of Canoe Bay inlet at the head of Pavlof Bay. It was the source for a major eruption about 3840 years ago that produced a pyroclastic flow that filled valleys south and west of the volcano's crater and reached the sea at Canoe Bay.

Gareloi Volcano Stratovolcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, U.S.

The Gareloi Volcano is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, United States, about 1,259 miles (2,026 km) from Anchorage. Gareloi is located on Gareloi Island, and comprises most of its land mass. The island also has two small glaciers which protrude to the northwest and southeast.

Timeline of volcanism on Earth

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.

Fisher Caldera, also known as Mount Fisher and Fisher Volcano, is a large volcanic caldera, measuring about 6.8 miles (11 km) by 11 miles (18 km), located on Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Formed by the destructive eruption of an andesitic stratovolcano about 9,100 years ago, it contains three crater lakes, one 2 miles (3.2 km) wide and two others about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide. Small peaks rising 2,000 feet (600 m) and 2,031 feet (619 m) are also present in the caldera. Fisher Caldera is located just 13 miles (21 km) from the Mount Westdahl volcano.

References

  1. 1 2 "Emmons Lake". Global Volcanism Program . Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved 26 Jan 2005.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. "Emmons Lake Volcanic Center". Alaska Volcano Observatory . Retrieved 1 Jun 2009.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mount Emmons
  4. "Volcanoes of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands". Digital Data Series DDS-40. United States Geological Survey. 2002. Retrieved 1 Jun 2009.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. MyTopo Maps - Mount Emmons, Aleutians East, Alaska, United States (Map). Trimble Navigation, Ltd. Retrieved 4 Feb 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Mount Emmons (Alaska) at Wikimedia Commons