Wrangell
Facts
- Official Name: Mount Wrangell
- Seismically Monitored: Yes
- Color Code: GREEN
- Alert Level: NORMAL
- Elevation: 4317m (14163ft)
- Latitude: 62.00572
- Longitude: -144.01935
- Smithsonian VNum: 315020
- Pronunciation:
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Nearby Towns:
- Kenny Lake 35 mi (57 km) SW
- Chitina 36 mi (59 km) SW
- Willow Creek 41 mi (66 km) SW
- Copper Center 42 mi (67 km) SW
- Silver Springs 43 mi (69 km) NW
Distance from Anchorage: 201 mi (323 km)
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Subfeatures:
- Chetaslina Vent
- Zanetti, Mt
- North Crater
- East Crater
- West Crater
- Wrangell Caldera
Description
From Miller and others (1998) [1] : "Mount Wrangell is a large andesitic shield volcano with a volume of about 900 cubic kilometers (Nye, 1983). Its top is capped by a 4 by 6 km, ice-filled summit caldera whose depth may exceed 1 km [2] . The caldera is apparently of non-explosive origin [3] formed in response to the withdrawal of magma from high-level reservoirs beneath the summit area. Three small (<1 km in diameter) post-caldera craters, all geothermally active, occur along the west and north margin of the caldera. Mt. Zanetti (3965 m) a large (450 m high) steep-sided, relatively undissected cinder-spatter cone occurs high on the northwest flank of the shield and may be the source of some lava flows. Lavas on the southwest flank have flowed as much as 58 km from their source despite being phenocryst-rich andesite, a mobility attributed to a very high eruption rate [4] ."Name Origin
Mount Wrangell was named by the Russians for Baron von Wrangell. This name was reported in 1885 by Lieutenant Allen, although it appears he named this mountain "Tillman" for Samuel Escue Tillman, professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (Orth, 1971).
References Cited
[1] Catalog of the historically active volcanoes of Alaska, 1998
Miller, T. P., McGimsey, R. G., Richter, D. H., Riehle, J. R., Nye, C. J., Yount, M. E., and Dumoulin, J. A., 1998, Catalog of the historically active volcanoes of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-0582, 104 p.
intro and TOC PDF 268 KB
references PDF 43 KB [2] Glacier-volcano interactions on Mt. Wrangell, Alaska, 1979
Benson, C. S., and Motyka, R. J., 1979, Glacier-volcano interactions on Mt. Wrangell, Alaska: University of Alaska Geophysical Institute Annual Report 1977-78, p. 1-25.[3] Shield volcanoes in the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska, 1984
Richter, D. H., Smith, J. G., Ratte, J. C., and Leeman, W. P., 1984, Shield volcanoes in the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska: in Reed, K. M. and Bartsch-Winkler, Susan, (eds.), The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: accomplishments during 1982, U.S. Geological Survey Circular C 0939, p. 71-75.[4] Petrology and geochemistry of Okmok and Wrangell volcanoes, Alaska, 1983
Nye, C. J., 1983, Petrology and geochemistry of Okmok and Wrangell volcanoes, Alaska: University of California, Santa Cruz Ph.D. dissertation, 208 p.Current Activity
No new updates for Wrangell volcano since October 1, 2024, 10:04 am.
![Wrangell [WAZA, 8304ft]](https://www.avo.alaska.edu/ashcam-api/images/wrangell_waza/2024/325/wrangell_waza-20241121T080100Z.jpg)
