Edgecumbe CFE
Start: 9000 yBP [1]
Event Type: Explosive
- Caldera/crater [1]
- Pyroclastic flow, surge, or nuee ardente [3]
- Lahar, debris-flow, or mudflow [3]
Description: From Kosco (1981): "A pumice eruption associated with the formation of a 1 km caldera marks the end of volcanic activity: this eruption has been radiocarbon dated at 9000 years b.p. (Heusser 1960)."
From Riehle and others (1992): "A tree stump buried by the topmost of several flow deposits on Kruzof Island (site 7, Fig. 1 [in original text]) closely limits the age of one of the latest pyroclastic eruptions. The outer surface is only incipiently charred (R. Hoblitt, written commun.,1990), so it may have been a lahar that buried the stump. A split of outer rind yielded 9180+/-150 and 9150+/-150 yr B.P. (1-12,218 and 1-12,219; Riehle and Brew, 1984).
From Riehle and Brew (1994): "A thin layer of tephra is separated by silt and peat from underlying tephra layers at several stations on Kruzof Island. The layer is a heterogeneous assemblage of dense volcanic rocks and pumice. The pumice contains 72 percent SiO2 in whole-rock and 74 percent SiO2 in the glass and is slightly more siliceous than samples classified herein as dacite (fig. 65 [ in original text]). Maximum thickness (5 cm) and lapilli size (2 cm) occur southwest of Mount Edgecumbe (82-116, 82-117; fig. 64 [in original text]). The deposit is probably the result of a minor eruption of Mount Edgecumbe or Crater Ridge caldera; the pumice could be accessory material from an earlier unknown deposit incorporated in a largely phreatic eruption."
"We found one tree trunk in a dacitic-pumice-bearing lahar deposit (81-74; fig. 64 [in original text]). The piece was vertical and had a frayed top and a flared base resembling the remains of a root system. We think that the tree was killed and transported by a lahar. A split sample yielded 9,180+/-150 and 9,150+/-150 yr B.P. (I-12, 218; I-12, 219)."
From Riehle and others (1992): "A tree stump buried by the topmost of several flow deposits on Kruzof Island (site 7, Fig. 1 [in original text]) closely limits the age of one of the latest pyroclastic eruptions. The outer surface is only incipiently charred (R. Hoblitt, written commun.,1990), so it may have been a lahar that buried the stump. A split of outer rind yielded 9180+/-150 and 9150+/-150 yr B.P. (1-12,218 and 1-12,219; Riehle and Brew, 1984).
From Riehle and Brew (1994): "A thin layer of tephra is separated by silt and peat from underlying tephra layers at several stations on Kruzof Island. The layer is a heterogeneous assemblage of dense volcanic rocks and pumice. The pumice contains 72 percent SiO2 in whole-rock and 74 percent SiO2 in the glass and is slightly more siliceous than samples classified herein as dacite (fig. 65 [ in original text]). Maximum thickness (5 cm) and lapilli size (2 cm) occur southwest of Mount Edgecumbe (82-116, 82-117; fig. 64 [in original text]). The deposit is probably the result of a minor eruption of Mount Edgecumbe or Crater Ridge caldera; the pumice could be accessory material from an earlier unknown deposit incorporated in a largely phreatic eruption."
"We found one tree trunk in a dacitic-pumice-bearing lahar deposit (81-74; fig. 64 [in original text]). The piece was vertical and had a frayed top and a flared base resembling the remains of a root system. We think that the tree was killed and transported by a lahar. A split sample yielded 9,180+/-150 and 9,150+/-150 yr B.P. (I-12, 218; I-12, 219)."
References Cited
[1] The Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, Alaska: an example of tholeiitic and calc-alkaline volcanism, 1981
Kosco, D. G., 1981, The Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, Alaska: an example of tholeiitic and calc-alkaline volcanism: Journal of Geology, v. 89, n. 4, p. 459-477.[2] Explosive latest Pleistocene(?) and Holocene activity of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, Alaska, 1984
Riehle, J. R., and Brew, D. A., 1984, Explosive latest Pleistocene(?) and Holocene activity of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, 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. 111-115.
Full-text PDF 451 KB
[3] The Mount Edgecumbe tephra deposits: a marker horizon in southeastern Alaska near the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, 1992
Riehle, J. R., Mann, D. H., Peteet, D. M., Engstrom, D. R., Brew, D. A., and Meyer, C. E., 1992, The Mount Edgecumbe tephra deposits: a marker horizon in southeastern Alaska near the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary: Quaternary Research, v. 37, n. 2, p. 183-202.Complete Eruption References
Pyroclastic deposits of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, Southeast Alaska: eruptions of a stratified magma chamber, 1992
Riehle, J. R., Champion, D. E., Brew, D. A., and Lanphere, M. A., 1992, Pyroclastic deposits of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, Southeast Alaska: eruptions of a stratified magma chamber: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 53, n. 1, p. 117-144.
Explosive latest Pleistocene(?) and Holocene activity of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, Alaska, 1984
Riehle, J. R., and Brew, D. A., 1984, Explosive latest Pleistocene(?) and Holocene activity of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, 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. 111-115.
Full-text PDF 451 KB
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf
The Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, Alaska: an example of tholeiitic and calc-alkaline volcanism, 1981
Kosco, D. G., 1981, The Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, Alaska: an example of tholeiitic and calc-alkaline volcanism: Journal of Geology, v. 89, n. 4, p. 459-477.
The Mount Edgecumbe tephra deposits: a marker horizon in southeastern Alaska near the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, 1992
Riehle, J. R., Mann, D. H., Peteet, D. M., Engstrom, D. R., Brew, D. A., and Meyer, C. E., 1992, The Mount Edgecumbe tephra deposits: a marker horizon in southeastern Alaska near the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary: Quaternary Research, v. 37, n. 2, p. 183-202.
Marine tephrochronology of the Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field, Southeast Alaska, USA, 2010
Addison, J.A., Beget, J.E., Ager, T.A., and Finney, B.P., 2010, Marine tephrochronology of the Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field, Southeast Alaska, USA: Quaternary Research, v. 73, n. 2, p. 277-292, doi: 10.1016/j.yqres.2009.10.007.