Espenberg South Killeak Maar
Stop: 40000 yBP [1]
Event Type: Explosive
Description: From Hopkins (1988): "The youngest and most spectacular volcanic features in the Devil Mountain-Cape Espenberg area consist of a group of five maars (shallow, broad, low-rimmed explosion craters formed by eruptions rich in steam)."
"The basin of South Killeak Lake has maximum and minimum diameters of 4.3 and 3.0 kilometers. Steep but vegetated slopes rise from the perimeter of the lake. Concentric ridges, swales, and gullies in a belt one or two kilometers wide delineate ridges that may represent ancient base-surge deposits. Beaches are narrow and on the west shore consist mostly of boulders. Welded scoria are exposed in a ledge on the east side of the lake; little or no exposed lava or ejecta can be found elsewhere on the basin slopes. However a gully 50 meters deep entering the east shore of the lake (Locality 2, Figures 7-2 and 7-3 [in original text]) exposes ejecta generally similar to ejecta from the Devil Mountain Lake maars. Scattered quartz pebbles are larger and less rounded than the redeposited beach pebbles in the Devil Mountain Lake ejecta."
From Beget and others (1996): "...South Killeak Maar is >40,000 years old..."
"The basin of South Killeak Lake has maximum and minimum diameters of 4.3 and 3.0 kilometers. Steep but vegetated slopes rise from the perimeter of the lake. Concentric ridges, swales, and gullies in a belt one or two kilometers wide delineate ridges that may represent ancient base-surge deposits. Beaches are narrow and on the west shore consist mostly of boulders. Welded scoria are exposed in a ledge on the east side of the lake; little or no exposed lava or ejecta can be found elsewhere on the basin slopes. However a gully 50 meters deep entering the east shore of the lake (Locality 2, Figures 7-2 and 7-3 [in original text]) exposes ejecta generally similar to ejecta from the Devil Mountain Lake maars. Scattered quartz pebbles are larger and less rounded than the redeposited beach pebbles in the Devil Mountain Lake ejecta."
From Beget and others (1996): "...South Killeak Maar is >40,000 years old..."
References Cited
[1] The largest known maars on earth, Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska, 1996
Beget, J. E., Hopkins, D. M., and Charron, S. D., 1996, The largest known maars on earth, Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska: Arctic, v. 49, n. 1, Calgary, AB, Canada, Arctic Institute of North America, p. 62-69.[2] The Espenberg Maars: a record of explosive volcanic activity in the Devil Mountain-Cape Espenberg area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 1988
Hopkins, D. M., 1988, The Espenberg Maars: a record of explosive volcanic activity in the Devil Mountain-Cape Espenberg area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: in Schaaf, J. M., (ed.), The Bering Sea Land Bridge National Preserve: an archeological survey, National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office Resources Management Report AR 0014, v. 1, p. 262-321.[3] Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada, 1990
Wood, C. A., and Kienle, Juergen, (eds.), 1990, Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada: New York, Cambridge University Press, 354 p.Complete Eruption References
The Espenberg Maars: a record of explosive volcanic activity in the Devil Mountain-Cape Espenberg area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 1988
Hopkins, D. M., 1988, The Espenberg Maars: a record of explosive volcanic activity in the Devil Mountain-Cape Espenberg area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: in Schaaf, J. M., (ed.), The Bering Sea Land Bridge National Preserve: an archeological survey, National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office Resources Management Report AR 0014, v. 1, p. 262-321.
The largest known maars on earth, Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska, 1996
Beget, J. E., Hopkins, D. M., and Charron, S. D., 1996, The largest known maars on earth, Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska: Arctic, v. 49, n. 1, Calgary, AB, Canada, Arctic Institute of North America, p. 62-69.
Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada, 1990
Wood, C. A., and Kienle, Juergen, (eds.), 1990, Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada: New York, Cambridge University Press, 354 p.
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf