Shishaldin
Facts
- Official Name: Shishaldin Volcano
- Seismically Monitored: Yes
- Color Code: GREEN
- Alert Level: NORMAL
- Elevation: 2857m (9373ft)
- Latitude: 54.7554
- Longitude: -163.9711
- Smithsonian VNum: 311360
- Pronunciation:
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Nearby Towns:
- False Pass 23 mi (38 km) NE
- Pauloff Harbor 55 mi (88 km) SE
- Cold Bay 58 mi (93 km) NE
- King Cove 69 mi (111 km) NE
- Belkofski 80 mi (129 km) NE
Distance from Anchorage: 679 mi (1093 km)
Description
From Miller and others (1998) [1] : "Shishaldin Volcano, located near the center of Unimak Island, is a spectacular symmetrical cone about 16 km in diameter at the base. The mountain, which rises to a summit 2857 m above sea level, is the highest peak in the Aleutian Islands and has a small summit crater from which a steady cloud of steam is emitted. The upper 2000 m is almost entirely covered by perennial snow and ice. It is flanked to the northwest by 24 monogenetic parasitic cones [2] . The Shishaldin cone is less than 10,000 year old and is constructed on a glacially eroded remnant of an ancestral soma and shield [2] , which in turn are underlain by volcaniclastic rocks of probable late Tertiary age [3] . Fournelle (1988) [2] suggests that the basement may consist, at least in part, of plutonic rocks."Name Origin
Tebenkov (1852) named this volcano "So[pka] Shishaldinskaya," which was later transliterated to "Shishaldin Volcano." G.A. Sarichev reported its Unangam Tunuu name as "Agajedan (Grewingk, 1850). Wagner (1937) wrote that it was named Volcan de Fernandez, by Martinez (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.![](https://avo.alaska.edu/images/icons/page_white_acrobat.png)
![](https://avo.alaska.edu/images/icons/page_white_acrobat.png)
[2] Geology and petrology of Shishaldin volcano, Unimak Island, Aleutian Arc, Alaska, 1988
Fournelle, J. H., 1988, Geology and petrology of Shishaldin volcano, Unimak Island, Aleutian Arc, Alaska: The Johns Hopkins University Ph.D. dissertation, 507 p., 2 plates, scale unknown.[3] Reconnaissance geologic map of the Cold Bay and False Pass quadrangles, Alaska, 1978
McLean, H., Engelhardt, C. L., and Howell, D. G., 1978, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Cold Bay and False Pass quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-0323, unpaged, 1 plate.Current Activity
August 30, 2024, 11:02 amEarlier today, AVO lowered the Aviation Color Code to GREEN and the Volcano Alert Level to NORMAL at Shishaldin Volcano based on declining unrest. Slightly elevated seismicity, small infrasound signals and weak gas emissions continue to be detected but there is no indication of explosive activity or the presence of lava in the crater. This level of activity is expected to persist and continue to wane as the volcano settles after the eruption that began in July 2023 and continued until November 2023. The volcano appears to have returned to a background condition and poses no immediate threat of eruptive activity. Resumption of volcanic activity would likely be preceded by increased seismicity, infrasound, elevated temperatures, and gas emissions. Minor rock falls associated with collapse events from the unstable ground in and near the summit crater may generate small clouds of fine-grained dust that dissipate quickly near the summit.
Shishaldin Volcano is monitored by local seismic and infrasound sensors, web cameras, and a telemetered geodetic network. In addition to the local monitoring network, AVO uses nearby geophysical networks, regional infrasound and lighting data, and satellite images to monitor the volcano.