Behm Canal-Rudyerd Bay


Facts


  • Seismically Monitored: No
  • Color Code: UNASSIGNED
  • Alert Level: UNASSIGNED
  • Elevation: 500m (1640ft)
  • Latitude: 55.3196
  • Longitude: -131.051
  • Smithsonian VNum: 315070
  • Nearby Towns:
    • Saxman 21 mi (34 km) SW
    • Ketchikan Gateway Borough 23 mi (37 km) NW
    • Ketchikan 23 mi (38 km) NW
    • Metlakatla 24 mi (39 km) SW
    • Meyers Chuck 55 mi (89 km) NW

    Distance from Anchorage: 793 mi (1276 km)

  • Subfeatures:
    • Painted Peak
    • Princess Bay cone

Description

From Wood and Kienle (1990) [1] : "Potassic alkali olivine basalt cinder cones and columnar-jointed flows occur as separate entities in the field, which is more or less centered on the Coast Range megalineament. Minor andesite and trachyandesite flows are locally present. There are also thin patches of ash and lapilli layers. The lava flows unconformably overlie glacial-fluvial sand and silt deposits and granitic gneiss of the Coast Mountains plutonic-metamorphic complex. Glacial striations and grooves indicate that some of the flows pre-date the last glaciation, but undissected cinder cones and flow surface features indicate that most of the activity was post-glacial. Flows are locally columnar-jointed, and some tuff and breccia deposits form void-rich spires and cliffs."
Wood and Kienle (1990) [1] report an eruptive history of “Possibly two periods: Older ~5 Ma, and younger ~1 Ma to 0.5 Ma.” Post-glacial features should be younger than 13,500, indicating possible Holocene ages for some of Behm Canal-Rudyerd Bay. Wanek and Callahan (1971) [2] state that basalt flows near Lake Grace could be either late Pleistocene or Holocene in age.

Name Origin

"Behm Canal - Rudyerd Bay" is an informal name applied to a group volcanic vents in the vicinity of Behm Canal and Rudyerd Bay.


References Cited

[1] 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.

[2] Geologic reconnaissance of a proposed powersite at Lake Grace, Revillagigedo Island southeastern Alaska, 1971

Wanek, A. A., and Callahan, J. E., 1971, Geologic reconnaissance of a proposed powersite at Lake Grace, Revillagigedo Island southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1211-E, 24 p., 1 sheet, scale unknown.
full-text PDF 364 KB
plate 1 PDF 3.3 MB

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