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Kiska

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Leaflet U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey | Policies

Facts

  • Official Name: Kiska Volcano
  • Seismically Monitored: No
  • Color Code: UNASSIGNED
  • Alert Level: UNASSIGNED
  • Elevation: 1220m (4002ft)
  • Latitude: 52.1031
  • Longitude: 177.6035
  • Smithsonian VNum: 311020
  • Pronunciation:
  • Nearby Towns:
    • Shemya Station 153 mi (247 km) NW
    • Attu Station 192 mi (310 km) NW
    • Adak 246 mi (396 km) SE
    • Atka 347 mi (559 km) NE
    • Nikolski 571 mi (919 km) NE

    Distance from Anchorage: 1366 mi (2198 km)

  • Subfeatures:
    • Sirius Point

Description

From Miller and others (1998) [1] : "Kiska Volcano is a stratovolcano, 8.5 by 6.4 km in diameter at its base and 1221 m high, on the northern end of Kiska Island. A slightly elliptical crater, about 0.4 km in diameter and breached on the north, occupies the summit. A parasitic 30-m-high cinder cone, formed in 1962 near sea level, occurs at Sirius Point and an older parasitic cone, now leveled by marine erosion, occurs at sea level 5.6 km southwest of Kiska Volcano."
"The southern part of Kiska Island has been glacially eroded, but the volcano shows no evidence of glacial dissection [2] . Surface lava flows are thus younger than the last major glaciation. Five of the youngest lava flows (unit Qkr) have been mapped separately by Coats and others (1961) [3] based on geomorphic expression; the flows of block lava have steep fronts as much as 30 m high. Source areas of the flows range from the base of the cone to the summit. The highest flows appear to have emerged from the summit crater through the breached north wall."
"Kiska Volcano is underlain and flanked on the south by the remains of an older composite volcano; a single K-Ar age of 5.5 +/- 0.7 m.y. is cited in Marlow and others (1973) [4] for an andesitic lava flow in this older volcano."

Name Origin

Kiska Volcano was named after Kiska Island. "Kiska Island" is an Unangax name used by the early Russians. Baker (1906), cites W.H. Dall, as giving the meaning as "gut," but Geoghegan (1944) gives the word "angig" with that meaning. Golder (1922) identifies Kiska with the island seen by Vitus Bering on October 25, 1741, and named by him "St. Markiana." Others have correlated Kiska with Bering's "St. Stephen" (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.

[2] Reconnaissance geology of some western Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 1956

Coats, R. R., 1956, Reconnaissance geology of some western Aleutian Islands, Alaska: in Investigations of Alaskan volcanoes, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1028-E, p. 83-100, 1 sheet, scale unknown.
full-text PDF 4.4 MB
plate 17 PDF 1.6 MB

[3] Geologic reconnaissance of Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 1961

Coats, R. R., Nelson, W. H., Lewis, R. G., and Powers, H. A., 1961, Geologic reconnaissance of Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska: in Investigations of Alaskan volcanoes, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1028-R, p. 563-581, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.
full-text PDF 5.4 MB

[4] Tectonic history of the central Aleutian Arc, 1973

Marlow, M. S., Scholl, D. W., Buffington, E. C., and Alpha, T. R., 1973, Tectonic history of the central Aleutian Arc: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 84, n. 5, p. 1555-1574.

Reported Activity

Modern Eruptions

8 Event Date(s)

Past Activity Legend:
Eruption
Questionable eruption
Non-eruptive activity


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Map Images

Map References

Recently active volcanoes of Alaska, 2023

Cameron, C.E., Bull, K.F., and Macpherson, A.E., 2023, Recently active volcanoes of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Miscellaneous Publication 133 v. 6, 2 sheets. https://doi.org/10.14509/31086.

Historically active volcanoes of Alaska, v. 3, 2018

Cameron, C.E., Schaefer, J.R., and Mulliken, K.M., 2018, Historically active volcanoes of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Miscellaneous Publication 133 v. 3, 2 sheets. Http://doi.org/10.14509/30142

Historically active volcanoes of Alaska, 2014

Schaefer, J.R., Cameron, C.E., and Nye, C.J., 2014, Historically active volcanoes of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Miscellaneous Publication 133 v. 1.2, 1 sheet, scale 1:3,000,000. This publication has been superseded. Newest version available at http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/20181 .

Digital data for the reconnaissance geologic map of the western Aleutian islands, Alaska, 2006

Wilson, F.H., Mohadjer, Solmaz, Labay, K.A., Shew, Nora, and Grey, D.M., 2006, Digital data for the reconnaissance geologic map of the western Aleutian islands, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1302, 1 p., available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1302/

Historically active volcanoes of the Aleutian Arc, 2002

Schaefer, Janet, and Nye, C. J., 2002, Historically active volcanoes of the Aleutian Arc: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Miscellaneous Publication MP 0123, unpaged, 1 sheet, scale 1:3,000,000. Superceded by Miscellaneous Publication 133: http://www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/pubs/pubs?reqtype=citation&ID=20181

Volcanoes of Alaska, 1998

Nye, C. J., Queen, Katherine, and McCarthy, A. M., 1998, Volcanoes of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Information Circular IC 0038, unpaged, 1 sheet, scale 1:4,000,000, available at http://www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/pubs/pubs?reqtype=citation&ID=7043 .
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf

Volcanoes of Alaska, 1995

Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, 1995, Volcanoes of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Information Circular IC 0038, unpaged, 1 sheet, scale 1:4,000,000.

Aleutian arc volcanoes, 1994

Nye, C. J., 1994, Aleutian arc volcanoes: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Public-Data File PDF 94-54, unpaged, 1 sheet, scale 1:2,126,841.

Geothermal resources of the Aleutian Arc, 1993

Motyka, R. J., Liss, S. A., Nye, C. J., and Moorman, M. A., 1993, Geothermal resources of the Aleutian Arc: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Professional Report PR 0114, 17 p., 4 sheets, scale 1:1,000,000.
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf

Holocene volcanoes of the Aleutian Arc, Alaska, 1993

March, G. D., 1993, Holocene volcanoes of the Aleutian Arc, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Public-Data File PDF 93-85, unpaged, 1 sheet, scale 1:2,000,000.

Map showing distribution, composition, and age of Late Cenozoic volcanic centers in Alaska, 1986

Luedke, R. G., and Smith, R. L., 1986, Map showing distribution, composition, and age of Late Cenozoic volcanic centers in Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I 1091-F, unpaged, 3 sheets, scale 1:1,000,000.

Geologic reconnaissance of Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 1961

Coats, R. R., Nelson, W. H., Lewis, R. G., and Powers, H. A., 1961, Geologic reconnaissance of Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska: in Investigations of Alaskan volcanoes, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1028-R, p. 563-581, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.
full-text PDF 5.4 MB
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf

Reconnaissance geology of some western Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 1956

Coats, R. R., 1956, Reconnaissance geology of some western Aleutian Islands, Alaska: in Investigations of Alaskan volcanoes, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1028-E, p. 83-100, 1 sheet, scale unknown.
full-text PDF 4.4 MB
plate 17 PDF 1.6 MB

Configuration of the Aleutian Ridge: Rat Islands-Semisopochnoi I. to west of Buldir I., 1953

Gibson, William, and Nichols, H., 1953, Configuration of the Aleutian Ridge: Rat Islands-Semisopochnoi I. to west of Buldir I.: Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America, v. 64, n. 10, p. 1173-1188, 2 sheets, scale unknown.

Volcanic activity in the Aleutian Arc, 1950

Coats, R. R., 1950, Volcanic activity in the Aleutian Arc: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 0974-B, p. 35-49, 1 sheet, scale 1:5,000,000.
plate 1 PDF 819 KB
full-text PDF 783 KB
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf

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