Augustine


Facts


  • Official Name: Augustine Volcano
  • Seismically Monitored: Yes
  • Color Code: GREEN
  • Alert Level: NORMAL
  • Elevation: 1260m (4133ft)
  • Latitude: 59.3626
  • Longitude: -153.435
  • Smithsonian VNum: 313010
  • Pronunciation:
  • Nearby Towns:
    • Pedro Bay 38 mi (60 km) NW
    • Pope-Vannoy Landing 39 mi (64 km) NW
    • Kokhanok 47 mi (75 km) NW
    • Nanwalek 53 mi (86 km) SE
    • Port Graham 57 mi (91 km) SE

Description

From Miller and others (1998) [1] : "Augustine Island, an 8 by 11 km island in lower Cook Inlet, is composed almost entirely of the deposits of Augustine Volcano. Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary strata form a bench on the south side of the island and are overlain by granitoid glacial erratics and volcanic hyaloclastites. The volcano consists of a central dome and lava flow complex, surrounded by pyroclastic debris. The irregular coastline of Augustine Island is due to the repeated catastrophic collapse of the summit dome, forming debris avalanches down the flanks and into Cook Inlet. At least 11 avalanches have occurred in the past 2000 years with an average recurrence interval of about 150-200 years [2] [3] .
"Augustine lies within the area of uplift resulting from the 1964 Alaska earthquake; 30-33 cm of uplift was measured on the northwest side of the island [4] . A 25-meter-high, south-facing submarine scarp 3 km south of the island, of similar orientation to joint sets in sedimentary rocks of the Kamishak River area (on the Alaska Peninsula), is almost certainly of tectonic origin."

Name Origin

The volcanic peak on Augustine Island was named "Mount San Augustine" in an 1867 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey report, and "Mount Chinabora" on a 1928 U.S. Post Route map. Captain James Cook named the island "Saint Augustine Island" in 1778 because it was sighted on St. Augustine's Day (Orth, 1971). In recent years, the "Saint" has been dropped from the name of both the island and the volcano; the volcano's formal name is "Augustine Volcano." Tebenkov (1852) called the island "O[strov] Chernoburoy", meaning "black brown" (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] Cyclic formation of debris avalanches at Mount St Augustine volcano, 1992

Beget, J. E., and Kienle, J., 1992, Cyclic formation of debris avalanches at Mount St Augustine volcano: Nature, v. 356, n. 6371, p. 701-704.

[3] Preliminary volcano-hazard assessment for Iliamna Volcano, Alaska, 1999

Waythomas, C. F., and Miller, T. P., 1999, Preliminary volcano-hazard assessment for Iliamna Volcano, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-0373, 31 p., 1 sheet, scale unknown.
full-text PDF 2.84 MB

[4] Recent volcanic activity on Augustine Island, Alaska, 1968

Detterman, R. L., 1968, Recent volcanic activity on Augustine Island, Alaska: in Geological Survey research 1968, Chapter C, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper PP 0600-C, p. C126-C129.
full-text PDF 185 KB

Current Activity

No new updates for Augustine volcano since September 6, 2019, 10:29 am.

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