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Mount Wrangell description and information

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Official Name: Mount Wrangell
Type:Shield volcano with summit caldera
Most Recent Activity:March 26, 1930
Seismically Monitored: Yes
Color Code:GREEN
Alert Level:NORMAL
Elevation: 14163 ft (4317 m)
Latitude: 62.00572° N
Longitude:144.01935° W
Quadrangle:Gulkana Valdez McCarthy Nabesna
CAVW Number:315020
Pronunciation: Sound file
Associated Features:Chetaslina Vent
Zanetti, Mt
North Crater
East Crater
West Crater
Wrangell Caldera
Nearby towns:Kenny Lake 35 mi (57 km) SW
Chitina 36 mi (59 km) SW
Willow Creek 41 mi (66 km) SW
Copper Center 42 mi (67 km) SW
Anchorage 201 mi (323 km) SW
DESCRIPTION
From Miller and others (1998) [1]: "Mount Wrangell is a large andesitic shield volcano with a volume of about 900 cubic kilometers (Nye, 1983). Its top is capped by a 4 by 6 km, ice-filled summit caldera whose depth may exceed 1 km [2]. The caldera is apparently of non-explosive origin [3] formed in response to the withdrawal of magma from high-level reservoirs beneath the summit area. Three small (<1 km in diameter) post-caldera craters, all geothermally active, occur along the west and north margin of the caldera. Mt. Zanetti (3965 m) a large (450 m high) steep-sided, relatively undissected cinder-spatter cone occurs high on the northwest flank of the shield and may be the source of some lava flows. Lavas on the southwest flank have flowed as much as 58 km from their source despite being phenocryst-rich andesite, a mobility attributed to a very high eruption rate [4]."
REFERENCES CITED
[1]
Catalog of the historically active volcanoes of Alaska, 1998
citation imageMiller, 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.
Download PDF title page PDF : 52
Download PDF intro and TOC PDF : 268 KB
Download PDF eastern part - Wrangell to Ukinrek Maars PDF : 972 KB
Download PDF central part - Chiginagak to Cleveland PDF : 2,463 KB
Download PDF western part - Carlisle to Kiska PDF : 956 KB
Download PDF references PDF : 43 KB

[2]
Glacier-volcano interactions on Mt. Wrangell, Alaska, 1979
Benson, C. S., and Motyka, R. J., 1979, Glacier-volcano interactions on Mt. Wrangell, Alaska: University of Alaska Geophysical Institute Annual Report 1977-78, p. 1-25.

[3]
Shield volcanoes in the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska, 1984
Richter, D. H., Smith, J. G., Ratte, J. C., and Leeman, W. P., 1984, Shield volcanoes in the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska: in Reed, K. M. and Bartsch-Winkler, Susan, (eds.), The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: accomplishments during 1982, U.S. Geological Survey Circular C 0939, p. 71-75.

[4]
Petrology and geochemistry of Okmok and Wrangell volcanoes, Alaska, 1983
citation imageNye, C. J., 1983, Petrology and geochemistry of Okmok and Wrangell volcanoes, Alaska: University of California, Santa Cruz Ph.D. dissertation, 208 p.

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