Skip to main content
← Back to map
⇄ Compare

Mount Churchill

Churchill

Stratovolcano · United States · 5005m

A U.S. Geological Survey climbing party ascends the Klutlan Glacier headed towards Mount Churchill. Their field studies led to the discovery that this volcano was the site of two of the most voluminous eruptions in North America in the past 2,000 years. The White River Ash originated from the summit caldera of Churchill next to Mount Bona and comprises two voluminous ash units that extend across most of Canada and traces reached Europe.
A U.S. Geological Survey climbing party ascends the Klutlan Glacier headed towards Mount Churchill. Their field studies led to the discovery that this volcano was the site of two of the most voluminous eruptions in North America in the past 2,000 years. The White River Ash originated from the summit caldera of Churchill next to Mount Bona and comprises two voluminous ash units that extend across most of Canada and traces reached Europe. · Photo: Photo by Game McGimsey (U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Volcano Observatory). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Stratovolcano
Country
United States
Region
North America Volcanic Regions / Wrangell Volcanic Arc
Elevation
5005m
Coordinates
61.380, -141.750
Last eruption
847
Tectonic setting
Intraplate / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Composite
Major rock type
Dacite
Geological summary

The Bona-Churchill massif in the St. Elias Mountains has a 2.7 x 4.2 km summit caldera which was the source of the White River Ash, produced by two of the largest explosive eruptions in North America during the past 2,000 years (McGimsey et al., 1992). The summit of Mount Bona lies 4 km across a high saddle from the younger Churchill. The source vent of the widespread bi-lobate White River Ash deposit, which covers more than 340,000 km2 of eastern Alaska and NW Canada, was initially thought to be a pumice mound that is mostly buried beneath the Klutlan Glacier NE of Churchill volcano. Later work revealed thick young pumice deposits along the caldera rim that are mineralogically and chemically similar to the White River Ash deposits.

From Wikipedia

Mount Churchill is a dormant volcano in the Saint Elias Mountains and the Wrangell Volcanic Field (WVF) of eastern Alaska. Churchill and its neighbor Mount Bona are both ice-covered volcanoes with Churchill having a 2.7-by-4.2-kilometre-wide caldera just east of its summit. There are sparse outcrops of lava flows and tephra, mostly dacite.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
63~141 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 6769~847 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 663220455612769

Detailed timeline

  1. 847 (±1 yrs)VEI 6Geological estimate
    847 – Ongoing
  2. 63 (±200 yrs)VEI 6Geological estimate
    63 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.