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Mount Baker

Baker

Stratovolcano · United States · 3285m

The glaciated Mount Baker is the northernmost of Washington's active volcanoes in the northern Cascade Range, seen here from the SE above Baker Lake. Historical eruptions have originated from Sherman Crater to the left of the summit. Minor phreatic explosions were observed during the 19th century by early settlers in the Puget Sound area as far away as Victoria, British Columbia.
The glaciated Mount Baker is the northernmost of Washington's active volcanoes in the northern Cascade Range, seen here from the SE above Baker Lake. Historical eruptions have originated from Sherman Crater to the left of the summit. Minor phreatic explosions were observed during the 19th century by early settlers in the Puget Sound area as far away as Victoria, British Columbia. · Photo: Photo by Lee Siebert, 1981 (Smithsonian Institution). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Stratovolcano
Country
United States
Region
North America Volcanic Regions / Garibaldi Volcanic Arc
Elevation
3285m
Coordinates
48.777, -121.813
Last eruption
1880
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Composite
Major rock type
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Geological summary

Mount Baker, the northernmost of Washington's volcanoes, is a glacier-clad andesitic stratovolcano constructed above the E flank of the eroded mid-Pleistocene Black Buttes volcano and SW of the early Pleistocene 4.5 x 8 km rhyodacitic Kulshan caldera. With the exception of the Schreibers Meadow cinder cone on the SE flank, which formed about 9,800 years ago, Holocene volcanism has been confined to the central conduit. A major eruption about 6,500 years ago, it's largest eruptive event during the Holocene, was accompanied by a collapse that sent lahars down the Nooksack drainage. Early settlers in the Puget Sound region as far away as Victoria, British Columbia, observed 19th-century activity, all of which consisted of relatively minor phreatic eruptions. Sherman Crater, the historically active crater immediately south of the summit, has been the site of increased steam emission since 1975. The Nooksack Indian Tribe referred to the volcano as Kweq Smaenit, the "White Mountain." The Lummi Nation knew Mount Baker as Koma Kulshan.

From Wikipedia

Mount Baker, also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a 10,781-foot (3,286 m) active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States. Mount Baker has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens. About 30 miles (48 km) due east of the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Mount Baker is the youngest volcano in the Mount Baker volcanic field. While volcanism has persisted here for some 1.5 million years, the current volcanic cone is likely no more than 140,000 years old, and possibly no older than 80–90,000 years. Older volcanic edifices have mostly eroded away due to glaciation.

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Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
7850 BCE~7526 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?4605 BCE~4281 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 31560~1884 · 18 eruptions · max VEI 37850 BCE5579 BCE2983 BCE712 BCE1560

Detailed timeline

  1. 1884VEI ?Geological estimate
    1884 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  2. 1880VEI 2Observed
    1880-09-07 – 1880-11-27
    Sherman Crater
  3. 1870VEI 2Observed
    1870 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  4. 1869VEI ?Geological estimate
    1869-06 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  5. 1867VEI ?Geological estimate
    1867-03 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  6. 1865VEI ?Geological estimate
    1865 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  7. 1863VEI 2Observed
    1863-07 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  8. 1860VEI ?Geological estimate
    1860-12 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  9. 1859VEI 2Observed
    1859-11 – 1860-04-26
    Sherman Crater
  10. 1858VEI 2Observed
    1858 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  11. 1856VEI ?Geological estimate
    1856 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  12. 1854VEI 2Observed
    1854 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  13. 1852VEI 2Observed
    1852-12-01 – 1853-01
    Sherman Crater
  14. 1850VEI ?Geological estimate
    1850-03 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  15. 1846VEI ?Geological estimate
    1846 – Ongoing
  16. 1843VEI 3Observed
    1843 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater
  17. 1820VEI 2Observed
    1820 – Ongoing
  18. 1792VEI ?Geological estimate
    1792-06 – Ongoing
  19. 4550 BCEVEI 3Geological estimate
    BCE 4550 – Ongoing
    Sherman Crater?
  20. 7850 BCEVEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 7850 – Ongoing
    South flank (Schreibers Meadow Cone)

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.