Mount Veniaminof is a large stratovolcano in Alaska that suffered a huge eruption some 3,700 years ago. The eruption formed a caldera with a diameter of almost 6 miles (10 km) and filled with ice and snow. All recent eruptions have taken place from a cinder cone that pokes up through the ice in the caldera. Eruptions occurring in 1983-84 and June, 1993-present have consisted of fountaining at this cinder cone. Lava flows down the sides of the cone and onto the ice surface where it then melts its way down through to the bottom of the caldera, forming a lake.
Last updated: February 01, 2005.
| Mount Veniaminof | |
|---|---|
Steam rising from the intracaldera cinder cone at Veniaminof volcano in the waning stages of the 1983 to 1984 eruption. |
|
| Elevation | 8,225 ft (2,507 m) |
| Prominence | 8,199 ft (2,499 m) [1] |
| Location | |
| Location | Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA |
| Range | Aleutian Range |
| Coordinates | 56°11′53″N 159°23′27″W / 56.19806°N 159.39083°W |
| Topo map | USGS Chignik A-5 |
| Geology | |
| Type | Stratovolcano with a summit caldera |
| Volcanic arc/belt | Aleutian Arc |
| Last eruption | February 22, 2008[2] |
Mount Veniaminof is an active stratovolcano located on the Alaska Peninsula. The Alaska Volcano Observatory currently rates Veniaminof as Aviation Color Code GREEN and Volcano Alert Level NORMAL as of 14:30, 2 February 2012 (UTC).[3] The mountain was named after Ioann (Ivan Popov) Veniaminov (1797–1879), a Russian Orthodox missionary priest (and later a prominent bishop in Russia) whose writings on the Aleut language and ethnology are still standard references. He is a saint of the Orthodox Church, known as Saint Innocent for the monastic name he used in later life.
The volcano was the site of a colossal (VEI 6) eruption around 1750 BC. This eruption left a large caldera. In modern times the volcano has had numerous small eruptions (over ten of them since 1930); these are located at a cinder cone in the middle of the caldera.
Veniaminof has one of the highest elevations of Alaskan volcanoes. Partly for this reason, it is covered by a glacier that fills most of the caldera. Because of the glacier and the caldera walls, there is the possibility of a major flood from a future glacier run.
Media related to Mount Veniaminof at Wikimedia Commons
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