The Aleutian Range is a major

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

located in southwest

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. T ...

. It includes all of the mountains of the Peninsula. The Aleutian Range is special because of its large number of active

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

es, which are also part of the larger

Aleutian Arc The Aleutian Arc is a large volcanic arc of islands extending from the Southwest tip of the U.S. state of Alaska to the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Russian Federation. It consists of a number of active and dormant volcanoes that have formed as a ...

. The mainland part of the range is about 600 miles (1000 km) long. The

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

are (geologically) a partially submerged western extension of the range that stretches for another 1,600 km (1000 mi). However the official designation "Aleutian Range" includes only the mainland peaks and the peaks on Unimak Island. The range is almost entirely roadless

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

Katmai National Park and Preserve Katmai National Park and Preserve is a List of national parks of the United States, United States national park and National preserve, preserve in southwest Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its Alaska Peninsula brown ...

, a large national park within the range, must be reached by boat or plane. The core Aleutian Range can be divided into three mountain groups. Listed from southwest to northeast, they are: * Mountains of the

and Unimak Island * Chigmit Mountains * Neacola Mountains See

for the continuation of the range to the west of Unimak Island. Just to the north of the Aleutian Range are the Tordrillo Mountains, the southeasternmost extent of the

Alaska Range The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, mountain range in the Southcentral Alaska, southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoard on G ...

. Selected mountains: * Mount Redoubt (3,108 m), Chigmit Mountains * Iliamna Volcano (3,054 m), Chigmit Mountains * Mount Neacola, (2,873 m), Neacola Mountains * Mount Shishaldin (2,857 m), Unimak Island * Mount Pavlof (2,715 m),

* Mount Veniaminof (2,508 m),

* Isanotski Peaks (2,446 m), Unimak Island * Mount Denison (2,318 m),

* Mount Griggs, (2,317+ m),

* Mount Douglas (2,153 m),

* Mount Chiginagak (2,134 m),

* Double Peak (2,078 m), Chigmit Mountains * Mount Katmai (2,047 m),

* Pogromni Volcano (2,002 m), Unimak Island

Volcanic eruptions

Two volcanoes erupted during the summer of 2008 on the eastern Aleutian Islands. On July 12, 2008, Mount Okmok erupted, and it continued to erupt for a month. A giant, rapidly moving ash and gas cloud shot up to a height of 15,240 m as a result of this eruption. Mount Kasatochi was home to the other eruption, which occurred on August 7 and 8. This eruption also sent up a gas cloud about 15,000 high. Together, these two power volcanic eruptions deposited emissions of trace gases an aerosols into the atmosphere. These emissions formed a sulfate aerosol layer that totaled a transfer of 1.6 Tg of SO₂ into the stratosphere and disturbed flights over this area for a short period following the eruptions.

Earthquakes

The 7.9 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake occurred in June 2014 at an intermediate depth of 107 km. The quake was caused by oblique normal faulting along the

Aleutian Trench The Aleutian Trench (or Aleutian Trough) is an oceanic trench along a convergent plate boundary which runs along the southern coastline of Alaska and the Aleutian islands. The trench extends for from a triple junction in the west with the Ula ...

, a convergent boundary where the Pacific plate is subducting underneath the North American plate at around 59 mm/year.

References

External links

* {{Gnis, 1893258, Aleutian Range Mountains of Aleutians East Borough, Alaska Mountains of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Mountains of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Mountains of Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska Volcanic arcs

Volcanic eruptions

Earthquakes

See also

References

External links