Mount Wrangell, (

Ahtna The Ahtna (also Ahtena, Atna, Ahtna-kohtaene, or Copper River) are an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. The people's homeland called Atna Nenn', is located in the Copper River area of southern ...

: ''K’ełt’aeni'', or ''K’ełedi'' when erupting) is a massive

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava ...

located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern

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 ...

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. The shield rises over above the Copper River to its southwest. Its volume is over , making it more than twice as massive as

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( ; Shasta people, Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk language, Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a Volcano#Volcanic activity, potentially active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. A ...

in California, the largest

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

by volume in the Cascades. It is part of the

Wrangell Mountains The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they i ...

as well as the

Wrangell Volcanic Field The Wrangell Volcanic Field is a volcanic field stretching from eastern Alaska in the United States to the southwestern Yukon Territory in Canada. The field includes the four highest volcanoes in the United States, Mount Bona, Mount Blackburn, ...

, which extends for more than across

Southcentral Alaska Southcentral Alaska (), also known as the Gulf Coast Region,Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, Northern Opportunity Alaska's Economic Development Strategy, 2016, at 84 (Alaska 2016). Accessed June 1, 2023. https: ...

into the

Yukon Territory Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...

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, and has an eruptive history spanning the time from Pleistocene to Holocene.

Description

Modern Mount Wrangell, built upon the remnants of a mid-

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

volcano, has an eruptive history spanning from 750,000 years ago to minor

phreatic eruption A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...

s in 1884. The shield volcano features an ice-filled

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

in diameter at the top of Wrangell's broad summit. The caldera was apparently formed by

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

rather than large explosive eruptions. The caldera is in turn rimmed by three small craters, which often display fumarolic activity with steam plumes that can sometimes be seen from a distance. The main summit is on the north side of the caldera, while the west summit rises to . The summit region above in elevation is over in size. A very large cinder cone, Mount Zanetti, rises nearly above the northwest flank of Wrangell and is the source of some lava flows.Richter ''et al'', pp. 11–13 Mount Wrangell is almost entirely covered by an icefield that persists from year to year. The largest glacier on Wrangell is Nabesna Glacier, the source of the Nabesna River. Other glaciers on Mount Wrangell include Cheshnina Glacier, Chetaslina Glacier, Chichokna Glacier, Dadina Glacier and Copper Glacier. Wrangell was the first high volcano in the Wrangell range to be climbed. Its summit can be visited by ski-equipped airplane.

Naming

Mount Wrangell ang-guhlwas named after Russian Admiral Ferdinand von Wrangel (or Wrangell), governor of

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

from 1830 to 1836. The

Ahtna people The Ahtna (also Ahtena, Atna, Ahtna-kohtaene, or Copper River) are an Alaska Native Alaskan Athabaskans, Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. The people's homeland called Atna Nenn', is loca ...

call it K'elt'aeni, "the one who controls the weather," with the alternate name Uk'eledi, "the one with smoke on it" when it is active. On some pre-1900 maps Wrangell was labeled as Mount Tillman.

Volcanic activity

Wrangell is the only volcano in the Wrangell Volcanic Field to have had historically recorded eruptions, generally in the form of small steam and ash explosions. Reports of activity have been recorded in 1784 and 1884–85. The 1784 eruption and another stated to have occurred in 1760 are disputed. The 1884-85 eruption was reported by local prospector Jon Bremner. An 1890 report mention a visible glow. Wrangell also occasionally emits ash, which can be seen coating the summit snow. The bulk of the mountain was built by large lava flows from 600,000 to 200,000 years ago. The summit caldera is believed to have collapsed within the last 200,000 years, and may have collapsed 50,000 years ago. Mount Zanetti is about 25,000 years old. The amount of geothermal heat being emitted by Wrangell increased from the 1950s to the 1980s, raising the possibility of a future eruption. The

heat flux In physics and engineering, heat flux or thermal flux, sometimes also referred to as heat flux density, heat-flow density or heat-flow rate intensity, is a flow of energy per unit area per unit time (physics), time. Its SI units are watts per sq ...

was high enough to melt ice around the craters and create ice caves and small lakes in the north crater, with about 100 million cubic meters of ice melted by 1986. Since then heat output has decreased and ice has reaccumulated.

Gallery

File:WrangellZanettiWillowLake.jpg, Mount Wrangell and Mount Zanetti from Willow Lake at 1600 ft (500m). Although Mount Wrangell rises over 12,000 ft (3700 m) above this viewpoint, its great height is masked by the extreme width of its shield-like form. File:Mount Wrangell as seen from Chitina Airport.jpg, Mount Wrangell as seen from Chitina Airport File:Mount Wrangell topo.jpg, Topographic map of Mount Wrangell showing the summit caldera File:Mount Wrangell 1902.jpg, alt=Black and white photograph of Mount Wrangell showing a plume rising above the mountain peak and dark material coating the slopes., A plume and ash-covered snow at Mount Wrangell were photographed by

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

scientist W.C. Mendenhall in 1902.

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrangell, Mount Wrangell Mountains Landforms of Copper River Census Area, Alaska Shield volcanoes of the United States Active volcanoes Pleistocene shield volcanoes Volcanoes of Alaska Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve Four-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Volcanoes of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Cinder cones of the United States Polygenetic shield volcanoes