Mount Chiginagak
| Mount Chiginagak | ||
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 Mount Chiginagak |
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| height | 2134 m | |
| location | Alaska (USA) | |
| Mountains | Aleutian chain | |
| Dominance | 156.8 km → Mount Mageik | |
| Notch height | 2044 m ↓ (90 m) | |
| Coordinates | 57 ° 8 '3 " N , 156 ° 59' 2" W | |
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| Type | Stratovolcano | |
| Last eruption | 1998 | |
The Mount Chiginagak is an active stratovolcano of the Aleutian Range , about 15 km northwest of the Chiginagak Bay.
The volcano is about 600 km from Anchorage and is therefore not continuously monitored. Its last outbreak occurred in 1998. The volcano has a crater with a diameter of about 500 m.
Acid lake
In May 2005 the volcano defoliated the area. Using the evidence found, scientists were able to reconstruct the following course of events:
In November 2004, satellite images showed a continuous blanket of snow. Afterwards, volcanic heat and sulfur fumes created a crater lake 400 meters in diameter, filled with sulfuric acid. In May 2005, the lake broke through the crater wall and 4 million cubic meters of sulfuric acid flowed into Mother Goose Lake, 27 km away . All life in the lake died. In August 2005 a pH of 3.2 was measured in the lake . In addition to the acid, sulphurous fog also formed, which killed plants on an area of 30 km² and rose up to 150 m above the valley floor.
About 15 other volcanoes with acidic lakes are known, such as the Poás and the Rincón de la Vieja in Costa Rica .
Web links
- at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (English)
- Mount Chiginagak in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- NASA satellite images
- Schaefer, JR et al .: 2005 Crater Lake Formation, Lahar, Acidic Flood, and Gas Emission From Chiginagak Volcano, Alaska (2005), bibcode : 2005AGUFM.V21E0675S (English)
- Mount Chiginagak, Alaska on Peakbagger.com (English)