Mount Rainier

This article is about Mount Rainier Volcano, for other meanings see Mount Rainier (disambiguation)

Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
height	4392  m
location	Washington , USA
Mountains	Cascade chain
Dominance	1177 km →  Mount Whitney
Notch height	4026 m ↓  Armstrong Pass
Coordinates	46 ° 51 '11 "  N , 121 ° 45' 38"  W Coordinates: 46 ° 51 '11 "  N , 121 ° 45' 38"  W.
Type	Stratovolcano
rock	Andesite
Age of the rock	<500,000 years
Last eruption	1894
First ascent	1870 by Hazard Stevens and PB Van Trump
Normal way	Rock / glacier route via Disappointment Cleaver
particularities	Highest mountain in the Cascade Range and the US state of Washington

Mount Rainier [ maʊnt rəˈnɪər ] is a stratovolcano and the center of Mount Rainier National Park 87 km southeast of Seattle in Pierce County , Washington state . At 4,392 meters, it is the highest peak in the Cascade Range and the State of Washington.

geology

Mount Rainier is an approximately 500,000 to 1 million year old stratovolcano. Due to its enormous growth to an altitude of over 4,300 meters, its top glaciated. During the past 65,000 years, Mount Rainier has seen at least three extensive periods of glaciation. The last extensive glaciation was around 25,000 to 10,000 years ago. During this time, Mount Rainier was completely covered in ice. Some of these glaciers extended up to a distance of 60 kilometers from the mountain. The glacier cirques and ridges destroyed the smooth, symmetrical shape of the volcano. Rock slides, avalanches, and lahars caused Mount Rainier to lose about a third of its volume. The collapse of the mountain peak around 5800 years ago triggered one of the most devastating lahars in history. More than 300 square kilometers of the White River Valley and the adjacent lowlands were devastated. The volume of this lahar, known as the Osceola Mud Flood, has been calculated to be around 3.8 cubic kilometers. It has filled valleys with up to 200 meters of sediment, covered a distance of up to 120 kilometers and continued to flow 20 kilometers under water at the bottom of Puget Sound .

Around 2500 to 2000 years ago, a series of eruptions changed the image of Mount Rainier again. A new, 300 meter high summit cone grew up on the ruins of the destroyed old crater. A brief eruption created a second crater east of the first. The place where the two craters overlap is called the Columbia Crest and is now the highest point on Mount Rainier.

The last recorded eruption occurred between 1820 and 1854, but there are eyewitness accounts of several eruptions in the late 19th century (Harris, 1888). A violent eruption of Mount Rainier on November 23, 1843 is documented.

Although there is currently no risk of an eruption, geologists count it among the dormant volcanoes and assume that the volcano will erupt again. Lahars are the greatest danger posed by Mount Rainier, but it's also capable of causing pyroclastic flows and expelling hot lava. In 1947 a flood of mud went down Kautz Creek and devastated the forest below. In 1963, a volcanic steam explosion caused a rock avalanche on the north side of Little Tahoma Peak, which descended six kilometers into the White River Valley and only came to a standstill one kilometer before a campsite.

climate

Due to its height, Mount Rainier creates its own microclimate. Average annual rainfall at Paradise is 2500 millimeters, most of which falls as snow. An average of 17 meters of snow falls at Paradise in winter, the record was in the winter of 1971/72 with almost 28.5 meters of fresh snow. From February 1971 to February 1972, a total of 31.1 m of snow fell. In the rain shadow of the summit in the northeast, precipitation is significantly lower, while in the northwest it is higher. The daytime temperatures are around 15 degrees Celsius in summer at Paradise and around -2 degrees Celsius in winter.

glacier

The glaciers that cover Mount Rainier today, with an area of ​​over 90 square kilometers, form the largest contiguous glacier area of ​​a single mountain in the USA outside of Alaska. The annual rainfall of up to 28 meters of snow feeds the glaciers, so that they are considered stable today. The glaciation causes the mountain summit to continue to change due to avalanches and rock slides. Of the total of 26 glaciers, the Emmons Glacier is the largest, the second largest is the Carbon Glacier, which flows over 6.5 kilometers to the northwest. Other glaciers include the Nisqually Glacier , the North Mowich Glacier , the Tahoma Glacier , the Winthrop Glacier and the Cowlitz Glacier.

In Paradise Glacier there are the Paradise Ice Caves, which were measured in 1978 as the world's largest glacier cave system with a total length of about 13 kilometers.

The White , Carbon , Puyallup , Nisqually and Cowlitz rivers arise from glaciers of Mount Rainier.

Flora and fauna

Due to its altitude and rich rainfall, there are several vegetation zones on Mount Rainier. While the foot of the mountain is partly shrouded in dense primeval forest or even rainforest , the vegetation at higher altitudes turns into mountain forests and finally into a subalpine forest and meadow landscape with an abundant variety of flowers in summer. Arctic-alpine vegetation begins above the tree line at a height of 2100 meters, and above 2700 meters is the zone of eternal snow. The various vegetation zones are habitat for over 50 mammal and over 140 bird species.

history

Klallam on the duck hunt, in the background Takhoma (Mount Rainier)

The first to colonize the region were Indians . When the first Europeans explored the area, they met members of two language groups, the Salish, more precisely the coastal Salish and inland Salish , and the Sahaptin, who are culturally similar to the Salish in groups of the coastal way of life and those of the drier ones distinguish between eastern and southern zones. The coastal Salish included the Nisqually , Cowlitz , Puyallup and Muckleshoot , the inland Salish the Wenatchi , the Sahaptin the Yakama , who were called Yakima until 1994, the Meshal, Upper Cowlitz. In addition, there were members of a Sahaptin cascade group, called the Klickitat because they lived in the Cascade Mountains . It must be taken into account that it was not the tribes or bands who visited and inhabited the mountain for various purposes, but autonomous groups of houses. The coastal groups tended to claim permanent access to the resources of their region, while the inland groups had no concept of land ownership. It was always about usage rights, which in principle were open to everyone. So all the surrounding groups went to the mountains to gather berries or to hunt, with certain habitual demands and overlapping boundaries.

The tribes did not own a single village within the later park area. Only a few artefacts from stores can therefore be found, plus racks, kilns and prepared surfaces for drying meat and berries, as well as sweat lodges . In the latter, the men prepared for the hunt, which was mainly aimed at deer , mountain goats and bighorn sheep , and rarely black bears . Some groups considered them relatives, while others saw the meat too fat in late summer. Until the 1920s, bears were extremely numerous and scattered throughout the park area. Marmots , geese and other birds were also hunted. The dried berries, such as blueberries or huckleberries (especially in the south and north-west of the park, where there are around nine collecting points), were carried down to the valley in sacks by numerous collecting groups, where berry collecting was a women's job. In order to make room for the berries, fire was used there. Fish played almost no role in view of the low stocks, apart from the small catches of salmon and rainbow trout .

Mt. Rainier from the Seattle Space Needle as seen from

For the Indians, the mountain was a goddess and it was called Takhoma in numerous languages , possibly derived from the Puyallup word tacobet . The meaning of this word was different in the different languages ​​and was related to the respective living situation of the Indians, so it could mean big mountain , snow peak , place from which the water comes , breast of milk-white water or the great thunderbringer near the sky . The legends of the Indians tell of the whims of the goddess who hurled lightning from the sky without warning and sent floods that destroyed entire forests. Another legend knows that the female mountain Takhoma was driven from the other mountains and that her son now had to keep the water ready. The interpretation of the name as a water boy is based on this legend . In any case, the mountain was occasionally visited for spiritual purposes, in particular to find a protective power.

The extremely high passes also made trade between the tribes difficult. Numerous paths around the mountain were primarily used to transport goods. The trigger for the intensive trading activity was the fact that the tribes around the mountain differed greatly in their way of life, natural environment and culture. Since the inland tribes had horses, they were the main initiators of the exchange of goods. They could also transport heavy goods such as buffalo skins or large quantities of berries, but also pipes and tobacco, jewelry, clothes, medicinal herbs. The coastal groups in turn brought the coveted mussels.

George Vancouver , who sailed into Puget Sound in 1792, was the first European to see the mountain. He named it after his friend Admiral Peter Rainier .

In 1833, William Tolmie explored the area in search of medicinal plants. Other researchers followed after him. Hazard Stevens and Philemon Beecher van Trump were the first to reach the summit in 1870; they were celebrated like heroes for this, with John Muir following in 1888. Muir was one of many who recommended protecting the mountain. In 1893 the area was Pacific Forest Reserve ^a added to its natural resources such as trees and water to protect the rivers and streams.

In hopes of promoting tourism, the railroad companies and local businesses called for the creation of a national park . On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley declared the area Mount Rainier National Park , the fifth US national park .

In 1998, the United States Geological Survey established the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System to aid in the evacuation of the Puyallup River Valley in the event of a landslide . Today it is run by the Pierce County 's Department of Emergency Management .

In 2012 an initiative to restore the indigenous name was launched.

^aThe Pacific Forest Reserve , formed in 1893, was expanded in 1898 and renamed Mount Rainier Forest Reserve , which itself became part of the Rainier National Forest in 1907 . This was divided in 1933 and continues today in parts of the National Forests Columbia , Snoqualmie and Wenatchee .

Mount Rainier from space

Danger zones

See also

• Little Tahoma , sub-peak of Mount Rainier
• List of the highest elevations of the states of the USA

literature

• Allan H. Smith: Takhoma. Ethnography of Mount Rainier National Park . Washington State University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-87422-284-5 .
• Wolfgang Bittmann, Brigitte Fugger: Travel Guide Nature USA. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 1992, ISBN 978-3-7632-4067-8 .
• Tim McNulty, David Robertson: American National Parks. Taschen, Cologne 1986, ISBN 978-3-8228-0040-9 .

Web links

Commons : Mount Rainier  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• National Park Service: Mount Rainier (official site; English)
• USGS: Mount Rainier - Learning to Live with Volcanic Risk (English)
• Mount Rainier in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephen L. Harris: Mount Rainier: America's Most Dangerous Volcano. Fire Mountains of the West. 3rd Ed., Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana 2005, pp. 299-334, ISBN 0-87842-511-X .
2. ↑ Emil Kluge: About synchronism and antagonism of volcanic eruptions and the relationship between them and sunspots and geomagnetic variations. Published by Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1863, p. 46.
3. ↑ The snowiest places in the world .
4. ↑ hochistgut.blogspot.com .
5. ↑ More details on the etymology can be found in Allan H. Smith, pp. 25–27.
6. ↑ Pointdexter, Joseph: Between heaven and earth. The 50 highest peaks. Koenemann. Cologne 1999. ISBN 3-8290-3561-6 , p. 201
7. ↑ Is it time to rename Mount Rainier to its former native name? ( Memento of February 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), in: NPR News, February 7, 2012.