Baker, Washington, USA

By ExploreNow Editor, on March 13th, 2012

Volcano Type:     Stratovolcanoes
Volcano Status:   Historical
Last Known Eruption:    1880
Summit Elevation:    3285 m    10,777 feet
Latitude:    48.777°N    48°46’36″N
Longitude:    121.813°W    121°48’47″W

Mount Baker, the northernmost of Washington’s volcanoes, is a 3285-m-high glacier-clad andesitic stratovolcano constructed above the east flank of the eroded mid-Pleistocene Black Buttes volcano and SW of the early Pleistocene 4.5 x 8 km rhyodacitic Kulshan caldera. With the exception of the Schreibers Meadow cinder cone on the SE flank, which formed about 9800 years ago, Holocene volcanism has been confined to the central conduit. A major magmatic eruption at Mount Baker about 6500 years ago was the largest eruptive event at the volcano during the Holocene and was accompanied by a major collapse event that produced a lahars down the Nooksack drainage. Early settlers in the Puget Sound region as far away as Victoria, British Columbia observed 19th-century activity, all of which consisted of relatively minor phreatic eruptions. Sherman Crater, the historically active crater immediately south of the summit, has been the site of increased steam emission since 1975.

Top of Mount Baker

Mt Baker is located 50 km east of Bellingham, Washington. It is one of the lesser known volcanoes in the USA. Mt Baker Volcano has been active during the last 10000 years. Fumaroles and dark vapours appeared abruptly in March 1975 at the volcano. There was minor melting of the summit glacier. The thermal activity was not accompanied by earthquakes ans no activity has been recorded since 1976.The main current danger from Mt Baker is due to lahars which could damage dams. The mountain is drained in the north by North Fork Nooksack River, west by Middle Fork Nooksack River, and east by Baker River. The eruption in 1843 caused fish kill in Baker River, created a forest fire, and deposited ash nearby. Steam emissions continued at Sherman Crater and Dorr fumarole field on the north flank until the 1940′s and 1950′s.