Shasta, California, USA

By ExploreNow Editor, on May 2nd, 2012

Volcano Type:     Stratovolcano
Volcano Status:   Historical
Last Known Eruption:    1786
Summit Elevation:    4317 m    14,163 feet
Latitude:    41.409°N    41°24’32″N
Longitude:    122.193°W    122°11’36″W

Mt Shasta is the largest volcano in the Cascade Range. The volcano was destroyed by the earth’s largest avalanche in the Quaternary period (1.8 million years and 2.6 million years ago). The eruption of 1786 was viewed from the Ship La Perouse. Volcanic Features of Shasta Shastina, Black Butte, Sargents Ridge, Misery Hill, Hotlum Cone.

Shasta Volcano

The most voluminous of the Cascade volcanoes, northern California’s Mount Shasta is a massive compound stratovolcano composed of at least four main edifices constructed over a period of at least 590,000 years. An ancestral Shasta volcano was destroyed by one of Earth’s largest known Quaternary subaerial debris avalanches, which filled the Shasta River valley NW of the volcano. The Hotlum cone, forming the present summit, and the Shastina lava dome complex were constructed during the early Holocene, as was the SW flank Black Butte lava dome. Eruptions from these vents have produced pyroclastic flows and mudflows that affected areas as far as 20 km from the summit. Eruptions from Hotlum cone continued throughout the Holocene. Shasta’s only historical eruption was observed from the ship of the explorer La Perouse off the California coast in 1786.

Aerial view of Shasta

Mt. Shasta is the second highest but perhaps the most magnificent of the volcanic peaks that form the Cascade Range, a line of isolated mountains that stretch from Lassen Peak northwards all the way to the Canadian border. Permanently snow-capped and appearing perfectly conical from a distance, Mt. Shasta is well separated from any other competing peaks and rises 10,000 feet above the surrounding forests with its distinctive outline visible for up to 100 miles in all directions. It is a beacon for north California, drawing many visitors to its extensive slopes and to the nearby lands that also have much of interest including the Castle Crags Wilderness, the McCloud River and the varied scenery of the Shasta and Klamath National Forests. The highest parts of the mountain are protected as the Mount Shasta Wilderness which includes seven separate glaciers and a variety of volcanic features.