Mount Mazama is a complex volcano in the state of Oregon, United States. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major eruption approximately 7,700 years ago. The volcano is dormant, but the US Geological Survey says eruptions on a smaller scale are likely, which would pose a threat to its surroundings.
About Mount Mazama in brief
Mount Mazama is a complex volcano in the state of Oregon, United States. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major eruption approximately 7,700 years ago. Crater Lake sits partly inside the volcano’s caldera, with a depth of 1,943 feet ; it is the deepest body of freshwater in the United States and the second deepest in North America after Great Slave Lake in Canada. The volcano is dormant, but the US Geological Survey says eruptions on a smaller scale are likely, which would pose a threat to its surroundings. Native Americans have inhabited the area around Mazama for at least 10,000 years and the volcano plays an important role in local folklore. The region’s volcanic activity results from the subduction of the offshore oceanic plate, and is influenced by local extensional faulting. The area has been extensively studied by scientists for its geological phenomena and more recently for its potential sources of geothermal energy. It receives about 500,000 visitors each year, and these tourists can go hiking, take bike, ranger-guided, and trolley tours, swim, fish, camp, and participate in other recreational activities. While the Park area remains open throughout the year, certain roads and facilities close in the winter season. There was frequent glacier formation on the mountain as Mazama developed. Whenever eruptions took place in the presence of glaciers, lava was created into glaciers, creating glassy talus deposits.
Sometimes, lava coursed into glaciers like at Sentinel Rock, filling areas previously carved by volcanic rock. There are glacial striations at several sites in the area where Mazama’s eruption occurred, so by the time Mazama collapsed, ice was likely only present at higher elevations. The eruption was the largest known within the Cascade Volcanic Arc in a million years, reducing its approximate 12,000-foot height by about 1 mile. The Global Volcanism Program currently lists its elevation at 8,157 feet, while the Geographic Names Information System provides an elevation of 6,174 feet. CraterLake National Park covers an area of 250 square miles, including forest areas, alpine terrain, the Craterlake, and the vast majority of Mount Mazama. A wilderness area, it was dedicated in 1902 and is overseen by the National Park Service. The mountain is in Klamath County, in the southern Cascades, 60 miles north of the Oregon-California border. There are three large glacial canyons on its southern slopes: Kerr Notch, Munson Valley, and Sun Notch. These can be seen at three largeGlacier Creek, Sun Creek, and Annie Creek. The most recent glacial period of glacial advance ceased about 27,000 Years ago, so the most recent lava flows were likely pushed over by the advance of ice flows over the Sun Creek and Sun Creek creek. There is a large area of lava coursing over Sun Creek that can be found at Sun Creek.
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This page is based on the article Mount Mazama published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
