Whts Old Is New Again Mount Baker
Is Mount Baker a run a risk for Canada?
Overview
Although in that location are several potentially active volcanoes in southwest British Columbia, Mount Baker, 23 km south of the Canada – U.s.a. border in Washington state, is the closest volcano to the population centres of British Columbia's Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. On a clear day, the water ice-covered peak of Mountain Bakery, 3286 m high, is prominent on the horizon of southwest British Columbia.
Mount Baker is a stratovolcano, constructed over many thousands of years from a mixture of lava and volcanic debris. Like other stratovolcanoes, it has the potential for both explosive and not-explosive eruptions. Mount Baker also has the potential for landslides, debris flows, and lahars (volcanic mudflows and debris flows) because it possesses steep terrain, fractures, and a groundwater organization, and is built of stone weakened by hot water and steam.
What has happened at Mount Baker in the past?
Most of the Mount Baker we see today formed 10,000-40,000 years ago. Rocks from the last 14,000 years testify that Mountain Baker hasn't had many large explosive eruptions like those of Mount St. Helens, nor has it erupted equally frequently. Only four periods of magmatic activity (eruptions of fresh lava and not just steam) have occurred. The last big eruption occurred about 6000 years ago and scattered volcanic ash (tiny particles of shattered rock) 70 km to the northeast, but most eruptions at Mount Baker have been less extensive.
The earliest historical eruption of Mountain Bakery was a pocket-size explosion in 1943 that spread ash nearby. Several steam explosions also took place in the mid-1800s.
Debris avalanches, droppings flows, and lahars
a debris avalanche
Droppings avalanche eolith resulting from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington. United states of america Geological Survey image.
The most frequent and destructive events at Mount Baker have been debris avalanches, droppings flows, and lahars:
A droppings avalanche is a type of landslide that moves at very high speed and can occur with or without a volcanic eruption. Droppings barrage deposits are common at most big volcanoes in southwest British Columbia.
a droppings catamenia
A debris flow more than a meter in depth rushes towards a monitoring station. United States Geological Survey paradigm by Jeffrey Coe.
A debris flow is a dense slurry of water-saturated droppings that moves downward a valley and looks and behaves much similar flowing concrete. Debris flows grade when loose soil or rocks get saturated with h2o, become unstable, and move downhill. They tin can motion every bit slowly as meters per twelvemonth, or every bit quickly as hundreds of kilometres per hr. Droppings flows tend to be diluted every bit they travel downstream, so what was a debris flow may become a overflowing further away from the volcano. Numerous debris flows have occurred at Mount Baker in the concluding century, all in the absence of eruptions.
a lahar
Lahar deposit (dark textile on the snowfall) from an eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington in 1982. Usa Geological Survey image past Tom Casadevall.
A lahar is a special type of debris menstruation or mudflow produced when volcanic materials interact with ice, snow, or surface water. During eruptions, snow and ice melted by hot volcanic debris can grade large lahars, just lahars tin also occur between eruptions when loose volcanic materials are eroded and carried abroad by water. Lahars are common at many stratovolcanoes, peculiarly those with extensive snow and ice encompass like Mount Baker. They may travel great distances via river drainages and can be extremely subversive.
The volume of ice on Mountain Baker (virtually i.8 cubic kilometres) is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes, except Mount Rainier, combined. In an eruption, all of this snowfall and ice could cook and produce lahars. Because Mount Baker'south drainage arrangement is so close to the Canadian edge, lahars or flooding from an eruption could affect British Columbia in the area northwest of Mount Baker: a large lahar in the Nooksack River could cantankerous a drainage divide at Everson, Washington and enter the Sumas River and, inside hours, lead to flooding in the Abbotsford-Sumas Prairie area. In the past century, many floods caused by weather have crossed the drainage divide this way. Nevertheless, lahars of this size occur just once every 14,000 years, and a weather condition flood is far more likely than a volcano-related flood. Precautionary methods for dealing with lahars are similar to those for dealing with floods. If a large lahar or flood did occur, pre-eruptive alert signs would requite emergency personnel time to warn people in low-lying areas of the run a risk
How might ash from a Mount Bakery eruption bear on Canada?
remobilized volcanic ash
Reduced visibility due to remobilized volcanic ash during a 2009 eruption of Redoubt volcano, Alaska. United States Geological Survey/ Alaska Volcano Observatory paradigm by Kristi Wallace.
Explosive eruptions of Mount Bakery that generate volcanic ash have been less frequent than at other Cascade volcanoes, but they yet pose a potential hazard. A big explosive eruption is unlikely. Meteorological data indicate ash fallout from Mount Baker would most likely occur due due east of the volcano, so the chance of any ash falling directly on Vancouver is extremely low. There is a much higher chance of ash falling in the eastern Fraser Valley. Fortunately, only a narrow surface area would likely be affected at whatsoever given time, and the overall probability of ash fall anywhere in British Columbia is still very low.
During an explosive eruption of Mount Baker, whatever ash that fell to the ground would damage machines, especially those requiring air filters, like cars, computers, and air conditioners. Some power distribution equipment might fail, resulting in power outages, and the ash might affect telephone service. Reduced visibility and accumulations of slippery ash on roads would make driving difficult and potentially more than dangerous. Medical services might see an increment in the number of patients with respiratory and eye symptoms. Dust masks would exist necessary where ash concentrations were high. Ash cleanup would be time-consuming. Air travel disruptions would be likely, even in areas where no ash was deposited on the ground, equally was the case during the 2010 eruption of Eyafjallajökull in Republic of iceland.
What is happening at Mount Baker today?
remobilized volcanic ash
Fumaroles in Sherman Crater at Mountain Baker, Washington. United States Geological Survey image by John Scurlock.
In 1975, activity increased at fumaroles (hot gas vents) in Mountain Baker's Sherman Crater, triggering concerns that an eruption might exist imminent. In response, boosted monitoring equipment was installed, and several geophysical surveys were conducted to try to detect the underground motility of magma. The level of Baker Lake was lowered, and access to the surface area was restricted due to concerns that an eruption-induced debris avalanche or debris menstruum might enter Baker Lake and displace plenty h2o to either cause a wave to overtop the Upper Baker Dam, or cause failure of the dam. However, there were no signs (such as increased seismic activity) that indicated magma was moving upwardly into the volcano.
Heightened fumarole activity has continued since the 1970s, but there are no other signs of renewed volcanism. Monitoring and enquiry into the history, eruptive potential, and landslide hazard potential at Mountain Baker are ongoing.
Will there be warnings before an eruption of Mount Baker?
Seismic monitoring station
Seismic monitoring station at Mount St. Helens, with solar panels. United States Geological Survey image by A. Barsotti.
Most volcanic eruptions are preceded by days, weeks, months, or even years of alarm signs, including many modest earthquakes, ground deformation, and the release of volcanic gases (water vapour, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, or other gases). Mount Baker is monitored by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which receives continuous data from a network of seismometers in Washington and Oregon. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Cascades Volcano Observatory likewise monitors volcanoes in this region. If there were signs of unrest at Mountain Bakery, additional seismic, ground deformation, and gas monitoring would be initiated.
The Mount Baker – Glacier Peak Coordination Plan serves as a blueprint for dealing with a volcanic eruption from Mountain Baker or Glacier Peak, ensuring that emergency planning agencies in both the United states and Canada will accept timely and accurate data before and during eruptions.
Preparation can help us to deal with any natural take a chance event, and the preparations we make to bargain with floods, earthquakes, and severe storms volition be helpful if we always have to deal with an eruption from Mount Bakery or whatever other volcano. Mount Bakery volition eventually erupt over again (possibly not in our lifetimes), simply a large eruption is unlikely without alert.
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Source: https://chis.nrcan.gc.ca/volcano-volcan/mt-baker-en.php
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