What is the greatest hazard presented by Mount Rainier?
Debris flows (lahars) pose the greatest hazard to people near Mount Rainier. A debris flow is a mixture of mud and rock debris that looks and behaves like flowing concrete. Giant debris flows sometimes develop when large masses of weak, water-saturated rock slide from the volcano's flanks. Many of these debris flows cannot be predicted and may even occur independently of a volcanic eruption.
Giant debris flows can also form during an eruption as hot rock fragments tumble down the volcano's slopes, eroding and melting snow and glacier ice. Although they happen infrequently, giant debris flows have the potential to inundate much of the southern Puget Sound lowland. Scientists estimate that debris flows can travel the distance between Mount Rainier and the Puget Sound lowland in as little as 30 minutes to a few hours. About 100,000 people now live in areas that have been buried by debris flows during the past few thousand years.
During the past 10,000 years, about 60 giant debris flows from Mount Rainier have filled river valleys to a depth of hundreds of feet near the volcano, and have buried the land surface under many feet of mud and rock sixty miles downstream. Seven debris flows large enough to reach Puget Sound have occurred in the past 6,000 years.
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Catastrophic debris flows transformed from landslides in volcanic terrains : mobility, hazard assessment and mitigation strategies
Communities in lowlands near volcanoes are vulnerable to significant volcanic flow hazards in addition to those associated directly with eruptions. The largest such risk is from debris flows beginning as volcanic landslides, with the potential to travel over 100 kilometers. Stratovolcanic edifices commonly are hydrothermal aquifers composed of unstable, altered rock forming steep slopes at high al
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What are volcano hazards?
Volcanoes give rise to numerous geologic and hydrologic hazards. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are assessing hazards at many of the almost 70 active and potentially active volcanoes in the United States. They are closely monitoring activity at the most dangerous of these volcanoes and are prepared to issue warnings of impending eruptions or other hazardous events.
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Bobbie Myers, Steven R. Brantley, Peter R. Stauffer, James W. Hendley
Volcanoes!
Volcanoes is an interdisciplinary set of materials for grades 4-8. Through the story of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, students will answer fundamental questions about volcanoes: "What is a volcano?" "Where do volcanoes occur and why?" "What are the effects of volcanoes on the Earth system?" "What are the risks and the benefits of living near volcanoes?" "Can scientists forecast volcanic e
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Living with volcanoes
The 1980 cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens (Lipman and Mullineaux, 1981) in southwestern Washington ushered in a decade marked by more worldwide volcanic disasters and crises than any other in recorded history. Volcanoes killed more people (over 28,500) in the 1980's than during the 78 years following 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee (Martinique). Not surprisingly, volcanic phenomena and attend
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Ice volumes on Cascade volcanoes: Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Three Sisters, and Mount Shasta
During the eruptions of Mount St. Helens the occurrence of floods and mudflows made apparent the need for predictive water-hazard analysis of other Cascade volcanoes. A basic requirement for such analysis is information about the volumes and distributions of snow and ice on other volcanoes.A radar unit contained in a backpack was used to make point measurements of ice thickness on major glaciers o
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The Geologic Story of Mount Rainier
Ice-clad Mount Rainier, towering over the landscape of western Washington, ranks with Fuji-yama in Japan, Popocatepeti in Mexico, and Vesuvius in Italy among the great volcanoes of the world. At Mount Rainier, as at other inactive volcanoes, the ever-present possibility of renewed eruptions gives viewers a sense of anticipation, excitement, and apprehension not equaled by most other mountains. Eve
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Dwight Raymond Crandell
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Filter Total Items: 18
Catastrophic debris flows transformed from landslides in volcanic terrains : mobility, hazard assessment and mitigation strategies
Communities in lowlands near volcanoes are vulnerable to significant volcanic flow hazards in addition to those associated directly with eruptions. The largest such risk is from debris flows beginning as volcanic landslides, with the potential to travel over 100 kilometers. Stratovolcanic edifices commonly are hydrothermal aquifers composed of unstable, altered rock forming steep slopes at high al
Authors
Kevin M. Scott, Jose Luis Macias, Jose Antonio Naranjo, Sergio Rodriguez, John P. McGeehin
What are volcano hazards?
Volcanoes give rise to numerous geologic and hydrologic hazards. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are assessing hazards at many of the almost 70 active and potentially active volcanoes in the United States. They are closely monitoring activity at the most dangerous of these volcanoes and are prepared to issue warnings of impending eruptions or other hazardous events.
Authors
Bobbie Myers, Steven R. Brantley, Peter R. Stauffer, James W. Hendley
Volcanoes!
Volcanoes is an interdisciplinary set of materials for grades 4-8. Through the story of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, students will answer fundamental questions about volcanoes: "What is a volcano?" "Where do volcanoes occur and why?" "What are the effects of volcanoes on the Earth system?" "What are the risks and the benefits of living near volcanoes?" "Can scientists forecast volcanic e
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Living with volcanoes
The 1980 cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens (Lipman and Mullineaux, 1981) in southwestern Washington ushered in a decade marked by more worldwide volcanic disasters and crises than any other in recorded history. Volcanoes killed more people (over 28,500) in the 1980's than during the 78 years following 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee (Martinique). Not surprisingly, volcanic phenomena and attend
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Thomas L. Wright, Thomas C. Pierson
Ice volumes on Cascade volcanoes: Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Three Sisters, and Mount Shasta
During the eruptions of Mount St. Helens the occurrence of floods and mudflows made apparent the need for predictive water-hazard analysis of other Cascade volcanoes. A basic requirement for such analysis is information about the volumes and distributions of snow and ice on other volcanoes.A radar unit contained in a backpack was used to make point measurements of ice thickness on major glaciers o
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C. L. Driedger, P.M. Kennard
By
The Geologic Story of Mount Rainier
Ice-clad Mount Rainier, towering over the landscape of western Washington, ranks with Fuji-yama in Japan, Popocatepeti in Mexico, and Vesuvius in Italy among the great volcanoes of the world. At Mount Rainier, as at other inactive volcanoes, the ever-present possibility of renewed eruptions gives viewers a sense of anticipation, excitement, and apprehension not equaled by most other mountains. Eve
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Dwight Raymond Crandell
Updated Date: October 7, 2024