Mount Edgecumbe (Alaska)

Mount Edgecumbe
Mount Edgecumbe in December 2004
Highest point
Elevation3,201 ft (976 m)[1]
Prominence3,201 ft (976 m)
ListingMountains of Alaska
Coordinates57°03′04″N 135°45′38″W / 57.0511048°N 135.7605223°W / 57.0511048; -135.7605223[2]
Naming
Native nameLʼúx (Tlingit)
Geography
Topo mapUSGS Sitka A-6
Geology
Rock age< 600,000 yr
Mountain typeDacite stratovolcano
Last eruption2220 BCE ± 100 years[3]
Climbing
First ascent1805 by Urey Lisianski
Easiest routeHike
A view toward Mount Edgecumbe
A snow-capped Mount Edgecumbe, with its companion Crater Ridge, as viewed from nearby Baranof Island

Mount Edgecumbe (Tlingit: Lʼúx, Russian: Эджком) is located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska, about 15 miles (24 km) west of Sitka. The dormant volcano is about 9.9 miles (16 km) east of the Queen Charlotte Fault that separates the North American and Pacific Plates, and is the highest point in the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field, an area of about 100 square miles (260 km2) on Kruzof Island that also includes Crater Ridge and Shell Mountain.[4]

Mount Edgecumbe has not had a major eruption in 4000 years. Recent earthquake activity shows magma intrusion at a depth of 3 miles (5 km), but as of 2022, an eruption does not appear to be imminent. It has been classified by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) as "historically active". Mount Edgecumbe was a prop in a 1974 April Fools' Joke, which involved tricking the citizens of Sitka into believing the volcano was erupting.[5]

  1. ^ "Topographic map of Mount Edgecumbe". opentopomap.org. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Mount Edgecumbe". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference gvp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Edgecumbe Volcano". Volcano Discovery. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference prank1974 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).