Ice and Fire: The Tale of Frosty, Alaska’s Dormant Stratovolcano

The Alaskan stratovolcano has not come to life in countless years.

Wintry is a stratovolcano situated in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain. The volcano has actually been inactive for thousands of years, the rock listed below its glaciated peak informs a story of its dynamic past.

The image above, gotten by Landsat 9’s OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on April 22, 2023, reveals Frosty’s 5,670-foot (1,728-meter) peak and the neighboring town of Cold Bay to the north.

Geologic studies of the volcano show that Frosty’s top caldera is comprised of 2 coalescing cratersVolcanic activity most likely started from a single main vent, and cracks on its flanks added to its development. Throughout the later phases of its advancement, activity moved to a brand-new primary vent, developing its contemporary two-crater top.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, explosive activity took place at periods throughout the development of Frosty’s primary cone. Much of its eruptive activity was gushing, in which basaltic lava streamed from the vent.

To the south of Frosty is Morzhovoi, a thoroughly deteriorated stratovolcano with long u-shaped valleys extending from a main caldera. Just residues of the volcano stay, with separated peaks that are pieces of the initial caldera rim.

Both volcanoes have actually been reasonably peaceful for countless years. In July and August 2001, the Alaskan Volcano Observatory got a number of reports of steam originating from Frosty’s peak. After some examination, the observatory figured out that the volcano was still non-active. Mount Shishaldina livelier volcano on Unimak Island southwest of the Cold Bay Complex, has actually had at least 13 explosive occasions considering that July 2023.

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data-gt-translate-attributes =”[]tabindex=”0″ function=”link” > NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey.