Mount Veniaminof-1)type of volcano 2)Geographic location 3)Name, distance, and population of nearest major city 4)Date of most recent eruption and date of most destructive eruption 5)Other events associated with the last eruption (earthquacks, mudslides, floods, etc.) Also, a major hazard to humans in the vicinity of this volcano. Speculate on what you would do if you were in charge of minimizing the risk to the population if a eruption happens. Thank you.

rocky Paul von Fischer

Hi Paul,

Is this a question? It looks like some sort of list.

Veniaminof is a large strato-volcano (56.17N, 159.38W) that suffered a huge caldera-forming eruption about 3700 years ago. The caldera is almost 10 km across and filled with ice and snow. All the recent eruptions have taken place from a cinder cone that pokes up through the ice in the caldera. Both the 1983-84 and June 1993-present eruption have consisted of fountaining at this cinder cone. Additionally, lava flows flow down the sides of the cone and onto the ice surface where they then melt their way down through to the bottom of the caldera and then a lake forms. This information came from "Volcanoes of the World" By Tom Simkin & Lee Seibert, "Volcanoes of N. America" by Chuck Wood & Jurgen Kienle, and the bimonthly reports of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

There are very few people who live nearby so the danger to humans is pretty small. One of the things they worry about is called a jokulhlaup. This is an unpronounceable Icelandic word. A jokulhlaup happens when an eruption occurs under a thick ice sheet. The eruption will often melt the bottom of the glacier. If the eruption keeps on long enough pretty soon the glacier will float up on its own melted water (ice floats). As soon as this happens all that melted water can escape out from under the glacier and you get a big flood. This happens pretty often in Iceland, and it is a possibility at Veniaminof.

Because so few people are nearby and the weather is so bad, Veniaminof is mainly monitored by satellites, both radar satellites (which can see through clouds and at night), and by weather satellites (which can detect the heat given off by an ongoing eruption).

I hope this helps. If you have a specific question please don't hesitate to send another.

Sincerely,

Scott Rowland 

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