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Akutan Volcano, USA
The summit of Akutan volcano, one of the most active of the Aleutian arc, is truncated by a 2-km-wide caldera that contains a large cinder cone that rises above the caldera rim.
It is seen here from the south in eruption on February 11, 1987.
A small lake occupies part of the caldera floor.
The caldera rim is breached narrowly on the north side.
A lava flow in 1978 traveled through this gap to within 2 km of the sea.
One of the most active volcanoes of the Aleutian arc, Akutan contains 2-km-wide caldera with an active intracaldera cone.
An older, largely buried caldera was formed during the late Pleistocene or early Holocene.
Two volcanic centers are located on the NW flank.
Lava Peak is of Pleistocene age, and a cinder cone lower on the flank produced a lava flow in 1852 that extended the shoreline of the island and forms Lava Point.
The 60-365 m deep younger caldera was formed during a major explosive eruption about 1600 years ago and contains at least three lakes.
The currently active large cinder cone in the NE part of the caldera has been the source of frequent explosive eruptions with occasional lava effusion that blankets the caldera floor.
A lava flow in 1978 traveled through a narrow breach in the north caldera rim almost to the coast.
Fumaroles occur at the base of the caldera cinder cone, and hot springs are located NE of the caldera at the head of Hot Springs Bay valley and along the shores of Hot Springs Bay.
PHOTO SOURCE: Jerry Chisum (Mark Airways), 1987 (courtesy of John Reeder, Alaska Div. Geology & Geophysical Surveys), courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, used with permission.
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