Sunday, November 24, 2019

Week 4 - Volcanoes Mt. Hood


Hello Class,

For this week’s travel journal, I ventured to Mount Hood in the state of Oregon. The mountain stands at 11,237 ft and is 45 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon. It was created form the “Juan de Fuca Plate”, this plate collides with the “North American Plate” and created the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This subduction zone help lead to the creation of Mt. Hood. Mt. Hood is a composite volcano or stratovolcano, this volcano type is declared as one of the most dangerous. The reason for this is due to the generation of explosive eruptions and the ejection of large quantities of gases. Mt. Hoods last eruption was 1907, this volcano unlike it’s nearby neighbor Mount St. Helen does not have an explosive or tephra history. Mt. Hood has fast pyroclastic flows which have traveled roughly 9 miles in recent history, this is from the lava domes below growing and collapsing.

Just like Mt. Saint Helen, Mt. Hood has debris avalanches, this is caused from the structure of the volcano itself, when it erupts it causes parts to become displaced then cause a mudslide that moves down the mountain. The last lahars were 1,500 years ago which lead the creation of “crater rock” at the peak of the mountain. In recent times Mt. Hood has remained quiet with no activity, but steam vents help route the heat from below the surface which can bee seen from the south side of the mountain where you can see “crater rock”. This reminder is showing us that lava is very well below the surface. The likelihood if Mt. Hood erupting again is there but it is not dangerous in anyway to nearby towns. The lava flow will be unable to reach Oregon and light ash fall may spread but will not cause harm. For local living at the base of the Mountain they are in a hazard zone for lahar which has been recorded at moving up to 40 miles an hour at Mt. Hood.


                                         Mount Hood (North and South Flank)

References:
Mount Hood – History and Hazards of Oregon’s most Recently Active Volcano. (2010) Received From: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs060-00/

Mount Hood (North and South Flank). (2010). Received From: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs060-00/

Respectfully,
Derek Bryant

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