Alaska's lake-filled Katmai caldera, seen here from the SE, collapsed during a catastrophic eruption in 1912 of Novarupta volcano, hidden behind the far caldera wall 10 km to the west. Little tephra was erupted from Katmai itself, but Novarupta produced the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes ash flow, whose deposits form the broad flat valley in the right distance. Prior to 1912, Mount Katmai was a 2290-m-high complex of 4 small stratovolcanoes, similar to Trident volcano to the SW.

Copyrighted photo by Katia and Maurice Krafft, 1978.

Copyrighted image used with permission. All Rights Reserved. Contact photographer for any usage requests.

Novarupta

Katmai