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Report on Veniaminof (United States) — November 1994


Veniaminof

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 19, no. 11 (November 1994)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman.

Veniaminof (United States) Possible "hot spot" on satellite imagery, but no activity observed

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1994. Report on Veniaminof (United States) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 19:11. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199411-312070



Veniaminof

United States

56.17°N, 159.38°W; summit elev. 2507 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Cloudy conditions throughout October and the first half of November prevented observations on most days. On 13 October AVHRR satellite imagery revealed a "hot spot" in the same location as during the past few months, but no eruption cloud was observed. By October 18, when clear skies allowed good views, no "hot spot" or eruption cloud was detected. Satellite imagery on 17 November again revealed a possible "hot spot" within the caldera, indicating probable continuing low-level activity. No activity was observed from Perryville . . . during clear conditions on 24 November.

Geological Summary. Veniaminof, on the Alaska Peninsula, is truncated by a steep-walled, 8 x 11 km, glacier-filled caldera that formed around 3,700 years ago. The caldera rim is up to 520 m high on the north, is deeply notched on the west by Cone Glacier, and is covered by an ice sheet on the south. Post-caldera vents are located along a NW-SE zone bisecting the caldera that extends 55 km from near the Bering Sea coast, across the caldera, and down the Pacific flank. Historical eruptions probably all originated from the westernmost and most prominent of two intra-caldera cones, which rises about 300 m above the surrounding icefield. The other cone is larger, and has a summit crater or caldera that may reach 2.5 km in diameter, but is more subdued and barely rises above the glacier surface.

Information Contacts: AVO.