 Mount Rainier, highest
(4,392 meters - 14,410 feet) and third-most voluminous volcano in the
Cascades after Mounts Shasta and Adams, dominates the Seattle-Tacoma area,
where more than 1.5 million know it fondly as The Mountain. The Mountain
is, however, the most dangerous volcano in the range, owing to the large
population and to the huge area and volume (92x106 cubic meters
and 4.4x109 cubic meters, respectively of ice and snow on its
flanks that could theoretically melt to generate debris flows during
cataclysmic eruptions. In addition, sector collapses of clay-rich,
hydrothermally altered debris have generated at least three huge (>2x108
cubic meters) debris flows in the last 5,000 years.
Mount Rainier
Location: Washington
Latitude: 46.87 N
Longitude: 121.758 W
Height: 4,392 Meters (14,410 Feet)
Type: Stratovolcano
Number of eruptions in the past 200 years: 5+
Latest Eruptions: About 1820(?); 1841-1843(?); 1854(?); 1879;
1882 3.
Present thermal activity: Occasional steam explosions on upper
slopes; many steam vents and hot rocks in summit area.
Remarks: History of massive debris avalanches and debris flows.
Occasional very shallow seismicity. ... Largest of the Cascade
volcanoes. A mudflow caused by steam explosions about 5,700 years ago
was one of the largest known in the world. Expected to erupt again
within the next hundred years; hazards consist mainly of mudflows,
floods, and fallout of tephra
Seismic Activity: Steady, increasing
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