June 2008
NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATE

MBVO is now MOUNT BAKER VOLCANO RESEARCH CENTER

This spring, we affiliated with the Geology Department at Western Washington University. The hope is to allow us to solicit research funds under the University's non-profit umbrella. We have begun collecting an archive of research papers and unpublished material that could be useful for future Mount Baker researchers.  We have just received a collection from William Halliday, who explored the ice caves of Sherman Crater in the 1970s. Included are photographs from his explorations, and his unpublished reports to the US Forest Service and National Speleological Society. The archive will be held at WWU, but we intend to make the material available to any researchers with an interest. We will eventually have a database on this website describing the materials we hold.

2008 seismometry at Mount Baker

Dr. Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, at WWU's Geology Department, will continue her study of earthquakes on Mount Baker this summer. Four seismometers will again be deployed in the Mt. Baker region to investigate background seismicity at the volcano.  The data will also contribute to Caplan-Auerbach's research on ice-movement seismology. A preliminary report of the 2007 seismic study is posted on the abstracts page: Preliminary Results From a Temporary Seismic Network at Mt. Baker, Washington.

2008 Ice-penetrating radar profiles of Sherman Crater

Melissa Park will begin her WWU MS thesis this summer. She will attempt to obtain a profile of Sherman Crater morphology beneath the crater's glacier.

Several graduate theses have been completed at Western Washington University:

Sherman Crater Gravimetry

Kristin Hill, studying under Dr. Juliet Crider, completed her MS thesis measurements of gravity anomalies beneath Mount Baker. Congratulations, Kristin!  Her abstracts are included on the Abstracts page.

Geodetic measurement of volcano deformation

Brendan Hodge, also one of Juliet's students, completed his MS thesis at WWU last winter, and is now working in New Zealand with the government-run GNS (Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences). Brendan's study, using high-resolution GPS to measure deformation of the volcano, will be published. He reoccupied many survey points established by the USGS in the 1980's. He also has an abstract in the Abstracts section.

Caldera Lake stratigraphy and paleomagnetics

Dennis Feeney, working with Dr. Scott Linneman, has completed his WWU thesis study. Dennis mapped out detailed stratigraphy of 1 million year old intracaldera lake sediments at Kulshan caldera, on the northeast margin of the Mount Baker volcanic field. He also obtained paleomagnetic data on the post-caldera rhyodacite intrusions, which were erupted at the time of the Matuyama-Jaramillo magnetic reversal.

ONGOING STUDIES AT MOUNT BAKER

Several projects are continuing at Mount Baker. They are briefly described below. MBVRC will post photos, data and interim reports from these studies as they become available.

Sherman Crater fumarole sampling

Sherman Crater fumarolic gases were sampled in August, 2007 for the second year in a row, the first sample series in a decade or more, as part of a joint WWU-Cascade Volcano Observatory NSF project. Climbers descended into the crater from the West Rim and collected gas at four fumaroles. Data from these specimens are here. There was little change in chemistry since the previous sampling. [See photos]

Strength of acid-altered rocks at Sherman Crater

Dr. Robert Watters (University of Nevada, Reno) and his graduate student Sean Warren climbed to the west rim of Sherman Crater via the Easton route in late August 2006. They collected altered lava and pyroclastic rocks to study the effects of alteration on rock strength, and the potential for future edifice failures. The 2006 Warren and Watters AGU abstract and the 2007 Cordilleran GSA abstract are on the abstracts page.

Mount Baker Holocene eruptive history and tephra studies

Dave Tucker and Kevin Scott are wrapping up their field studies for an extensive USGS Professional Paper on Holocene activity at Mount Baker. This project has been underway for a number of years. A number of abstracts have detailed various aspects of that work. Dave is continuing his independent investigation into the distribution of the YP ash, erupted during the last magmatic activity at Sherman Crater in the mid-19th Century. They have submitted a paper to Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research on the interplay between the early Holocene Sulphur Creek basalt lava and Glacial Lake Baker. Some tephra photos are on our Images page.

Geochemistry

Nikki Moore and Troy Baggerman, working with Dr. Susan DeBari, are studying trace-element geochemistry of Mount Baker volcanic rocks. Troy is focusing on andesites in an effort to understand the evolution of these rocks. Nikki is working on a suite of the most mafic lavas at Baker to better understand the origin and geochemical evolution of mafic magmas and mantle processes. They are collecting samples from units defined in Hildreth et al, 2003. See Troy and Sue's report at the abstracts page.

Emily Mullen, at University of Washington, is forging ahead on her PhD study of Mount Baker petrology.

2007 GSA Mount Baker Symposium on Mount Baker

A highlight of the May 2007 Cordilleran GSA meeting at Western Washington University was the large number of research papers presented at the special symposium on Baker research. Abstracts from the symposium, and a few from other sessions, are listed on the Abstracts page. The field guide, edited by WWU's Dave Tucker and Pete Stelling, includes a field trip by Dave, Kevin Scott, and David Lewis that visits Holocene lava, lahar and debris avalanche deposits on the east flank of Mount Baker. The meeting guidebook is available from GSA.

July 2007- Large ice and rock debris avalanche descends Boulder Glacier

On July 26th, a large mass of snow and ice broke off the east slope of Sherman Peak just below the summit. Sherman Peak is the high triangular peak on the south rim of Sherman Crater, just south of the deep East Breach. The slide quickly rode over outcrops of rock and hydrothermally altered pyroclastics, and became a muddy slurry. The dark, wet mass slid east down the Boulder Glacier for three kilometers before it stopped just short of the glacier terminus. A party of climbers was preparing to cross the glacier and witnessed the debris flow, which they said shook the ground and made a deafening roar. Such slides are periodic events at this precise location, and may be due to thermal activity in the source area. Frank and others (1975) estimated a volume of 35,000 m3 for a very similar slide. Dr. Jackie Caplan-Auerbach at Western Washington University has studied these phenomena in Alaska, and will continue this work at Mount Baker. Images of the slide deposit are dramatic. More images can be see on page 4 of John Scurlock's website. See also a paper describing earlier debris avalanches:

Frank, D., Post, A., and Friedman, J. D., 1975, Recurrent geothermally induced debris avalanches on Boulder Glacier, Mount Baker, Washington; Journal of Research, US Geological Survey, v. 3 n. 1, pp. 77-87

ONGOING STUDIES AT MOUNT BAKER

Many projects are continuing at Mount Baker. They are briefly described below. MBVRC will post photos, data and interim reports from these studies as they become available.

Sherman Crater fumarole sampling

Sherman Crater fumarolic gases were sampled late in August for the first time in a decade or more, as part of a joint WWU-Cascade Volcano Observatory NSF project. Climbers descended into the crater from the West Rim and collected gas at four fumaroles. Data from these specimens are here. There was little change in chemistry since the previous sampling.

Strength of acid-altered rocks at Sherman Crater

Dr. Robert Watters (University of Nevada, Reno) and his graduate student Sean Warren climbed to the west rim of Sherman Crater via the Easton route in late August, 2006. They collected altered lava and pyroclastic rocks to study the effects of alteration on rock strength, and the potential for future edifice failures. The 2006 AGU abstract and the 2007 Cordilleran GSA abstract are on the MBVRC abstracts page.

New seismographs to be installed in Mount Baker area

Dr. Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, at WWU's Geology Department, is hoping to initiate a study of earthquakes on Mount Baker this summer. Initial plans are to temporarily deploy up to four seismometers in the Mt. Baker region to investigate background seismicity at the volcano.  The data will also contribute to Caplan-Auerbach's research on ice-movement seismology.

Mount Baker Holocene eruptive history and tephra studies

Dave Tucker and Kevin Scott continued field studies for an extensive report on Holocene activity at Mount Baker. This project has been underway for a number of years. A number of abstracts have detailed various aspects of that work. Dave is continuing his independent investigation into the distribution of the YP ash, erupted during the last magmatic activity at Sherman Crater in the mid-19th Century.

Geochemistry

J. Towns and other students of Dr. Nate Greene at the University of Alabama continue their studies of the mafic Sulphur Creek lava flow. We were saddened to hear that Dr. Greene died in November.

Sherman Crater Gravity Studies

Kristin Hill, studying under Dr. Juliet Crider, completed her measurements of gravity anomalies below Mount Baker, and is defending her thesis January 12th. Congratulations, Kristin!  Her abstracts are included on the Abstracts page.

Geodetic measurement of volcano deformation

Brendan Hodge, also one of Juliet's students, is using high-resolution GPS to measure deformation of the volcano. He spent the summer in some very remote, difficult-to-reach locations on Baker. He reoccupied many survey points established by the USGS in the 1980's. He also has an abstract in the Abstracts section.

Geochemistry

Nikki Moore and Troy Baggerman, working with Dr. Susan DeBari, are studying trace-element geochemistry of Mount Baker volcanic rocks. Troy is focusing on andesites in an effort to understand the evolution of these rocks. Nikki is working on a suite of the most mafic lavas at Baker. They are collecting samples from units defined in Hildreth et al, 2003.

Caldera Lake stratigraphy and paleomagnetics

Dennis Feeney, working with Dr. Scott Linneman, mapped out detailed stratigraphy of 1 million year old intracaldera lake sediments at Kulshan caldera, on the northeast margin of the Mount Baker volcanic field. He also is beginning to demagnetize his samples.

image by John Scurlock