Mount Mazama Research Paper
Crater Lake partially fills a type of volcanic dejection called a caldera that formed by the collapse of a volcano identified as Mount Mazama during an colossal eruption approximately 7,700 years ago. Located on the Cascade- Sierra Mountains Plateau area of southern Oregon, “Mount Mazama is one of the major volcanoes of the Cascades Arc” (USGS) that extends from northern California to British Columbia. the devastating eruption of Mount Mazama altered the landscape all around the volcano. Pyroclastic flows of pumice and ash distressed the close and also over all area, creating different geologic features like the pumice desert and the Pinnacle, also, pumice and ash fell to the northeast of the volcano at least as close as Washington and as far as central Canada.” At first sight the rim around Crater Lake
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suggests that the caldera was produced by an explosion” (United States), the climactic eruption was fed by magma that had been collected in a chamber that was approximately 3.8 km below the surface. As the magma was rapidly utilized to create the eruption, the roof of the magma chamber collapsed, forming the bowl shape depression known as a caldera. The caldera has a diameter of approximately 8 km north to south and 10 km east to west, with an approximate depth of 1,200 m from the caldera rim to the lake floor. Pyroclastic flows deposited pumice and ash on all flanks of Mount Mazama and in valleys below.
This volcanic eruption created a central platform, the island known as Wizard Island and other minor volcanic formations, including a dome above the central platform. Also, the soil of the caldera has been covered by sediment and debris from landslides.
There was a time when the caldera was finally cooled, allowing the rain and the snow accumulation melt water to form the lake.
Landslides from the caldera rim formed debris fans and turbidity sediments on the lake bed. During this period, fumaroles and sources of thermal waters were common and remained active. After some time, the slopes of the caldera stabilized more or less, the streams restored the radial drainage system of the mountain and began to sprout dense forests in the arid landscape. It is estimated that 720 years were required to fill the lake until its current depth. Many of these events took place in a period in which the prevailing climate was less humid than the current. The Volcano retains certain hydrothermal activity on the lake bed, which suggests that at some point Mount Mazama may suffer a new eruption.
In the case of Crater Lake, the term Caldera is a very important one to understand. A collapse Caldera by subsidence or collapse, tend to be elliptical and large in dimensions; its mechanism is little known, but seems to be related to the rapid drain of shallowed magmatic chambers and fractures generated by the rise of very viscous
magmas.
suggests that the caldera was produced by an explosion” (United States), the climactic eruption was fed by magma that had been collected in a chamber that was approximately 3.8 km below the surface. As the magma was rapidly utilized to create the eruption, the roof of the magma chamber collapsed, forming the bowl shape depression known as a caldera. The caldera has a diameter of approximately 8 km north to south and 10 km east to west, with an approximate depth of 1,200 m from the caldera rim to the lake floor. Pyroclastic flows deposited pumice and ash on all flanks of Mount Mazama and in valleys below.
This volcanic eruption created a central platform, the island known as Wizard Island and other minor volcanic formations, including a dome above the central platform. Also, the soil of the caldera has been covered by sediment and debris from landslides.
There was a time when the caldera was finally cooled, allowing the rain and the snow accumulation melt water to form the lake.
Landslides from the caldera rim formed debris fans and turbidity sediments on the lake bed. During this period, fumaroles and sources of thermal waters were common and remained active. After some time, the slopes of the caldera stabilized more or less, the streams restored the radial drainage system of the mountain and began to sprout dense forests in the arid landscape. It is estimated that 720 years were required to fill the lake until its current depth. Many of these events took place in a period in which the prevailing climate was less humid than the current. The Volcano retains certain hydrothermal activity on the lake bed, which suggests that at some point Mount Mazama may suffer a new eruption.
In the case of Crater Lake, the term Caldera is a very important one to understand. A collapse Caldera by subsidence or collapse, tend to be elliptical and large in dimensions; its mechanism is little known, but seems to be related to the rapid drain of shallowed magmatic chambers and fractures generated by the rise of very viscous
magmas.