Event and age |
Comment |
Some recommended exposures
|
Recurrent small debris flows of volcaniclastic sediments leave terraces in tributary stream valleys |
Destruction of trails, roads, and bridges; caused by heavy precipitation, often with rapid snowmelt |
Park Butte trail near Rocky Creek ford; Rainbow Creek Rd 1144 above trail to Baker Hot Springs |
Increased heat flux at Sherman Crater, 1975-76 |
Levels in Baker Lake and Lake Shannon drawn down in preparation for inflows of lahars analogous to Morovitz Creek Lahar |
Sherman Crater's fumaroles |
1891; ca. 1917-1932 |
Two debris avalanches in Rainbow Creek |
Left bank of Rainbow Creek (stops 5, 6 in Tucker et al, 2007a) |
1845-47- failures of east side of Sherman Crater |
Morovitz Creek Lahar flows down tributaries and reaches Baker River |
Stacked lahar diamicts, right bank Boulder Ck just above Road 11 crossing (stop 4, Tucker et al, 2007a) |
1843 to present- Sherman Crater eruptive period |
YP phreatomagmatic eruption ejects tephra and hydrothermally-altered ballistic blocks. |
YP tephra occasionally present in trail cuts at the base of the root zone; stop 3 in Tucker et al, 2007a; altered bright white boulders along Scott Paul trail south of Easton Glacier are bombs remobilized by the glacier. |
5,740-5,930 BP Mazama Park eruptive period |
OP, BA tephras emplaced;Lahars derived from flank collapses reach lowlands of Whatcom County |
BA is common in most trail cuts; in road cuts of Heather Meadows; both tephras are prominent along Park Butte Trail near trail fork to Railroad Grade;Middle Fork Lahar diamict is prominent at base of bluffs on east side of Middle Fork Nooksack, downstream from Mosquito Lake Rd bridge; stop 3 and Fig. 8 of Linneman et al, 2007 |
8,500 BP Mount Baker flank collapse |
Schreibers Meadow lahar surrounds cinder cone at Schreibers Meadow |
Along Park Butte trail in Schreibers Meadow |
8,500-8,850 BP Schreibers Meadow eruptive period |
SC tephra; Sulphur Creek lava enters Glacial Lake Baker; volcaniclastic sedimentation in impounded lake |
Stops 1 and 2 in Tucker et al 2007; SC tephra accumulations along road 12 just below Schriebers trailhead, and in trail cuts along Scott Paul Trail just below the 4600' saddle that overlooks Sandy Creek; Sulphur Creek lava is present in Sulphur Creek where crossed by Road 12, and along Rd 11 just north of Shadow of the Sentinels trailhead. |
~12,200- 15,000 BP Carmelo Crater eruptive period |
Assemblages of lavas, block-and-ash flows and lahars in radial valleys |
Boulder Creek assemblage 2 km above Rd 11 bridge; Stop 4 of Tucker et al 2007 |
Late Pleistoceneimpoundment of Glacial Lake Baker |
Moraine and outwash embankment on north wall of Skagit River valley impounds Baker River. Volcaniclastic-free lacustrine deposits in Glacial Lake Baker |
Horseshoe Cove, Baker Lake Reservoir (outcrop examination requires reservoir draw down to low levels (mid-winter to early spring) |
Late Pleistocene growth of Mount Baker by multiple eruptions |
Andesite lavas and breccias. |
Stacked lavas near Easton Glacier terminus; Roman Nose and Coleman Glacier headwall; Heliotrope Creek crossing on Heliotrope Ridge Trail |
Ca. 300-500 ka. Pre-Baker volcanism of Black Buttes, Ptarmigan Ridge, Table Mountain. Many other older units, not listed here. (maps and Table 1 in Hildreth et al, 2003) |
Basaltic and andesitic lavas and flow breccias |
Black Buttes lavas are exposed above the Scott Paul trail below the 4600' pass that overlooks Sandy Creek; Coleman Pinnacle; Table Mountain and Heather Meadows |
1.15 Ma Kulshan caldera (Hildreth, 1996) |
Rhyodacite ignimbrite, and post caldera domes |
Pale ash flow tuff deposits are visible in gullies south of the Artist Point parking lot; lava domes are just south of the Ptarmigan Ridge trail between Ptarmigan Pass and Coleman Pinnacle (Babcock and Carson, 2000) |
3.72-2.96 Ma Hannegan caldera (Tucker et al, 2007b) |
Rhyolite ignimbrite, intracaldera breccia, numerous dikes, post caldera intrusions |
South face of Hannegan Peak (Hannegan Trail); intrusions are on west flanks of Ruth and Icy Peaks (alpine travel required) (Babcock and Carson, 2000; Tabor and Haugerud, 1999; Tucker, 2006; Tucker et al, 2007b) |