The Alaska Volcano Observatory has raised the alert level for Mount Cleveland, a 1730 m stratovolcano (cone-shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and
lava), located on Chuginadak Island, roughly 500 km southeast of
Anchorage in the Aleutian Island Chain, following an eruption on Monday 1 June 2020. The volcano erupted at about 10.30 pm local time (about 7.30 am on Tuesday 2 June, GMT), producing an ash column that rose to an altitude of about 6700 m, which drifted to the south and quickly dissapated. This is the first eruption since January 2019, representing the longest pause between eruptions since the current cycle of activity began, 20 years ago.
The location of Mount Cleveland. Google Maps.
The volcanoes of the Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands are fed by
magma rising from the Pacific Plate, which is being subducted beneath
the North American Plate to the south along the Aleutian Trench. As the
subducting plate sinks into the Earth it is subjected to enormous heat
and pressure, causing more volatile minerals to melt. These then rise
through the overlying North American plate as magma, fuelling the Alaskan
volcanoes.
How the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the North American
Plate fuels the volcanoes of Alaska. Alaska Volcano Observatory.
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