USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
Geology of Interactions of Volcanoes, Snow, and Water:
Mount Redoubt, Alaska
Disruption of Drift Glacier
Eruptions between 14 December 1989 and 14 March 1990 melted snow
and glacier ice at Redoubt Volcano, causing winter flooding of
the Drift River and threatening an oil-storage and -loading
facility at the valley mouth. Rapid flows of fragmented hot
particles (pyroclastic flows) entrained snow and glacier ice
while swiftly melting canyons into Drift glacier. Eventually much
of the head of Drift glacier disappeared. The volumes of debris
flows increased as the flows incorporated seasonal snowpack on
the lower glacier surface and adjacent river valley. No large
amounts of meltwater were stored on or under the glacier before
any of the flows. The threat of flooding became somewhat reduced
after the largest eruption (2 January 1990) removed the most
easily erodible snow and ice.
Trabant, D.C., Waitt, R.B., and Major, J.J., 1994, Disruption of
Drift Glacier, Ice Conglomerate Deposits, and Origin of Floods
During the 1989 90 Eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska: Journal
of Vocanology and Geothermal Research, v. 62, p. 369-385.
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11/03/97, Lyn Topinka