DESCRIPTION:
Mount Baker Glaciers and Glaciation

[Map,12K,InlineGIF]
Glaciers of Mount Baker, Washington
-- Modified from: Hyde and Crandell, 1978, USGS Professional Paper 1022-C, and USGS Mt. Baker 15' Quadrangle, 1952

Mount Baker (3,285 meters; 10,778 feet) is an ice-clad volcano in the North Cascades of Washington State about 50 kilometers (31 miles) due east of the city of Bellingham. After Mount Rainier, it is the most heavily glaciated of the Cascade volcanoes: the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker (about 1.8 cubic kilometers; 0.43 cubic miles) is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. Isolated ridges of lava and hydrothermally altered rock, especially in the area of Sherman Crater, are exposed between glaciers on the upper flanks of the volcano: the lower flanks are steep and heavily vegetated. The volcano rests on a foundation of non-volcanic rocks in a region that is largely non-volcanic in origin.

The present-day cone is relatively young, perhaps less than 30,000 years old, but it sits atop a similar older volcanic cone called Black Buttes volcano which was active between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago. Much of Mount Baker's earlier geologic record was eroded away during the last ice age (which culminated 15,000- 20,000 years ago), by thick ice sheets that filled the valleys and covered much of the region. In the last 14,000 years, the area around the mountain has been largely ice free, but the mountain itself remains heavily mantled with snow and ice.

Mount Baker is a large stratovolcano in northwestern Washington about 30 kilometers east of Bellingham and 25 kilometers south of the International Boundary. The glacier-covered cone of andesite lava flows and breccias rises 2 kilometers above adjacent mountains carved from a complex of older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The present cone was formed prior to the last major glaciation (Fraser Glaciation), which occurred between about 25,000 and 10,000 years ago, and probably is considerably older. The cone overlaps rocks of an earlier eruptive center from which two radiometric dates of about 400,000 years have been obtained. ...

Mount Baker's summit crater is covered by snow and ice, and little is known of its nature or age. A prominent crater partly filled with ice, known as Sherman Crater, is 350 meters lower than, and about 800 meters south of, the summit. Its east rim, above the head of Boulder Glacier, is breached by a notch about 150 meters deep. Another low point, about 100 meters deep, is on the southwest rim above Deming Glacier. Fumaroles and thermal springs are concentrated in the crater, where solfataric and hydrothermal activity has produced clay minerals and other alteration products. Avalanches of snow, firn, and hydrothermally altered rock debris from the rim of Sherman Crater have swept down Boulder Glacier at least six times since 1958.

[Map,12K,InlineGIF]
Glaciers of Mount Baker, Washington
-- Modified from: Hyde and Crandell, 1978, USGS Professional Paper 1022-C, and USGS Mt. Baker 15' Quadrangle, 1952

Mount Baker's summit crater is covered by snow and ice, and little is known of its nature or age. A prominent crater partly filled with ice, known as Sherman Crater, is 350 meters lower than, and about 800 meters south of, the summit. Its east rim, above the head of Boulder Glacier, is breached by a notch about 150 meters deep. Another low point, about 100 meters deep, is on the southwest rim above Deming Glacier. Fumaroles and thermal springs are concentrated in the crater, where solfataric and hydrothermal activity has produced clay minerals and other alteration products. Avalanches of snow, firn, and hydrothermally altered rock debris from the rim of Sherman Crater have swept down Boulder Glacier at least six times since 1958.

Glacier Creek Road: This 9 mile side trip takes you to a fabulous view (weather permitting) of Coleman Glacier on the west side of Mount Baker.

Mount Baker's summit crater is covered by snow and ice, and little is known of its nature or age. A prominent crater partly filled with ice, known as Sherman Crater, is 350 meters lower than, and about 800 meters south of, the summit. Its east rim, above the head of Boulder Glacier, is breached by a notch about 150 meters deep. Another low point, about 100 meters deep, is on the southwest rim above Deming Glacier. Fumaroles and thermal springs are concentrated in the crater, where solfataric and hydrothermal activity has produced clay minerals and other alteration products. Avalanches of snow, firn, and hydrothermally altered rock debris from the rim of Sherman Crater have swept down Boulder Glacier at least six times since 1958.

During the winter, snowmobile access is provided on road #13 to Schriebers Meadow, into upper Rocky and upper Sulphur Creek, the upper Railroad Grade, Metcalfe Moraine, and lower Easton Glacier. The Forest works with the Washington State Sno-Park Program and various user groups to manage winter use in this area.

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