The primary purpose of this report is to provide planners, emergency management personnel, and federal and state agencies with information regarding eruptive and other hazardous geologic processes that will likely occur at Mount Baker in the future. Hopefully it will also be of interest to the general public. A hazard-zonation map accompanies this report and designates areas that will most likely be affected by such processes. Much of the geologic rationale for the hazard designations is from work by Hyde and Crandell (1978) and from ongoing hydrologic and geologic investigtions by K.M. Scott and W.Hildreth.
Throughout this report a distinction is made between magmatic and nonmagmatic volcanic activity. Magmatic activity involves magma (molten rock and associated gases) reaching the surface whereas nonmagmatic activity does not. The reason for this distinction is that the movement of magma can usually be detected through volcano monitoring; therefore, there is generally some warning prior to a magmatic event. In the case of nonmagmatic events, such as the generation of debris flows, there is generally no movement of magma and an event may not be detected until it occurs. Thus volcanic activity not directly related to an eruption also poses a serious threat.
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