Cruising tourists, hidden volcanoes
Hundreds of thousands of tourists cruise by hidden volcanoes in Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage every year. Even geologists missed many of the small cones for decades, because they were concealed by thick forest and rugged wilderness. Researchers recently identified 12 new volcanoes in Southeast Alaska, including an underwater volcano near New Eddystone rock, a cruising landmark. [Read more about the newfound Alaskan volcanoes]
Southeast Alaska volcanoes
Researchers have added 12 new volcanoes to this map and re-tested twice as many in Southeast Alaska, part of a project to look at the history of volcanoes and glaciers in the region.
Lava Fork flow
The Blue River lava flow, about 120 years old, is the youngest lava flow in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. Crossing the international border, the flow burnt trees to a crisp but was so remote no one saw the eruption.
Lava and ice
This spectacular columnar joint pattern in lava exposed in Alaska's Suemez Island formed when the lava flowed next to a glacier about 700,000 years ago.
A knobby forest
Volcanic vents and cinder cones pockmark Behm Canal. The Coast shear zone, a lineament running down the canal, is a zone of weakness in the crust that lets magma escape from the mantle.
The newest volcano
One of the newest volcanic vents discovered in Southeast Alaska is an underwater volcanic cone in Behm Canal near New Eddystone rock.
Behm Canal landmark
New Eddystone rock, a popular stop for tourists cruising Southeast Alaska's Behm Canal, was once a volcano. Eroded by glaciers and waves, only a tall spire remains.
Explosive eruption
The Addington Maar is 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Craig, Alaska. A maar is a crater formed when lava or magma hits a pocket of groundwater and explodes. The maar is 295 feet (90 meters) below the ocean surface today, but formed when sea levels were lower, about 14,000 to 16,000 years ago.
