Lesson 1: Geographical Context
Mount Rainier is one of about two dozen volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest known as the Cascade Range. This range of volcanoes extends 1,000 miles from northern California to southern British Columbia (USGS open file 94-585) and includes the recently erupted Mount St. Helens. The Cascade Range volcanoes, known as stratovolcanoes, have fewer but much more violent eruptions than shield volcanoes - such as those found in Hawaii.
The highest volcano in the Cascade Range is
Mount Rainier - rising to a height of 14,410 feet above sea level with
a relief of almost 10,000 feet from valley floor to summit. It
has more ice
and snow
than any of the other Cascade volcanoes in the
form of
26 glaciers (Brantley 1994:19). Melt water from Rainier's glaciers feeds
into five major
Mount Rainier is located 87 miles from Seattle, 65
miles from Tacoma, and towers over many closer towns. These
include Ashford, Buckley, Eatonville, Elbe, Orting, Sumner, Puyallup, and
more. This area, referred to as the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan,
is home to over 2.5 million people (U.S. Geodynamics Committee,
1994:1). Economically,
this area is important to the Pacific Northwest, as it is one of the
high-technology industry centers of the region and one of the major
centers for manufacturing commercial airlines in the United
States (U.S.
Geodynamics Committee, 1994:1).
Mount
Rainier National Park, established in 1899, surrounds the
volcano and covers 378 square miles of wilderness (Harris and Kiver,
1985:131). According to park officials, over two million people visit this
park every year to
hike, climb, camp, and generally enjoy the beautiful forests, waterfalls,
and wildlife found within its borders. The above map shows the
national park boundaries.
Review Questions
Print this page, answer the following questions, and give the answers to your professor or TA.
Question |
Answer |
|
| 1 | The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior designated 16 volcanoes to be studied during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. Which of the following is not a decade volcano? |
a.
Popocatepetl, Mexico b. Mauna Loa, USA c. Santorini, Greece d. Sakurajima, Japan |
| 2 | The town of Orting sits in a floodplain between which two rivers? |
a.
Carbon and Green b. White and Puyallup c. Puyallup and Carbon d. Cowlitz and Fox |
| 3 | According to the map of the Cascade Volcano Range, which are the two volcanoes closest to Mount Rainier? |
a.
Mt. Baker and Mt. Hood b. Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams c. Mt. Adams and Mt. Baker d. Mt. Baker and Glacier Peak. | 4 | Mount Rainier is the highest peak in the Cascades. What is its elevation? |
a. 10,000 b. 14,900 c. 15,140 d. 14,410 |
| 5 | List the 8 lakes, dams, and reservoirs shown on the stream drainage map. |
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Return to Mount Rainier and do Lesson 2