K'eLt'aeni
Language: Ahtna
Meaning: The One
Mt. Wrangell
Volcanic Province: Wrangell Volcanic Arc
Location: Ahtna Nenn’ / East-Central Alaska, USA - 62.213°N, 144.129°W
Type: Shield Volcano
Age: Estimated to 750,000 years old
Last Known Eruption: 1912 CE
Tectonic Setting:
Intraplate
Continental Crust (>25 km)
Mount Wrangell is the youngest and one of the most ice-covered shield volcanoes in the Wrangell Volcanic Field. Its immense size makes it one of the largest continental-margin volcanoes in the world, with a diameter exceeding 30 kilometers at the 2,000-meter elevation.
Geologists estimate that Mount Wrangell began forming roughly 750,000 years ago. Most of the mountain was built by repeated eruptions between about 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, when large volumes of fluid lava flowed outward and created its broad base and gently sloping profile.
Mount Wrangell is considered dormant rather than extinct. While no major eruptions have been recorded in modern times, small steam and ash explosions were reported in the late 19th century. At the summit, a large, ice-filled caldera - formed by collapse of the volcano’s upper structure - provides evidence of more explosive activity in the past.
The summit area is dominated by a dramatic, ice-filled caldera measuring approximately 4 by 6 kilometers. Three smaller craters lie along the caldera rim and occasionally show geothermal activity, producing visible plumes of steam. These features indicate that heat remains within the volcanic system and that Mount Wrangell is still an active geothermal landscape.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THIS PROJECT AND ITS CONTINUITY?
Learn the cool stuff and share it with your friends. You can download a printable sheet that summarizes this entire series below. Bring it on your drives and flights around the Wrangells!
Buy the art
Display and/or sell it at your business
Collaborate with me on more projects that combine art, history, and science
Acknowledgments
Game McGimsey, retired volcanologist from Alaska Volcano Observatory and one of few scientists to conduct research and expeditions to the Wrangell volcanoes for fact-checking all geology related information shared in the Wrangell Volcanic Field series.Wilson Justin, Ahtna elder and a descendent of the Ahtna Medicine People for sharing his knowledge and giving me a blessing to share Ahtna Indigenous place names with the world. Further thank you to my friend Bryson Corbett for getting me away from the books after long days of research and drawing. And for helping me write the geological history into cohesive and understandable stories. My dear friends Martin, Laura, Becca, and Mike at Copper Valley Air for always getting excited with me, polishing the plane's windows and taking me around these mountains while pushing it on bumpy flights to see these giants up close.Love to all of my friends from the Wrangells and beyond that continue to cheer me on through my journey of exploration. And to everyone who buys my art so I can continue to make more.This project debuted on July 27, 2024, as part of the Stories of Our Landscapes exhibit at the Kennecott Community Hall, an event hosted by the Wrangell Mountain Center in partnership with the National Park Service and the Rasmuson Foundation, with Karolina Zakravska featured as the artist.