The mountain that moves me

by Jeff Swan

Title

The mountain that moves me

Artist

Jeff Swan

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

A view of mount Rainier

Mount Rainier was first known by the Native Americans as Talol, or Tacoma or Tahoma. One hypothesis of the word origin is [təqʷúʔbəʔ] ("mother of waters"), in the Lushootseed language spoken by the Puyallup people.[8] Another hypothesis is that "Tacoma" means "larger than Mount Baker" in Lushootseed: "Ta", larger, plus "Koma (Kulshan)", Mount Baker.[9] Other names originally used include Tahoma, Tacobeh, and Pooskaus.[10]
The current name was given by George Vancouver, who named it in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.[11] The map of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 refers to it as "Mt. Regniere".
Although "Rainier" had been considered the official name of the mountain, Theodore Winthrop, in his posthumously published 1862 travel book The Canoe and the Saddle, referred to the mountain as "Tacoma" and for a time, both names were used interchangeably, although "Mt. Tacoma" was preferred in the city of Tacoma.[12][13]
In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as "Rainier".[14] Following this in 1897, the Pacific Forest Reserve became the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve, and the national park was established three years later. Despite this, there was still a movement to change the mountain's name to "Tacoma" and Congress was still considering a resolution to change the name as late as 1924.[15][16]
In the lead up to Super Bowl XLVIII, the Washington State Senate passed a resolution on Friday, January 31, 2014, temporarily renaming the mountain Mount Seattle Seahawks until the midnight after the Super Bowl, Monday, February 3, 2014,[17] in response to the renaming of 53 mountains in Colorado after the 53 members of the Denver Broncos by Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper.[18]
After the 2015 restoration of the original name Denali to Mount McKinley in Alaska, debate over Mount Rainier's name intensified.[19]
Geographical setting[edit]
Mount Rainier is the highest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. This peak is located just east of Eatonville and just southeast of Seattle and Tacoma.[20] Mount Rainier is ranked third of the 128 ultra-prominent mountain peaks of the United States. Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of 13,210 ft (4,026 m), which is greater than that of K2, the world's second-tallest mountain, at 13,189 ft (4,020 m).[21] On clear days it dominates the southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain."[22] On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Corvallis, Oregon (at Marys Peak) and Victoria, British Columbia.[23]
With 26 major glaciers[24] and 36 sq mi (93 km2) of permanent snowfields and glaciers,[25] Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each more than 1,000 ft (300 m) in diameter, with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world's largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters,[26] with nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) of passages.[27] A small crater lake about 130 by 30 ft (39.6 by 9.1 m) in size and 16 ft (5 m) deep, the highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 ft (4,329 m), occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 ft (30 m) of ice and is accessible only via the caves.[28][29]
The Carbon, Puyallup, Mowich, Nisqually, and Cowlitz Rivers begin at eponymous glaciers of Mount Rainier. The sources of the White River are Winthrop, Emmons, and Fryingpan Glaciers. The White, Carbon, and Mowich join the Puyallup River, which discharges into Commencement Bay at Tacoma; the Nisqually empties into Puget Sound east of Lacey; and the Cowlitz joins the Columbia River between Kelso and Longview.

A panorama of the south face of Mount Rainier viewed from Westside Road, Washington State Route 706
Subsidiary peaks[edit]
The broad top of Mount Rainier contains three named summits. The highest is called the Columbia Crest. The second highest summit is Point Success, 14,158 ft (4,315 m), at the southern edge of the summit plateau, atop the ridge known as Success Cleaver. It has a topographic prominence of about 138 ft (42 m), so it is not considered a separate peak. The lowest of the three summits is Liberty Cap, 14,112 ft (4,301 m), at the northwestern edge, which overlooks Liberty Ridge, the Sunset Amphitheater, and the dramatic Willis Wall. Liberty Cap has a prominence of 492 ft (150 m), and so would qualify as a separate peak under most strictly prominence-based rules. A prominence cutoff of 400 ft (122 m) is commonly used in Washington state.[30]
High on the eastern flank of Mount Rainier is a peak known as Little Tahoma Peak, 11,138 ft (3,395 m), an eroded remnant of the earlier, much higher, Mount Rainier. It has a prominence of 858 ft (262 m), and it is almost never climbed in direct conjunction with Columbia Crest, so it is usually considered a separate peak. If considered separately from Mt. Rainier, Little Tahoma Peak would be the third highest mountain peak in Washington.[31][32]
Geology[edit]

Hazard map
Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc that consists of lava flows, debris flows, and pyroclastic ejecta and flows. Its early volcanic deposits are estimated at more than 840,000 years old and are part of the Lily Formation (about 2.9 million to 840,000 years ago). The early deposits formed a "proto-Rainier" or an ancestral cone prior to the present-day cone.[33] The present cone is more than 500,000 years old.[34]
The volcano is highly eroded, with glaciers on its slopes, and appears to be made mostly of andesite. Rainier likely once stood even higher than today at about 16,000 ft (4,900 m) before a major debris avalanche and the resulting Osceola Mudflow approximately 5,000 years ago.[35] In the past, Rainier has had large debris avalanches, and has also produced enormous lahars (volcanic mudflows) due to the large amount of glacial ice present. Its lahars have reached all the way to Puget Sound, a distance of more than 30 mi (48 km). Around 5,000 years ago, a large chunk of the volcano slid away and that debris avalanche helped to produce the massive Osceola Mudflow, which went all the way to the site of present-day Tacoma and south Seattle.[36] This massive avalanche of rock and ice removed the top 1,600 ft (500 m) of Rainier, bringing its height down to around 14,100 ft (4,300 m). About 530 to 550 years ago, the Electron Mudflow occurred, although this was not as large-scale as the Osceola Mudflow.[37]
After the major collapse approximately 5,000 years ago, subsequent eruptions of lava and tephra built up the modern summit cone until about as recently as 1,000 years ago. As many as 11 Holocene tephra layers have been found.[33]
Modern activity and the current threat[edit]
Decade Volcanoes TeideTeide NyiragongoNyiragongo VesuviusVesuvius EtnaEtna SantoriniSantorini UnzenUnzen SakurajimaSakurajima TaalTaal MerapiMerapi UlawunUlawun Mauna LoaMauna Loa ColimaColima Santa MaríaSanta María AvachinskyAvachinsky KoryakskyKoryaksky GalerasGaleras RainierRainier
Mount Rainier is one of the 16 Decade Volcanoes.
The most recent recorded volcanic eruption was between 1820 and 1854, but many eyewitnesses reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882 and 1894 as well.[38]
Although Mount Rainier is now dormant, as of 2016 Seismic monitors have been located in Mount Rainier National Park and on the mountain itself to monitor activity.[39] However, an eruption could be deadly for all living in areas within the immediate vicinity of the volcano and an eruption would also cause trouble from Vancouver, Canada to San Francisco[40] because of the massive amounts of ash blasting out of the volcano into the atmosphere.

Uploaded

July 10th, 2017

Statistics

Viewed 1,525 Times  -  Last Visitor from White Plains, NY on 04/13/2024 at 4:58 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags