Cleveland Volcano (Alaska)

Mount Cleveland
The nearly symmetrical face of Mount Cleveland, 1994
Highest point
Elevation	5,675 ft (1,730 m)
Prominence	5,675 ft (1,730 m)
Listing	US most prominent peaks 82nd
Coordinates	52°49′20″N 169°56′42″W / 52.8222°N 169.945°W / 52.8222; -169.945Coordinates: 52°49′20″N 169°56′42″W / 52.8222°N 169.945°W / 52.8222; -169.945
Geography
Mount Cleveland Alaska
Location	Chuginadak Island, Alaska, United States
Topo map	USGS Samalga Island
Geology
Age of rock	Holocene
Mountain type	Stratovolcano
Volcanic arc/belt	Central Aleutian Arc
Last eruption	April 16, 2016

Mount Cleveland (also known as Cleveland Volcano) is a nearly symmetrical stratovolcano on the western end of Chuginadak Island, which is part of the Islands of Four Mountains just west of Umnak Island in the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Mt. Cleveland is 1,730 m (5,676 ft) high, and one of the most active of the 75 or more volcanoes in the larger Aleutian Arc. Aleutian natives named the island after their fire goddess, Chuginadak, who they believed inhabited the volcano. In 1894 a team from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey visited the island and gave Mount Cleveland its current name, after then-president Grover Cleveland.

One of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc, Cleveland has erupted at least 22 times in the last 230 years. A VEI 3 eruption in 1944 produced the arc's only known volcanic fatality. Most recently Mount Cleveland has erupted three times in 2009, twice in 2010, and once in 2011. The volcano's remoteness limits opportunities for its study, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory relies heavily on satellites for monitoring. The volcano is primarily hazardous to aircraft; many of the flights over the north Pacific approach the vicinity of the volcano, and volcanic ash released from eruptions can damage sensitive electronic equipment and sensors.

Mount Cleveland is located 490 km (304 mi) from the western end of the Aleutian Arc, a long volcanic chain extending off the coast of Alaska. Containing over 75 volcanoes, this volcanic arc occurs above the subduction zone where the Pacific Plate plunges under the North American plate. As the plate moves deeper into the earth, the increasing pressure results in the loss of volatiles, certain elements and compounds with low boiling points, from various hydrous minerals. One of these compounds is water; its addition to the mantle wedge formed between the subducting and overriding plates lowers the melting point enough to allow magma to form. The melted material then rises to the surface and forms a volcano—in this case, the Aleutian Arc.