Hoodoo Mountain | |
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Southern flank of Hoodoo Mountain
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Highest point | |
Elevation | 1,850 m (6,070 ft) |
Prominence | 900 m (3,000 ft) |
Coordinates | 56°46′20″N 131°17′40″W / 56.77222°N 131.29444°WCoordinates: 56°46′20″N 131°17′40″W / 56.77222°N 131.29444°W |
Geography | |
Location | Stikine Country, British Columbia, Canada |
Parent range | Boundary Ranges |
Topo map | NTS 104B/14 |
Geology | |
Age of rock | |
Mountain type | Stratovolcano |
Volcanic arc/belt | Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province |
Last eruption | 7050 BCE (?) |
Hoodoo Mountain is a potentially active flat-topped stratovolcano in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located 74 km (46 mi) northeast of Wrangell, Alaska on the north side of the lower Iskut River and 30 km (19 mi) east of its junction with the Stikine River. It is situated in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains and has been in existence since the stage of the epoch, which began 130,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years ago. The mountain gets its name from the needle-like lava spines or hoodoos that reach heights of 150 m (492 ft), which give the volcano a strange appearance. This appearance makes Hoodoo Mountain different from other neighbouring mountains in the Boundary Ranges.
The volcano boasts an ice cap on its summit, and radar imaging of the rock beneath the ice has shown that the mountain's flat-topped summit is not just attributable to the ice cap, but the top of the mountain is flat as well. Beneath the summit ice cap lies an ice-filled volcanic crater that rises at an elevation of 1,850 m (6,070 ft) and a topographic prominence of 900 m (2,953 ft). Except for minor irregularities caused by erosion, any contour line drawn is practically a circle.
Hoodoo Mountain consists of a balanced lava dome 6 km (4 mi) in diameter and throughout most of its history, it has been influenced by glacial ice, causing several periods of subglacial eruptions and interactions between volcanic activity and ice sheets. This volcanic process has created Hoodoo's structure and stratigraphy similar to subglacial volcanoes.