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Geospatial database of the geologic map of the Emmons Lake volcanic center, Alaska

Published by U.S. Geological Survey | Department of the Interior | Catalog Last Checked: August 01, 2026 at 06:15 AM | Dataset Last Updated: December 01, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The Emmons Lake volcanic center is a spatially clustered group of stratovolcanoes and calderas on the Alaska Peninsula near Cold Bay, Alaska. The volcanic center is characterized by several ice- and snow-clad stratovolcanoes located within and along the margins of a nested-caldera complex that includes Emmons Lake. A shield-like ancestral edifice (ancestral Mount Emmons) is truncated by the caldera complex and forms a broad volcanic platform around the center. The main stratovolcanoes of the Emmons Lake volcanic center (from northeast to southwest) are Pavlof Sister, Pavlof Volcano, Little Pavlof, Double Crater, Mount Hague, and Mount Emmons. Pavlof Volcano, in the northeastern part of the Emmons Lake volcanic center, is one of the most historically (that is, the past about 300 years) active volcanoes in Alaska, and eruptions from Pavlof Volcano pose the greatest hazards to the region. Lava flows, volcanic breccia, and fluvial volcaniclastic rocks of the Emmons Lake volcanic center, which are as old as late Miocene, overlie continental and marine sedimentary rocks of chiefly Late Jurassic to early Tertiary age. The Emmons Lake volcanic center was affected multiple times by Quaternary glaciation, and glaciation has played a key role in shaping the present-day landscape. Much of the eruptive history of the Emmons Lake volcanic center has involved interactions with glacier ice. Thus, a brief review of the Quaternary glacial history of the area is provided to establish the physical context for Emmons Lake volcanic center eruptive activity.

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