Atna Peaks is an eroded

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

in the

Wrangell Mountains The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they i ...

of eastern

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. It is located in Wrangell–Saint Elias National Park about east of

Mount Blackburn Mount Blackburn is the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska in the United States. It is the fifth-highest peak in the United States and the twelfth-highest peak in North America. The mountain is an old, eroded shield volcano, the se ...

, the second-highest

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

in the United States, and just south of the massive

Nabesna Glacier Nabesna Glacier is a glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fed by deep snowfall in the Wrangell Mountains, the 53 mile (85 km) long Nabesna is the longest valley glacier in North America and the world's longest interior valley glacier. The g ...

. Because the mountain is almost entirely covered in

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s, no geological studies have been done, but published references state and the geological map shows that the mountain is an old eroded volcanic edifice. The mountain's main summit is , making it the second-highest

thirteener In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener (abbreviated 13er) is a mountain that exceeds above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar "fourteeners," which exceed . In most instances, "thirteeners" refers only to those peaks betwe ...

(a peak between 13,000 and 13,999 feet in elevation) in Alaska. The second summit is located about to the east, reaching over , and another named summit, Parka Peak, is about further east across a glacier-covered saddle. The steep rocky south faces of these three peaks form part of the

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

of the

Kennicott Glacier Kennicott Glacier is a glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It trends southeast from Mount Blackburn to its terminus at the head of the Kennicott River in the Wrangell Mountains. It is located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park near the smal ...

, which flows southeast over to just above the town of McCarthy. Atna Peaks was named in 1965 by the first ascent party from the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, because the "peaks are at the edge of the

Copper River Copper River may refer to several places: *Copper River (Alaska), in the United States * Copper River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (afte ...

drainage and the old Indian name for that river was Atna." __TOC__ Parka Peak reflection

References

* * *

External links

{{Alaska Landforms of Copper River Census Area, Alaska Mountains of Alaska Mountains of Unorganized Borough, Alaska North American 4000 m summits Shield volcanoes of the United States Stratovolcanoes of the United States Subduction volcanoes Volcanoes of Alaska Volcanoes of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve

See also

References

External links