The Mud Creek Glacier is the southernmost glacier on

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of , it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades ...

in the U.S. state of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It lies to the east of Sargents Ridge on Shastarama point near above sea level. The glacier is smaller than the northern ones on Mount Shasta such as

Whitney Whitney may refer to: Film and television * ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta * ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston * ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...

, Hotlum, Bolam, and

Wintun Glacier The Wintun Glacier is a glacier situated on the eastern flank of Mount Shasta, in the U.S. state of California. It is both the third largest and third most voluminous glacier in California after the neighboring Hotlum Glacier and the Whitney Gla ...

s. There are approximately 80 glaciers in California and unlike the glaciers in Alaska, Colorado and Montana. California’s existing current glaciers are not remnants of the Pleistocene, but instead relatively young approximately 1,000 years in age. The Mud Creek Glacier is one of at least 7 recognized glaciers on Mt. Shasta by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(USGS) the rest being:

, Hotlum, Bolam,

Wintun The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern).Pritzker, 152Konwakiton, and Watkins.

History

In 1871,

Clarence King Clarence Rivers King (January 6, 1842 – December 24, 1901) was an American geologist, mountaineer and author. He was the first director of the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881. Nominated by Republican President Rutherford B. Hay ...

first described the glaciers of Mt. Shasta in a scientific journal he wrote about the Pacific Northwest after summiting Mt. Shasta. In 1936 the USGS was mapping Mt. Shasta disregarding the Mud Creek Glacier along with other smaller glaciers because they were mainly focused on the more prominent glaciers at that time such as the Whitney, Hotlum and Watkins glaciers. There was not a lot of attention given to the smaller glaciers such as Mud Creek Glacier, until 1987. When the USGS was making topographic quads of the Pacific Northwest that it was added to a map of Mt. Shasta and formally recognized as one of Mt. Shasta prominent seven glaciers.

Geologic Features

Geomorphic Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...

features from

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

can be observed on Mt. Shasta such as:

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 ...

Crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

Icefall An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of t ...

Lateral Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Healthcare *Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction *Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle *Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap Phonetics *Lateral cons ...

and

Terminal Moraines A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...

. Below the Mud Creek Glacier is Mud Creek Canyon. This geomorphic feature is a

hanging valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

carved out of Mt. Shasta's southeast flank as the glacier advanced during its formation approximately 1000 years ago. Here you can view lateral moraines indicating the glaciers advance down the mountain, as well as, terminal moraines that were created due to the glaciers retreat. At the end of the canyon is approximately a 150 foot cascading waterfall called Mud Creek Falls. Mud Creek Falls is one of three cascading waterfalls over geomorphic hanging valley features on Mt. Shasta. The others are Ash Creek Falls and Konwakiton Falls.

Geologic Hazards

There are several geological hazards associated with Mud Creek glacier as well as all of Mt. Shasta's glaciers. Because of the loose

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

material and rapid melting of the glaciers due to a climatic rise in temperatures of the Pacific Northwest the glaciers are prone to mudflow and landslides. There are records of flood events that were devastating to the local towns as a result of the geologic hazards such as:

Weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

, McCloud, Dunsmuir, and Shasta. Some of the largest events recorded in history have come from the Mud Creek Glacier. In 2014 part of the Mud Creek Glacier melted causing a massive Mud Flow in Mud Creek moving several thousand tons of rock and debris downstream destroying roads and bridges in its path.

Recreation

Mt. Shasta is also one of California’s most visited mountains for recreation and mountaineering due to it being 14,179 feet above sea level. In order to get to the summit of Mt. Shasta there are several routes mountaineers can take. One of these routes starts at the Crystal Creek trailhead, which leads up Sergeants Ridge where you can observe the Mud Creek Glacier on your trek to the summit crossing over lateral moraines and loose scree composed primarily of Intermediate volcanic

igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main The three types of rocks, rock types, the others being Sedimentary rock, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, metamorphic. Igneous rock ...

History

Geologic Features

Geologic Hazards

Recreation

References

See also