Mount Drum is a

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

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 east-central

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is located at the extreme western end of the Wrangells, west-southwest of Mount Sanford and the same distance west-northwest of Mount Wrangell. It lies just inside the western boundary of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve and is east of the Copper River.

Geography

Standing near the low valley of the Copper River, Mount Drum is notable for its large local relief. For example, its south face rises over the head of the Nadina Glacier in only . Its west slopes rise over the tundra in only , and over the Copper River in only . These numbers are comparable to better-known stratovolcanoes like

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

and

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( ; Shasta people, Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk language, Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a Volcano#Volcanic activity, potentially active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. A ...

. However Mount Drum is somewhat overshadowed by its much higher neighbor Mount Sanford, which is also in Alaska.

Geology

Mount Drum was active between 650,000 and 240,000 years ago. Late in that period, various separate

dacitic Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...

domes were formed in a rough circle around the current summit at a radius about ; one such dome is the current Snider Peak () to the south of the main peak. After the constructive phase,

... paroxysmal explosive activity, probably from the central vent area, destroyed the south half of the stratovolcano and deposited ~7 km³ of hot and cold avalanche debris over an area >200 km².

The effects of this explosive phase can still be seen in the particularly steep south face of Mount Drum above the Nadina Glacier. Mount Drum is flanked on the west by the Shrub and Klawasi mud volcanoes. In historic times, the only activity in the vicinity of Drum has been mud and gas emitted from this group.

History

Naming

Named in 1885 by Lieutenant Allen,

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

, for Adjutant General Richard Coulter Drum (1825-1909), who entered the army in 1846, served in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, participated in an expedition against the Sioux Indians in 1856, and became a Brigadier General during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Climbing

Mount Drum was first climbed on June 4, 1954 by noted Austrian mountaineer

Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer (; 6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, explorer, writer, sportsman, geographer, and briefly SS sergeant. He was a member of the four-man climbing team that made the first ascent of the North Face of the ...

, with Keith Hart and George Schaller, via the North Ridge. Heinz Allemann and Niklaus Lötscher made the second ascent on August 26, 1968, via the Southwest Ridge. The latter is the current standard route, and is rated Alaska Grade 2+.

References

;Sources * * *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drum, Mount Wrangell Mountains Landforms of Copper River Census Area, Alaska Three-thousanders of the United States Stratovolcanoes of Alaska Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve Mountains of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Volcanoes of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Pleistocene stratovolcanoes