Mt. Changbaishan By Signy Coakley and Ethan Zhang

Dept. of Geology, Colby College

Basic Information ● Location

o On the border of NE China and North Korea

o Climate: Average temperature of -10°F to 50 °F

o Part of the Changbai Mountain National Reserve

● Tectonic Plate o On Eurasian plate

Activity produced by deep subduction of Pacific Plate 600 km below

o Possible mantle plume

Formation ● Formed approximately 1 million years ago

o viscous trachyte magma ● Each of which released materials main peak was formed

after 4 major eruptions. o Each eruption released released materials that covered

the major peak for as thick as 200 meters● Last millenium eruption caused the creation of the caldera

Volcano Description● Stratovolcano● Dimensions

o Altitude of approximately 2700 meterso Elevation: 9000 ft. o 60 km diameter

● Featureso Has four major pyroclastic cones o Caldera: 5-km-wide, 850-m-deep summit caldera occupied by Lake Tianchi

("Sky Lake") o 16 surrounding peaks from the summit o Multiple spires caused by escaping gas

Rocks and Deposits ● Major

o Trachyte / Trachyandesite o Rhyoliteo Basalt / Picro-Basalt

● Minor ○ Trachyandesite / Basaltic trachy-andesite ○ Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite

● Minerals ○ Alakali and feldspar

Magma type● Highly viscous and gassy

o Can tell from past deposits that show high levels of CO2

● trachytic and rhyolitic

● Indicator of violent eruptions

Eruptions

Eruptions ● Millenium Eruption

o Dated around 940 ADo One of the largest volcano eruptions in historyo Labeled a VEI 7o Created caldera o Rock Deposits

tephra found across South East Asia, including northern tip of Japan

Total volume of 96-19 cubic km of ash 25 km altitude for eruption column

● All past eruptions have been pyroclastic flows

Predicting the Next Eruption ● Eruptions occur around every 100 years

o latest eruption was in 1903● Currently due for an eruption● Team from Cambridge given access to North Korean side of

the volcano o Leading the current investigation o China and South Korea continue to research as well

Predicting the Next Eruption● Seismology

o A dozen seismometers Change in seismic activity starting in 2002 increased rate of 72 earthquakes a month Mainly beneath the volcanic crater

● Gas Emissions o Hot springs show rise in CO2,

hydrogen, helium, and nitrogen o Indicates outgassing from magma

Predicting the Next Eruption

● Thermal Mapso magnetotelluric soundings used to create

thermal image of magma chamber o North Korean data suggests

magma is rising

● Rock Deposits o deposit samples of pumice

Results● 99% chance of an eruption in 2032● Lower chances of it happening this

year

● Expected to be a big eruption o High levels of gaso Viscous magma o Studying previous rock deposits

Hazards● Large populations around volcano

● Lahars o 2 billion tons of water in Sky Lake

● Large scale pyroclastic flow

Fun Facts! ● Logging Industry in China ● Mining Industry

o coal, iron, copper, nickel, etc. ● Tourism

o Tianchi (Headstream of Tumen River and Songhua River)● Hot Springs● Over a thousand hundred hot springs spreaded across

Mt.Changbaishan● Temperature as high as 180 degrees● China attempted to make it location of the Winter Olympics

Wildlife at the Volcano!● Flora

o Primarily birch and pine trees ● Fauna

o Array of exotic animals around the area leopards, bears, wolves, boars, etc. Important Bird Area

● Holds the endangered scaly-sided mergansers

SourcesSmithsonian Institution, 2011: Changbaishan, at http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=305060(accessed 23 January, 2015)

Schimincke, U.,1999: Volatile emission during the eruption of Baitoushan Volcano, at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs004450050004(accessed 23 January, 2015)

Daily Mail, 2014: Chartering Un-explored territory: Foreign scientists given access to huge North Korean volcano that was the site of one of the biggest eruptions in history, athttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2741616/UK-team-unlocking-secrets-North-Korea-volcano.html (accessed 24 January,2015)

University of Cambridge, 2014:Volcanological and geophysical research on Paektu volcano, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, at http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/paektu/(accessed 24 January,2015)

Klemetti, E., 2012: When Will Baekdu Caldera Erupt (or How to Misuse Volcanologic Data) at http://www.wired.com/2012/05/when-will-baekdu-caldera-erupt-or-how-to-misuse-volcanologic-data/ (accessed 24 January, 2015)

Duke University, 2011:Vigil at North Korea’s Mount Doom, at http://people.duke.edu/~myhan/kaf1109.pdf (accessed 24 January,2015)

Natural Environment Research Council, 2014: Journey to North Korea's volcano: British scientists visit Mount Paektu, at

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/23/north-korea-volcano-mount-paektu (accessed 24 January, 2015)

Planet Earth Online, 2013: Science without borders, at http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=1527&cookieConsent=A(accessed 24 January,2015)

The Economist, 2013: Geo-politics on the Korean peninsula, Another rumbler, at

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/10/geo-politics-korean-peninsula(accessed 24 January, 2015)

Sources