Wrangell Mountains
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wrangell Mountains | |
|---|---|
 Mt. Wrangell as seen from the southwest in 1987.
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| Country | United States |
| Region | Alaska |
| Highest point | Mount Blackburn |
| - coordinates | |
| - elevation | 16,390 ft (4,996 m) |
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The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range in 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 include the second and third highest volcanoes in the United States, Mount Blackburn and Mount Sanford. The range takes its name from Mount Wrangell, which is one of the largest andesite shield volcanoes in the world, and also the only presently active volcano in the range. The Wrangell Mountains comprise most of the Wrangell Volcanic Field, which also extends into the neighboring Saint Elias Mountains and the Yukon Territory in Canada.
The Wrangell Mountains are just to the northwest of the Saint Elias Mountains and northeast of the Chugach Mountains, which are along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. These ranges have the combined effect of blocking the inland areas from warmer moist air over the Pacific Ocean. The inland areas to the north of the Wrangell Mountains are therefore among the coldest areas of North America during the winter.
[edit] List of major peaks
The Wrangell Mountains include 12 of the 40+ Alaskan peaks over 13,000 ft (see fourteeners and thirteeners):
- Mount Blackburn, 16,390 ft (4,996 m), and East Summit, 16,286 ft (4,964 m)
- Mount Sanford, 16,237 ft (4,949 m), and South Peak, 13,654 ft (4,162 m)
- Mount Wrangell, 14,163 ft (4,317 m), and West Summit, 14,013 ft (4,271 m)
- Atna Peaks, 13,860 ft (4,225 m)
- Regal Mountain, 13,845 ft (4,220 m)
- Mount Jarvis, 13,421 ft (4,091 m), and North Peak, 13,025 ft (3,970 m)
- Parka Peak, 13,280 ft (4,048 m)
- Mount Zanetti, 13,009 ft (3,965 m)
Other prominent mountains include:
- Mount Drum, 12,010 ft (3,661 m)
[edit] Trivia
American folk singer John Denver wrote a song, "Wrangell Mountain Song", in reference to the range.
[edit] References
- Richter, Donald H.; Danny S. Rosenkrans and Margaret J. Steigerwald (1995). Guide to the Volcanoes of the Western Wrangell Mountains, Alaska. USGS Bulletin 2072.
- Winkler, Gary R. (2000). A Geologic Guide to Wrangell—Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska: A Tectonic Collage of Northbound Terranes. USGS Professional Paper 1616. ISBN 0-607-92676-7.
- Richter, Donald H.; Cindi C. Preller, Keith A. Labay, and Nora B. Shew (2006). Geologic Map of the Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. USGS Scientific Investigations Map 2877.
- Wood, Charles A.; Jürgen Kienle, eds. (1990). Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43811-X.
