| Mount Susitna | |
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Looking West at Mount Susitna across the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet from Anchorage, Alaska |
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| Elevation | 4,396 ft (1,340 m) [1] |
| Translation | Sandy River or Little Mountain (Dena'ina) |
| Pronunciation | IPA: /sʉˈsɪtnə/ |
| Location | |
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Mount Susitna
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| Location | Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USA |
| Range | [isolated] |
| Coordinates | [1] |
| Topo map | USGS Tyonek B-2 |
| Geology | |
| Type | Summit |
Mount Susitna is a 4,396 feet (1,340 m) mountain in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the west bank of the lower Susitna River, about 33 miles (53 km) northwest of Anchorage, Alaska.[1] The mountain is a prominent landmark in the Anchorage, Alaska area and can be seen across the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet from most of the city, especially at higher elevations.
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Mount Susitna is often called The Sleeping Lady for its resemblance to a recumbent woman. The name is sometimes said to derive from a Dena’ina legend, in which a woman named Susitna belonging to a race of giants vows to sleep until her beloved comes back from battle, but no such legend actually exists. The mountain's Dena'ina name is Dghelishla, meaning "Little Mountain"; in English it was simply named for the Susitna River which means Sandy River.[1] "Dinglishna" in Alaska, such as in the name of the Dinglishna Hills, Alaska subdivision of Matanuska-Susitna Valley is a similar word which means "Little Ridge that Extends". This is pointed out on page 113 of the second edition of Shem Pete's Alaska 2003.
Mt Susitna is a roche moutonnée, a landform created when a glacier flows over a resistant, topographically high, bedrock body, creating a smooth-sided and teardrop shaped feature aligned with the direction of ice flow.
The Anchorage bowl topography has been influenced by 5-7 glaciations. Over several thousand years, thick ice sheets from the Talkeetna, Chugach and Alaska Ranges flowed down Cook Inlet. The five well documented glaciations from oldest to most recent were the Mt Susitna, Caribou Hills, Eklutna, Knik and Naptowne. The earliest glaciation in the Anchorage area is known as the Mount Susitna for the erratics and other glacial features found on the top of Mount Susitna. This is the time period when it obtained its characteristic streamlined shape. It is dated to the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene (2-6 million years ago).
Mt. Susitna is part of a suite of Jurrasic plutons of quartz monzonite to granodiorite composition.