Mount Baker

Overview

Mount Baker is an ice-clad volcano in the North Cascades, located about 50 kilometers E of Bellingham, WA. After Mount Rainier, it is the most heavily glaciated of the Cascade volcanoes.

Deposits which record the last 14,000 years at Mount Baker indicate that it has not had highly explosive eruptions like those of Mount St. Helens or Glacier Peak, nor has it erupted frequently. Historically, the most destructive and frequent events at Mount Baker have been debris flows and avalanches, some of which coincided with eruptive activity.  The USGS provides a very Open File hazard assesment report by Gardner et. al., 1995.  Heat flow and fumarolic activity became elevated in 1975, but were not accompanied by any other changes.

More information about Mount Baker from CVO

Background Seismicity

The PNSN operates 2 seismometers on or near Mount Baker. Even though not well monitored compared to many other volcanoes, those stations near Mount Baker are quite sensitive and can detect and locate events down to magnitude 1.  On average, we locate 1 to 2 earthquakes within 10 km of the volcano each year. We also often record seismic events related to glacier motion, and less frequently those related to rock-fall or ice/snow avalanches. See the seismicity page for a summary of past years of seismicity at Mount Baker.