Mount Akutan

Mount Akutan, officially Akutan Peak, is a stratovolcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and the highest point on the rim of the larger Akutan volcanic system. Its present shape is defined by a two-kilometer-wide caldera formed by a major explosive eruption about 1,600 years ago, while an older buried caldera shows repeated rebuilding over time. Recent activity has focused on a large cinder cone within the caldera, producing explosive eruptions and lava flows, including one in 1978 that nearly reached the coast. With 33 confirmed eruptions recorded by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, Akutan is among Alaska’s most persistently active and still thermally and structurally dynamic volcanoes.

Akutan, Alaska · United States