Nature
Mount Aniakchak, on the western Alaska Peninsula, is one of Alaska’s most active volcanoes and is dominated by the immense Aniakchak Crater, a caldera formed by the catastrophic Aniakchak II eruption in 1628 or 1627 BCE. That eruption collapsed the summit, sent pyroclastic flows down the volcano, triggered a tsunami in Bristol Bay, and spread ash across Alaska and as far as northern Europe, depopulating the central Alaska Peninsula and contributing to wider cultural and possible climatic change. Later eruptions continued to reshape the caldera, whose features include Surprise Lake, The Gates, and many younger cones and domes. The volcano last erupted in 1931 and remains monitored today.
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Port Heiden, Alaska · United States
