Has anyone heard about the volcanic threat Mammoth Mountains is under?

Question

I hear that in about 5 or 6 years the mountain is going to blow. What do you know about this? Thanks.

Answer 1

Mammoth is part of a string of volcanoes that includes Rainer and St.Helens in WA, and Hood in OR.

It could blow some time in the future, but there will probably be some kind of warning first, like in the case of St. Helens.

These are Pyroclastic Volcano's. That is they tend to erupt explosively, instead of spewing rivers of lava. Shield volcano's, like Mauna Loa do this.

There were warning signs at Mammoth several years ago. they quieted down, but whenever this happens, they need to be heeded.

Answer 2

Mammoth mountain is just mildly active and mostly only venting CO2 and producing hot springs. The last activity was between 400 and 600 years ago and produced what are the Inyo craters, actually these are cinder cones and no actual lava came to the surface. Mammoth Mountain is part of the Long Valley Caldara which is a 17 mile wide crater the blew sky high about 700,000 years ago. Mammoth Mountain goes on volcanic alert every once in while and suffers from earthquake swarms also. There isn't any evidence that Mammoth Mountain is on the verge of any large scale volcanic activity now or in the future.

Answer 3

I live in Rhode Island on the east coast and took my family to the west coast to California for 3, two week vacations. The terrain is so exotic. West of Mamoth Mountain is the forested Sierra Mountains, beautiful, Yosemite, Tourmaline meadows. But Mamoth Mountain is at the eastern edge of this mountain range. So going east it is desert, sage, salt lakes and salt flats. There are old ghost towns left by miners uneathing metals probably brought up by ancient volcanic activity and the subduction zone from plate tektonics that accures on the west coast. The land around it is dotted with small exstinct volcanoes, three at Mono lake alone. Two in the lake and one on the edge. Green to the west and dirt to the east. The first two times we went there the air was fresh and good. There is a paved road all the way to the top of the mountain and I watched stars, satilites, neabula and the milkyway by eye at about 12,00 feet at night.
But the third time in the late 1990's the air wasn't good. Patches of trees had died because carbon dioxide coming from the earth was sufficating the roots. We drove to a couple little lakes and no one was there. There were danger signs everywhere. They had an animal in a cage, I think it was a racoon to tell if gasses had been released, like cannaries in mines. Near there hot water springs also had warning signs and a list of the number of people who had died. We went in anyway with many others, and I got sick. So we left Mammoth Lakes early and went to the coast. I remember telling my kids that this place would not be here for ever as over the years we saw all the volcanic history. The devils postpile(the crystalized core of a volcano), Glass Mountain (the extrusions of volcanic black glass miles long and a hundred feet high).
You see Mamoth Mountain is not a mountain, it is one wall of a large caldeera that blew it's self up.
It looks like it will awaken once again.

Answer 4

A dormant volcano, Mammoth Mountain, in central California is waking up after 760.000 years of sleeping. The renewed activity causes frequent earth quakes and large volumes of toxic gasses are released by the magma body approximately 5 km beneath the volcano. Gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane drive the oxygen out of the soil and the roots of the trees suffocate. As a result trees are dying over large areas.

More info at below link

Answer 5

it is an active site. In the late 80's they thought it was gonna go really active again. So far, it hasn't. But yes, I believe it will eventually.

Answer 6

Do a google search and see what you come up with.

Answer 7

i know i won't be there