2005 Crater Lake Formation, Lahar, Acidic Flood, and Gas Emission From Chiginagak Volcano, Alaska

A 400-m-wide crater lake developed in the formerly snow-and-ice-filled crater of Mount Chiginagak volcano sometime between August 2004 and June 2005, presumably due to increased heat flux from the hydrothermal system. We are also evaluating the possible role of magma intrusion and degassing. In early summer 2005, clay-rich debris and an estimated 5.6 million cubic meters of acidic water from the crater exited through tunnels in the base of a glacier that breaches the south crater rim. Over 27 kilometers downstream, the acidic waters of the flood reached approximately 1.5 meters above current water levels and inundated an important salmon spawning drainage, acidifying at least the surface water of Mother Goose Lake (approximately 1 cubic kilometer in volume) and preventing the annual salmon run. No measurements of pH were taken until late August 2005. At that time the pH of water sampled from the Mother Goose Lake inlet, lake surface, and outlet stream (King Salmon River) was 3.2. Defoliation and leaf damage of vegetation along affected streams, in areas to heights of over 70 meters in elevation above flood level, indicates that a cloud of detrimental gas or aerosol accompanied the flood waters. Analysis of stream water, lake water, and vegetation samples is underway to better determine the agent responsible for the plant damage. This intriguing pattern of gas-damaged vegetation concentrated along and above the flood channels is cause for further investigation into potential hazards associated with Chiginagak's active crater lake. Anecdotal evidence from local lodge owners and aerial photographs from 1953 suggest that similar releases occurred in the mid-1970s and early 1950s.