Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Indian Heaven.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Indian Heaven.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Indian Heaven.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Red Mountain-Big Lava Bed

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Big Lava Bed Cone

Pyroclastic cone

45° 54' 0" N

121° 45' 0" W

Bird Mountain

Shield volcano

1739 m

46° 2' 0" N

121° 47' 0" W

East Crater

Shield volcano

1614 m

46° 0' 0" N

121° 47' 0" W

Gifford Peak

Shield volcano

1636 m

Lemei Rock

Shield volcano

1806 m

46° 1' 0" N

121° 46' 0" W

Lone Butte

Tuya

46° 3' 0" N

121° 52' 0" W

Red Mountain

Shield volcano

1513 m

45° 56' 0" N

121° 49' 0" W

Sawtooth Mountain

Shield volcano

1632 m

46° 4' 0" N

121° 47' 0" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

321070

6250 BCE

1,806 m / 5,925 ft

45.93°N
121.82°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field
Shield(s)
Pyroclastic cone(s)

Rock Types

Major
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

687
687
6,911
2,019,828

Geological Summary

The Pleistocene-to-Holocene Indian Heaven volcanic field, located midway between St. Helens and Adams, is an area of low overlapping shield volcanoes with flank vents primarily oriented N-S. Small shield volcanoes topped by cinder and spatter cones dominate the field, which also contains subglacial vents. The shield volcanoes extend from Sawtooth Mountain on the north to Red Mountain on the south; the high point of the field is Lemei Rock shield volcano. Basaltic-to-andesitic lava flows cover much of the field; individual lava flows, many with extensive lava tubes, traveled up to 46 km. The youngest eruption, about 8,200 years ago, produced the voluminous Big Lava Bed, a 0.9 km³ basaltic lava flow that traveled nearly 25 km S of its source from an unnamed cinder cone SE of Red Mountain, to within 8 km of the Columbia River.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Hammond P E, 1984. Indian Heaven, S. Washington Cascade Range a basaltic volcanic field supplied by a central magma system? (abs). Geol Soc Amer Abs Prog, 16: 528.

Hammond P E, Pedersen S A, Hopkins K D, Aiken D, Harle D S, Danes Z F, Konicek D L, Stricklin C R, 1976. Geology and gravimetry of the Quaternary basaltic volcanic field, southern Cascade Range, Washington. In: Proc 2nd United Nations Symp Devel Use Geotherm Resour, San Francisco, Washington D C: U S Government Printing Office, 1: 397-405.

Hildreth W E, 2007. Quaternary magmatism in the Cascades--geologic perpectives. U S Geol Surv Prof Pap, 1744: 1-125.

Korosec M A, 1987. Geologic map of Mount Adams. Wash Div Geol Earth Sci, 1:100,000 geol map.

Sherrod D R, Smith J G, 1990. Quaternary extrusion rates of the Cascade Range, northwestern United States and southern British Columbia. J. Geophys. Res, 95: 19,465-19,474.

Smith R L, Shaw H R, 1975. Igneous-related geothermal systems. U S Geol Surv Circ, 726: 58-83.

Swanson D A, Cameron K A, Evarts R C, Pringle P T, Vance J A, 1989. Excursion 1A: Cenozoic volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau, southern Washington. New Mexico Bur Mines Min Resour Mem, 47: 1-50.

Wise W S, 1970. Cenozoic volcanism in the Cascade Mountains of southern Washington. Wash Dept Nat Resour Bull, 60: 1-45.

Wood C A, Kienle J (eds), 1990. Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press, 354 p.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 1 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

6250 BCE ± 100 years Confirmed Eruption

Episode 1 | Eruption

Big Lava Bed

6250 BCE ± 100 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated)

List of 3 Events for Episode 1 at Big Lava Bed

Start Date	End Date	Event Type
- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
- - - -	- - - -	Lava flow
- - - -	- - - -	Scoria

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Indian Heaven.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Indian Heaven.

Photo Gallery

The youngest eruption of the Indian Heaven volcanic field, midway between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, produced a large scoria cone and a voluminous lava flow about 9,000 years ago. The source of the flow is the cone to the right, with Mount Hood visible in the background. The Big Lava Bed flow, which forms the slope in the foreground, banked against higher slopes to the north and traveled 13 km S to within 8 km of the Columbia River.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1995 (Smithsonian Institution).

The forested slope in the foreground is part of the Big Lava Bed, a 0.9 km³ lava flow that erupted from the scoria cone in the background about 9,000 years ago. The lava flow traveled 13 km from the crater and is the youngest feature of the Indian Heaven volcanic field.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1995 (Smithsonian Institution).

Red Mountain, seen here from the NE, is the southernmost of a N-S line of small shield volcanoes with smaller cones that form the Pleistocene-to-Holocene Indian Heaven volcanic field in the southern Cascades of Washington. The field covers 600 km².

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1995 (Smithsonian Institution).

Berry Mountain (left), as well as Gifford Peak and East Crater (right), are small Pleistocene shield volcanoes with smaller cones. They are part of the Pleistocene-to-Holocene Indian Heaven volcanic field in the southern Cascade Range of Washington between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1995 (Smithsonian Institution).

Lemei Rock, seen from the Forlorn Lakes to the SE, forms the high point of the Indian Heaven volcanic field midway between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams. The 600 km² field consists of overlapping small shield volcanoes with smaller cones and lava flows. The field was active from about 730,000 to about 9,000 years ago and contains some volcanic features that originated beneath a glacial icecap.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1995 (Smithsonian Institution).

Lavas of the Big Lava Bed flow, erupted about 9,000 years ago from the scoria cone in the background and dammed local drainages, forming Goose Lake. The Big Lava Bed flow is the most recent eruption of the Indian Heaven volcanic field, which lies between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1995 (Smithsonian Institution).

GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Indian Heaven in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

Volcanic Hazard Maps

The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Indian Heaven. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Indian Heaven. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

DECADE Data

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere, but installing CO₂ monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

Large Eruptions of Indian Heaven

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).