The Recent Volcanic Eruption at Mammoth Mountain in California

Only 700 years ago, Mammoth Mountain in California was the site of a tremdous explosion. As boulders of rock were thrown up to 450 feet, a plume of ash rose to a height of 3,000 feet above the ground. What had just occurred was a phreatic eruption of the Mammoth Mountain volcano, representing its most recent eruptive sequence. This sequence would go on to involve three separate explosions, creating a more than 200 foot wide crater which remains today. Note: In my opinion, I would recommend against going inside the visible crater or standing in it just in case carbon dioxide from visible and hidden fumaroles upwind might be pooling there. I do not have direct or indirect evidence that standing in this crater would definitively be dangerous, but thought the possibility might exist due to emissions of carbon dioxide from certain sections of the Mammoth Mountain volcano. In my opinion, Mammoth Mountain is still safe to ski and snowboard on, as long as you keep within marked trails and keep away from closed areas and fumaroles. It is a beautiful location. Mammoth Mountain has not erupted for 723 years, and is currently showing no signs that it will erupt anytime soon as of November 30th, 2023. Thumbnail Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Survey, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Public Domain, This image was then overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo). Note: This video’s thumbnail image displays a portrayal of what Mammoth Mountain’s 1300 CE volcanic eruption might have looked like when it occurred about 700 years ago. Also, for this video’s title, “recent“ means “geologically recent“. A special thanks to the Extreme Pursuit YouTube channel for granting me permission to use clips of his footage! Video Sources from the Extreme Pursuit YouTube channel: [1] Extreme Pursuit channel link: If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links: (Patreon: ) (YouTube membership: ) (Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: ) (GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: ) Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers This video is protected under “fair use“. If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at tccatron@ and I will make the necessary changes. Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video’s thumbnail image: Public Domain: Sources/Citations: [1] U.S. Geological Survey [2] Hildreth, Wes, and Fierstein, Judy, 2016, Eruptive history of Mammoth Mountain and its mafic periphery, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1812, 128 p., 2 plates, scale 1:24,000, [3] VEIs, dates/years, composition, tephra layer name, DRE estimates, and bulk tephra volume estimates for volcanic eruptions shown in this video which were assigned a VEI 4 or larger without an asterisk after their name are sourced from the LaMEVE database (British Geological Survey © UKRI), Used with Permission [4] Source of Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) methodology and criteria: Newhall, C. G., and Self, S. (1982), The volcanic explosivity index (VEI) an estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism, J. Geophys. Res., 87(C2), 1231–1238, doi: Accessed / Read by on Oct 5th, 2022. 0:00 A Hidden Crater 0:28 Mammoth Mountain 1:41 Red Cones 2:55 1300 CE Eruptive Sequence 4:08 VEI Estimate