With the world’s top volcanologists heading to Portland, Ore., on Aug. 14 for the first international volcanology assembly held in the U.S. since 1989, the many famous, prominent and dangerous volcanoes of the West Coast will be the subject of field trips and much discussion. Throughout the Cascade Range to southern California, the West Coast is home to most of the country’s highest-threat volcanoes, as ranked by the United State Geological Survey. And California has its share.
While Mount Shasta unsurprisingly tops USGS’s list of very-high threat volcanoes in California, there are seven other volcanic areas in the state that are also young, nervy, jacked up on magma and “likely to erupt.” Scientists know from geophysical and geochemical research that these volcanoes have molten rock, magma, “in their roots,” said Margaret Mangan, Scientist-in-Charge at the California Volcano Observatory. “I call them the watch-list volcanoes.” READ MORE
