My hometown of Seattle is surrounded by many geologic features.  Because of Seattle’s location on the edge of the North American plate the area has many volcanoes, mountain ranges, and is frequented by earthquakes.  The volcanoes form a line north to south, paralleling the Cascades.  The cascades, while not as large as the Rockies, are much steeper and incredibly jagged. 

                There are a total of nine volcanoes in Washington, the majority of which are stratovolcanoes.   The volcanoes, especially Mount Rainier, are iconic parts of the Washington State geography.  Mount Rainier, a large stratovolcano (14,411ft) sits due south of Seattle and is heavily glaciated with 26 major glaciers.  Mount Rainier was placed on the decade list of most deadly volcanoes on Earth, due to its explosive nature, proximity to large metropolitan areas and the high likelihood for it to produce massive ash and ice landslides, similar to those on St. Helens, but larger in size.  While it has not erupted in over one hundred years it is still active, though no indications have been seen of an imminent eruption. Mount Baker, north and slightly east of Seattle is another well known volcano, not for its size (10,781 ft), but for its extreme snowfall.  It currently holds the world record for the most snowfall in a single season, around 29 meters, which is closely followed by Mt. Rainier’s record of 28.5 meters.  There are a total of nine volcanoes in Washington, the majority of which are stratovolcanoes.

                Earthquakes are another geological hazard of the Seattle area.  In early 2001 the Nisqually earthquake hit the Puget Sound.  It measured a 6.8 and it destroyed and damaged numerous bridges and structures around Seattle.  We were very lucky that it stopped when it did the Alaskan Way viaduct, an eight lane bridge on the water front of Seattle, nearly collapsed.  State engineers did an analysis of the damage and found that collapse would have been very likely if the earthquake had lasted just 15 seconds longer.  Numerous other earthquakes hit the Seattle region, though most are smaller.