Mt. Changbaishan
By Signy Coakley and Ethan Zhang
Dept. of Geology, Colby College
Basic Information
● Location
o On the border of NE China and North Korea
o Climate: Average temperature of -10°F to 50
°F
o Part of the Changbai Mountain National Reserve
● Tectonic Plate
o On Eurasian plate
 Activity produced by deep subduction of Pacific
Plate 600 km below
o Possible mantle plume
Formation
● Formed approximately 1 million years ago
o viscous trachyte magma
● Each of which released materials main peak was formed
after 4 major eruptions.
o Each eruption released released materials that covered
the major peak for as thick as 200 meters
● Last millenium eruption caused the creation of the caldera
Volcano Description
● Stratovolcano
● Dimensions
o Altitude of approximately 2700 meters
o Elevation: 9000 ft.
o 60 km diameter
●
Features
o Has four major pyroclastic cones
o Caldera: 5-km-wide, 850-m-deep summit caldera occupied by Lake Tianchi
("Sky Lake")
o 16 surrounding peaks from the summit
o Multiple spires caused by escaping gas
Rocks and Deposits
● Major
o Trachyte / Trachyandesite
o Rhyolite
o Basalt / Picro-Basalt
● Minor
○ Trachyandesite / Basaltic trachy-andesite
○ Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
● Minerals
○ Alakali and feldspar
Magma type
● Highly viscous and gassy
o Can tell from past deposits that show high levels of CO2
● trachytic and rhyolitic
● Indicator of violent eruptions
Eruptions
Eruptions
● Millenium Eruption
o Dated around 940 AD
o One of the largest volcano eruptions in history
o Labeled a VEI 7
o Created caldera
o Rock Deposits
 tephra found across South East Asia, including northern
tip of Japan
 Total volume of 96-19 cubic km of ash
 25 km altitude for eruption column
● All past eruptions have been pyroclastic flows
Predicting the Next Eruption
● Eruptions occur around every 100 years
o latest eruption was in 1903
● Currently due for an eruption
● Team from Cambridge given access to North Korean side of
the volcano
o Leading the current investigation
o China and South Korea continue to research as well
Predicting the Next Eruption
● Seismology
o A dozen seismometers
 Change in seismic activity starting in 2002
 increased rate of 72 earthquakes a month
 Mainly beneath the volcanic crater
● Gas Emissions
o Hot springs show rise in CO2, hydrogen,
helium, and nitrogen
o Indicates outgassing from magma
Predicting the Next Eruption
● Thermal Maps
o magnetotelluric soundings used to create thermal
image of magma chamber
o North Korean data suggests
magma is rising
● Rock Deposits
o deposit samples of pumice
Results
● 99% chance of an eruption in 2032
● Lower chances of it happening this year
● Expected to be a big eruption
o High levels of gas
o Viscous magma
o Studying previous rock deposits
Hazards
● Large populations around volcano
● Lahars
o 2 billion tons of water in Sky Lake
● Large scale pyroclastic flow
Fun Facts!
● Logging Industry in China
● Mining Industry
o coal, iron, copper, nickel, etc.
● Tourism
o Tianchi (Headstream of Tumen River and Songhua River)
● Hot Springs
● Over a thousand hundred hot springs spreaded across
Mt.Changbaishan
● Temperature as high as 180 degrees
● China attempted to make it location of the Winter Olympics
Wildlife at the Volcano!
● Flora
o Primarily birch and pine trees
● Fauna
o Array of exotic animals around the area
 leopards, bears, wolves, boars, etc.
 Important Bird Area
● Holds the endangered scaly-sided mergansers
Sources
Smithsonian Institution, 2011: Changbaishan, at http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=305060(accessed 23
January, 2015)
Schimincke, U.,1999: Volatile emission during the eruption of Baitoushan Volcano, at
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs004450050004(accessed 23 January, 2015)
Daily Mail, 2014: Chartering Un-explored territory: Foreign scientists given access to huge North Korean volcano that
was the site of one of the biggest eruptions in history, at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2741616/UK-team-unlocking-secrets-North-Korea-volcano.html (accessed 24
January,2015)
University of Cambridge, 2014:Volcanological and geophysical research on Paektu volcano, Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, at http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/paektu/(accessed 24 January,2015)
Klemetti, E., 2012: When Will Baekdu Caldera Erupt (or How to Misuse Volcanologic Data) at
http://www.wired.com/2012/05/when-will-baekdu-caldera-erupt-or-how-to-misuse-volcanologic-data/ (accessed 24
January, 2015)
Sources
Duke University, 2011:Vigil at North Korea’s Mount Doom, at http://people.duke.edu/~myhan/kaf1109.pdf (accessed 24
January,2015)
Natural Environment Research Council, 2014: Journey to North Korea's volcano: British scientists visit Mount Paektu,
at
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/23/north-korea-volcano-mount-paektu (accessed 24 January, 2015)
Planet Earth Online, 2013: Science without borders, at
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=1527&cookieConsent=A(accessed 24 January,2015)
The Economist, 2013: Geo-politics on the Korean peninsula, Another rumbler, at
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/10/geo-politics-korean-peninsula(accessed 24 January, 2015)