Summit activity on Mt. Spurr
Steam escaping as nondescript fog and clouds is a possible sign that intruding magma is cooling and solidifying.
Tue Mar 25 2025 11:48:10 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
2025-03-25 18:48:10 UTC — Unrest continues at Mount Spurr volcano. Seismicity remains elevated with numerous small, shallow volcanic earthquakes detected beneath the volcano over the past day. Clouds obscured satellite and web camera views of the summit. No activity was observed in clear web camera views of Crater Peak.
The Crater Peak flank of the volcano some two miles away from the summit was the site of two previous eruptions in 1953 and 1992. The clouds at the summit indicate gases escaping there and possibly magma protruding toward there instead of the flank, which is thought to be the most likely site of an imminent eruption. No overflights or gas measurements have been reported since March 7 and March 11. It is possible that some of the magma has protruded toward the Crater Peak flank and solidified, and the rest of the magma is still rising directly toward the summit.
In this case, if a summit eruption really is the scenario to expect, it would probably be far in the future and not likely to occur any time soon. The summit would seem at present too much rock to push out of the way and not enough magma. Gentle lava flows from the summit on a geologically periodic time scale would have to have been the norm to give the volcano its present shape.