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I'lioto by George C. Martin 

 SECONDARY ACCUMULATIUX Ul* I'UMlClv AT LASli Ui" AlDLMAlX WEST OF AMALIK 



BAY, AUGUST lO, I912 



The uppermost material consists of 

 fine light gray or white material, varying 

 less in grain with the distance from the 

 mountain than the other layers. It con- 

 sists of several alternating layers of fine 

 sand and very fine dust near the moun- 

 tain, and of a single layer of extremely 

 fine white dust at a distance. 



The finer material and the dust of all 

 the layers are apparently composed 

 chiefly of pulverized pumice of the same 

 character as the larger pieces. This ma- 

 terial in petrographic character is appar- 

 ently rhyolitic. 



The \arious layers aggregate about 4.9 

 cubic miles in bulk, extending over an 

 area of many thousand scjuare miles and 

 ranging in thickness from 4^ feet 15 

 miles from the crater to almost one foot 

 100 miles away and to the fraction of an 

 inch 150 miles away. 



THE CHANGE IN THE LANDSCAPE 



The eflfect of this covering on the 

 landscape is well illustrated in the photo- 

 graphs (pages 166 and 168) taken on 

 Takli Island, which lies in the mouth of 

 .Vmalik l>ay, about 21 miles southeast of 

 the volcano, and was nearly in the direct 



track of the heaviest ash fall. This island 

 is the place where those who risk the 

 hazardous bidarka voyage across Sheli- 

 kof Strait watch and wait for favorable 

 weather. A small cove on the inner side 

 of the island afforded shelter for our 

 schooner during a northeast gale, which 

 lasted several days, while the hills 

 formed good lookout points from which 

 the clouds pouring out from the volcano 

 could be watched and studied at such 

 fortunate moments as storm and fog per- 

 mitted. 



The island was covered with 3 feet of 

 volcanic detritus, in which there were 

 numerous fragments of pumice an inch 

 long. The scene was a dreary one — a 

 grav expanse of ashes broken only by a 

 few ledges of ancient lava, patches of 

 half-killed willow and stunted birch, and 

 two small groves of young si:>ruce. These 

 spruce trees are of interest as being the 

 westernmost evergreens on the Pacific 

 coast of America. They are far from 

 others of their kind, and I suspect that 

 the Russians may have planted them 

 there as they did at I'nalaska. 



The surface of the ash was strewn 

 with recentlv killed willow and alder 



167 



