|
MOUNTAINS
Of the 20 highest peaks
in the United States, 17 are in Alaska. Mt. McKinley, the
highest peak in North America, is 20,320 ft. above sea level.
Denali, the Indian name for the peak, means "The Great
One."
WATER
BODIES
The Yukon River, almost
2,000 miles long, is the third longest river in the U.S. There
are more than 3,000 rivers in Alaska and over 3 million lakes.
The largest, Lake Iliamna, encompasses over 1,000 square miles.
GLACIERS
Alaska has an estimated
100,000 glaciers, ranging from tiny cirque glaciers to huge
valley glaciers. There are more active glaciers and ice fields
in Alaska than in the rest of the inhabited world. The largest
glacier is the Malaspina at 850 square miles. Five percent
of the state, or 29,000 square miles, is covered by glaciers.
 COMPASS
POINTS
Alaska boasts the northernmost
(Point Barrow), the easternmost (Pochnoi Point on Semisopochnoi
Island in the Aleutians), and the westernmost (Amatignak Island
in the Aleutians) points in the United States.
COASTLINE
Alaska has 6,640 miles
of coastline and, including islands, has 33,904 miles of shoreline.
VOLCANOES
There are more than 70
potentially active volcanoes in Alaska. Several have erupted
in recent times. The most violent volcanic eruption of the
century took place in 1912 when Novarupta Volcano erupted,
creating the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes which is now part
of Katmai National Park.
EARTHQUAKES
On March 27, 1964, North
America’s strongest recorded earthquake, with a moment
magnitude of 9.2, rocked central Alaska. Each year Alaska
has approximately 5,000 earthquakes, including 1,000 that
measure above 3.5 on the Richter scale. Of the ten strongest
earthquakes ever recorded in the world, three have occurred
in Alaska.
|
