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INTRODUCTION
When most people consider the hazards of living on or near
a volcano, eruptive threats usually come to mind first . Anyone
who has visited an inhabited, active volcanic area cannot help
but wonder how local residents deal with the dramatic and explosive
menaces associated with lava flows, lahars, pyroclastic flows,
and nuee ardentes. The world media and and the viewing public
were gripped by the recent eruptive episodes on the Caribbean
island of Monseratt, and potential volcanic activity makes the
news whenever and wherever vulcanologists release their forecasts.
While the fiery and the dramatic may be good headline grabbers,
the mountain environment of large volcanoes may present serious,
non-eruptive threats to humans, property, and the ecosystem.
Mass wasting events are a very real hazard on the Cascade
volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest. As a citizen of Siskiyou
County, California, I am particularly interested in geologically
recent mass wasting phenomona on Mount Shasta, the 14,165-foot
volcano in my backyard. Three specific types of mass wasting
on Mount Shasta are loosely associated with high mountain environment.
Snow avalanches, jokulhlaups, and debris flows are caused by
a variety of conditions which are influenced by similar principles
of physics.
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