Watkins Glacier

Infobox_Glacier | glacier_name = Watkins Glacier


caption =
type = Mountain glacier
location = California, U.S.
coordinates = coord|41|23|58|N|122|10|35|W|type:glacier_region:US-CA|display=inline,title
area = approx. 0.04 miles² (0.1 km²)
length = 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
thickness =
terminus = moraine
status = expandingThe Watkins Glacier is a glacier situated on the southeastern flank of Mount Shasta, in the U.S. state of California. It occupies a small cirque in the Clear Creek drainage. It is the smallest officially-named glacier on Mount Shasta, and it was not accorded that status until 1976, following a decades-long campaign by local resident R. Harry Watkins, Jr., to bring recognition to the previously-ignored glacier. [cite web| last =| first =| coauthors =| title = Existing Glaciers of Mount Shasta | publisher =College of the Siskiyous| url =http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/env/glacial/exi.htm| format =| accessdate = 2007-03-07 ]

The Watkins is one of three small cirque glaciers on the southern side of Shasta, along with the Konwakiton and Mud Creek Glaciers located about Convert|1|mi|km|1|abbr=on west. It has the lowest average elevation of any of Shasta's glaciers, extending only between 10,400 and 11,000 ft (3,170–3,350 m)Google Earth elevation for GNIS coordinates.] .

In 2002, scientists made the first detailed survey of Mount Shasta's glaciers in 50 years. They found that seven of the glaciers (including the Watkins) have grown over the period 1951-2002, with the Hotlum and Wintun Glaciers nearly doubling, the Bolam Glacier increasing by half, and the Whitney and Konwakiton Glaciers growing by a third. [cite book | last = Harris | first = Stephen L. | title = Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes (3rd ed.) | publisher = Mountain Press Publishing Company | date = 2005 | pages = p. 109 | isbn = 0-87842-511-X ] [cite web| last =Wong| first =Kathleen| coauthors =| title=California Glaciers|work=California Wild| publisher =California Academy of Sciences| url =http://www.calacademy.org/calwild/2005fall/stories/glaciers.html| format =| accessdate = 2007-01-23] [cite news | last =Whitney| first =David| title =A growing glacier: Mount Shasta bucks global trend, and researchers cite warming phenomena| publisher =The Bee| date =September 4, 2006| url =http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14317368p-15234887c.html| accessdate = 2007-01-23]

References

*cite web | last = Driedger | first = Carolyn L. | coauthors = Kennard, Paul M. | url = http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/pp/pp1365 | title = Ice volumes on Cascade volcanoes; Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Three Sisters, and Mount Shasta | publisher = U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1365 | date=1986 | accessdate = 2007-03-06
*cite web| last =| first =| coauthors =| title =Glaciers of California|work=Glaciers of the American West| publisher =Glaciers Online| url =http://glaciers.research.pdx.edu/california.php| format =| accessdate = 2007-03-07

ee also

*List of glaciers