September 12th, 2009 Category: Volcanoes

North Korea - September 4th, 2009

Baekdu Mountain, also known as Changbai Mountain in China, is a volcanic mountain on the border between North Korea and China, visible near the top center of this orthorectified image.

At 2,744 m (9,003 ft), it is the highest mountain of the Changbai mountain range to the north and Baekdudaegan mountain range to the south. It is also the highest mountain on the Korean peninsula and Manchuria.

Baekdu Mountain is stratovolcano whose cone is truncated by a large caldera, about 5 km (3.1 miles) wide and 850 m (2,789 ft) deep, partially filled by the waters of the large Heaven Lake, which appears dark black here. The lake has a circumference of 12 to 14 kilometres (7.5-8.7 miles), with an average depth of 213 m (699 ft) and maximum depth of 384 m (1,260 ft).

Water flows north out of the lake, and near the outlet there is a 70 metre (230 ft) waterfall. The mountain is the source of the Songhua, Tumen (Duman) and Yalu (Amnok) rivers.

The central section of Baekdu Mountain rises about 3 mm every year, due to rising levels of magma below the central part of the mountain. Sixteen peaks exceeding 2,500 m (8,200 ft) line the caldera rim surrounding Heaven Lake.

Tags: Amnok River Asia Baekdu Mountain Baekdudaegan Mountains Changbai Mountains China Duman River Heaven Lake Korean Peninsula Manchuria North Korea Songhua RIver Tumen River Volcanoes Yalu River | Comments (1) |