The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States . Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve . The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they include the second and third highest volcanoes in the United States, Mount Blackburn and Mount Sanford . The range takes its name from Mount Wrangell , which is one of the largest andesite shield volcanoes in the world, and also the only presently active volcano in the range. The Wrangell Mountains comprise most of the Wrangell Volcanic Field , which also extends into the neighboring Saint Elias Mountains and the Yukon Territory in Canada .
10-691: The Wrangell Mountains are just to the northwest of the Saint Elias Mountains and northeast of the Chugach Mountains , which are along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska . These ranges have the combined effect of blocking the inland areas from warmer moist air over the Pacific Ocean . The inland areas to the north of the Wrangell Mountains are therefore among the coldest areas of North America during
20-741: A subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges , located in southeastern Alaska in the United States , Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada . The range spans Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in the United States and Kluane National Park and Reserve in Canada and includes all of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska . In Alaska, the range includes parts of
30-529: Is a wedge shaped oceanic plateau with a thickness of 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 mi). Similar to the adjacent Pacific Plate , which has a crustal thickness of 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), the Yakutat plate is moving northwestward at a rate of 50 millimetres (2 in) per year with respect to North America. The Yakutat plate is transported northwards along the active Fairweather Fault , which probably started more than 35 million years ago. Due to its thickness,
40-861: The Kluane National Park ( Mount Logan , Mount Vancouver ) and north of the Malaspina Glacier ( Mount Saint Elias , Mount Cook ), in the region known as the St. Elias syntaxis . At the syntaxis region the tectonic style changes from strike-slip motion along the Fairweather Fault to collision west of Malaspina Strait . This tectonic transition concentrates stress in the crust at the syntaxis that together with efficient glacial erosion results in positive feedback processes that through time forms extreme high mountain peaks and local relief, and rapid exhumation of rocks from up to 10 km (6.2 mi) depths to
50-523: The Yakutat plate became imbricated and deformed as they were scraped off and compose today the southern (coastal) flanks of the St. Elias Mountains. In contrast the high elevated regions of the drainage divide ( Bagley Icefield , Seward Glacier ) and north of it are composed of rocks that are part of the North American plate. The highest peaks of the St. Elias Mountains are located in the high ice field region of
60-609: The Yakutat plate is buoyant, resulting in surface uplift of the overriding North American plate, which formed the Talkeetna Mountains and the Alaska Range in Southcentral Alaska , located above the subducted part of the Yakutat plate. The Saint Elias Mountains formed at the plate boundary between the Yakutat and North American plates. The up-to-12-kilometre (7.5 mi)-thick sediments that have been deposited on top of
70-662: The city/borough of Yakutat and the Hoonah-Angoon and Valdez-Cordova census areas. This mountain range is named after Mount Saint Elias , which in turn was named in 1741 by the Danish-born Russian explorer Vitus Bering . The Saint Elias Mountains form the highest coastal mountain range on Earth. It formed due to the subduction of the Yakutat microplate underneath the North American Plate . The Yakutat microplate
80-608: The dominant orientation of the main fold and thrust structures in an orogenic belt . For example, the Himalayan belt forms a continuous gentle curve in its main part, running almost perpendicular to the motion of the Indian Plate as it collides with the Eurasian Plate . This thrust -dominated plate boundary connects at both ends to the highly oblique, strike-slip dominated boundaries running through Pakistan and Myanmar, forming
90-710: The surface. The mountains are divided by the Duke Depression, with the shorter, more rounded Kluane Ranges to the east, and the higher Icefield Ranges to the west. Sub-ranges of the Saint Elias include the Alsek Ranges , the Fairweather Range , and the Centennial Range . The highest mountains of the range include: Download coordinates as: Syntaxis (geology) A syntaxis is an abrupt major change in
100-553: The winter. The Wrangell Mountains include 12 of the 40+ Alaskan peaks over 13,000 feet (4,000 m) (see fourteeners and thirteeners ): Other prominent mountains include: The mountains are named after explorer, president of Russian-American Company , and admiral Ferdinand von Wrangel . American folk singer John Denver wrote a song, "The Wrangell Mountain Song", in reference to the range. Saint Elias Mountains The Saint Elias Mountains ( French : Chaîne Saint-Élie ) are
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