The Buldir Volcano is an inactive stratovolcano

Stratovolcano

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

 located in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, once described as "the westernmost volcanic center of the present Pleistocene to Recent Aleutian volcanic front." It shares its island of residence

Buldir Island (Alaska)

Buldir Island is a small island in the western Aleutian Islands of the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies midway between the Near Islands in the West and the Rat Islands in the East....

 with a younger stratovolcano entitled East Cape.

Discovery and accessibility

Vitus Bering

Vitus Bering

Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...

 had been a prominent sailor in Russia. After successful expeditions in 1725, 1728, and 1730, Bering was sent to explore what is now the Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

 area of the Pacific in 1740. He soon settled on Kamchatka, where he started a settlement and built two additional vessels, dubbed St. Peter and St. Paul. In 1741 Bering and his company started towards North America, but were stalled by a storm. In being delayed, they were forced to seek land. During the storm they could not make out the Alaskan coast. The storm proved too powerful so the ships turned around, charting several of the Aleutians, including Buldir. The island is extremely remote, leaving it totally unavailable except to only a certain group of scientists. In fact, transportation through the entire area is restricted to the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

. Special permission is required to access the island, and for the most part only representatives from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

 have the ability to obtain it. A visit to study the geology of the island was permitted in 1947 for R.R. Coats

Robert R. Coats

Robert Roy Coats was born in Toronto, Canada, and grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa and Seattle, Washington. He graduated valedictorian of his high school class in Seattle at the age of 16, and attended the University of Washington, where he received both a B.S. and M.S. degree in Geology and Mining...

.

A skeleton was found on the island in July 1988. Further examination of the body suggested that the body was Corporal Carl Houston of Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...

, who was last seen hiking on the isle on March 3, 1945. Along with the body were found a M-1 rifle and several spent shells.

Geography and geology

Buldir's structure has changed significantly over time, from a parasitic cone to its current makeup of alumina basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

ic lava flows and pyroclastic debris. A cone made of tuff

Tuff

Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...

 tops the mountain, built over the ancient caldera

Caldera

A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...

s of the volcano. Dating suggests that the last eruptions on the island, from East Cape, were at least 2000 years ago, and could have possibly taken place before the Holocene.

Flora and fauna

The island has a limited number of flora and fauna that it supports; its population of Aleutian Cackling geese

Aleutian Cackling Goose

The Aleutian Cackling Goose , formerly known as the Aleutian Canada Goose , is small subspecies of Cackling Goose averaging 1700 to 2100 grams....

contributed to an re-expansion of the species, preventing their extinction.