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The Volcanic Seven Summits       (page created November 1999, last major update March 2007, last minor revision November 2010)


    The "Seven Summits" are the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. In the same spirit, this page lists the highest volcanoes on each continent. Two of these "Volcanic Seven Summits", Kilimanjaro and Elbrus, are also the highest mountains on their continents. In order to consider two peaks as distinct volcanoes, this list requires that they have erupted from separate vents and each have 1000 feet (305 m) of prominence (reascent) above any intervening pass. This is a rather strict standard, but it helps eliminate most subsidiary summits and satellite cinder cones from the list. For example, the twin summits of Elbrus have erupted from separate vents, but the lower East Peak has only 296 m (970 ft) of prominence above the saddle separating it from the higher West Peak, so it is not listed separately. The two summits of Kilimanjaro are however listed separately, since the lower peak (Mawenzi) has about 850 m (2800 ft) of prominence above the saddle separating it from the much higher Kibo. This makes Mawenzi the third highest volcano and peak in Africa.
    This list defines the continents based on geological or geographical terms instead of geopolitical or cultural. Primarily, the continents are defined based on their continental shelves, for example this ensures that the island of New Guinea is included as part of the Australian continent. In the case of Eurasia, which is really a single continent geologically, the split into Europe and Asia is made geographically along the crests of the Ural and Caucasus mountain ranges. This splits the country of Georgia between the two continents since it lies across the Caucasus divide (although mostly on the Asian side), while Armenia lies entirely to the south of the divide in Asia. The volcano Kazbek is in Georgia but on the European side of the divide, while Aragats in Armenia is far on the Asian side. The Canary Islands (controlled by Spain) are part of Africa geographically, so Pico del Teide is on the Africa list (although many people object to this). Countries can obviously have portions in more than one continent (e.g. Russia, Turkey), so I'm not sure why many people are opposed to according Spain the same multi-continent status. Spain has small territories, Ceuta and Melilla, on the North African mainland, so it is already a multi-continent nation irrespective of the Canary Islands.
    Ignoring any political and cultural issues is really the only correct way to define the continents, because otherwise a change in political status would result in having to redefine the continents and rewrite the lists. I'm not sure why some people are so hung up on defining continents based on political considerations, it makes little sense. Here's an illustrative example to prove the point: If Tanzania were still part of the British Empire, would these same people consider Kilimanjaro the highest peak in Europe? Hopefully not, that would be absurd. And that's why geology and/or geography are the proper ways to go about defining the continents.
    Major updates in 2007 include a complete revision of the Oceania section, recognizing that Mount Giluwe is the highest volcano, not Mauna Kea. This should have been fixed a couple of years ago, I apologize for that. I had heard that Giluwe was a volcano and therefore the highest in Oceania, but did not have the time to verify for certain until recently, when I researched and read several old scientific papers about Giluwe and other Papua New Guinea volcanoes. As a bonus from that research, I've also added 9 more PNG volcanoes for a much more complete listing, although some may still be missing. In the South America section, Mercedario is now unranked, since it is most likely not a volcano. And Kazbek is now in the Europe section instead of Asia, since it is north of the Caucasus divide which locally runs through Krestovy Pass, 14 miles (22 km) south of Kazbek. Several relevant footnotes are in the right column below.
    Anyway, enough discussion, on to the list. I have compiled this list myself using a variety of sources both on the web and in print, and as far as I know, this was the first list of the Volcanic Seven Summits ever published online or in print. However, it is likely that there are still some errors and some volcanoes which should be included are missing. If you find any errors or omissions, please contact me. Thanks to the several people who have pointed out the errors over the years.


North America:
(see Note 1 below right)
1.
Pico de Orizaba
18410 ft
5611 m
Mexico
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2. Popocatepetl 17930 ft5465 m Mexico
3. Iztaccihuatl 17160 ft5230 m Mexico
Locations of the Volcanic Seven Summits
(color relief base map from NGDC)

Pico de Orizaba		 4. Mount Bona 16421 ft5005 m Alaska
5. Mount Blackburn 16390 ft4996 m Alaska
6. Mount Sanford 16237 ft4949 m Alaska
7. Mount Churchill 15638 ft4766 m Alaska
8. Nevado de Toluca 15390 ft4691 m Mexico
9. Sierra Negra 15030 ft4580 m Mexico
10. La Malinche 14636 ft4461 m Mexico
11. Mount Rainier 14411 ft4392 m Washington
12. Nevado de Colima 14240 ft4340 m Mexico

Mount Sanford		 13. Mount Wrangell 14163 ft4317 m Alaska
14. Mount Shasta 14162 ft4317 m California
15. Cofre de Perote 14048 ft4282 m Mexico
16.Atna Peaks 13860 ft4225 m Alaska
17. Volcan Tajumulco 13846 ft4220 m Guatemala
18.Regal Mountain 13845 ft4220 m Alaska
19.Tlaloc (Cerro el Mirador) 13520 ft4120 m Mexico
20.Volcan Tacana 13484 ft4110 m Mexico / Guatemala
21.Mount Jarvis 13421 ft4091 m Alaska

Mount Rainier		 22.Cerro Telapon 13390 ft4080 m Mexico
23.Volcan Acatenango 13045 ft3976 m Guatemala
24.Mount Zanetti 13009 ft3965 m Alaska
25.Jocotitlan 12960 ft3950 m Mexico 1. There are numerous volcanoes and volcanic peaks in Mexico above 12000 ft (3600 m) elevation, and their elevations are not accurately known in many cases, at least as shown on available maps. Thus there may be several inaccuracies or even omissions of Mexican volcanoes on this list.
26.Ajusco 12894 ft3930 m Mexico
27.Tancitaro 12664 ft3860 m Mexico
28. Humphreys Peak 12633 ft3851 m Arizona
29. Volcan de Colima 12631 ft3850 m Mexico
30.Volcan Santa Maria 12375 ft3772 m Guatemala
31.Volcan Fuego 12346 ft3763 m Guatemala
32.Volcan Agua 12336 ft3760 m Guatemala
33. Mount Adams 12276 ft3742 m Washington

South America:
(see Note 2 below right)		 1. Nevado Ojos del Salado 22595 ft6887 m Chile / Argentina
2. Monte Pissis 22579 ft6882 m Argentina
Cerro Mercedario 22210 ft6770 m Chile / Argentina Probably uplifted volcanic rock, but not a volcano; reliable info is scarce.

Nevado Ojos del Salado		 3. Cerro Bonete 22175 ft6759 m Argentina
4. Nevados Tres Cruces 22142 ft6749 m Chile / Argentina
5. Volcan Llullaillaco 22057 ft6723 m Chile / Argentina
6. Cerro Cazadero 21844 ft6658 m Chile / Argentina
7. Nevado de Incahuasi 21722 ft6621 m Chile / Argentina 2. The elevations of many of the high peaks in South America are not well known, with widely differing values given in various sources. Thus there are certain to be numerous inaccuracies and omissions on this list, and it is not easy to correct these deficiencies or to rectify conflicting sources. In particular, some references state that Ojos del Salado's elevation is only 22520 ft (6864 m), which would make Monte Pissis the highest volcano in the world (and the second highest peak in South America) if the listed height is accurate. But newer sources give the height of Pissis as only 6793 m, and the NASA radar mapping confirms that Ojos is roughly 100 m higher than Pissis.
8. Cerro Tupungato 21490 ft6550 m Chile / Argentina
9. Nevado Sajama 21463 ft6542 m Bolivia
10.Nevado el Muerto 21286 ft6488 m Chile / Argentina
11.Cerro Veladero 21115 ft6436 m Argentina

Pomerape (left) and Parinacota		 12.Cerro Nacimiento 21115 ft6436 m Argentina
13. Nevado Coropuna 21079 ft6425 m Peru
14.Volcan Antofalla 21027 ft6409 m Argentina
15.Nevado de Cachi 20930 ft6380 m Argentina
16.Cerro el Condor 20909 ft6373 m Argentina
17. Volcan Parinacota 20827 ft6348 m Chile / Bolivia
18.Reclus 20784 ft6335 m Argentina
19. Chimborazo 20703 ft6310 m Ecuador
20. Nevado Ampato 20630 ft6288 m Peru
21. Volcan Pomerape 20610 ft6282 m Chile / Bolivia

Asia:
(see Note 3 at right)		 1. Damavand 18603 ft5670 m Iran 3. There are several scattered volcanic centers located in Tibet and western China which lie at elevations of 17700-19000 ft (5400-5800 m), potentially placing some of them in contention for the honor of highest volcano in Asia over Iran's Damavand. However, these very minor volcanic cones are unlikely to meet any reasonable mountaineering standard of prominence (such as 1000 ft / 305 m used here), and thus they have been excluded from this list. This list seeks to include real volcanic mountains, not minor outpourings of lava that happened to leak to the Earth's surface in high-elevation regions.
2. Ararat (Agri Dagi) 16945 ft5165 m Turkey
3. Sabalan 15817 ft4821 m Iran

Damavand		 4. Klyuchevskoy 15584 ft4750 m Kamchatka (Russia)
5. Kamen 15148 ft4617 m Kamchatka (Russia)
6. Krestovsky 13478 ft4108 m Kamchatka (Russia)
7. Aragats (Alagez) 13419 ft4090 m Armenia
8. Suphan Dagi 13314 ft4058 m Turkey
9. Taftan 13262 ft4042 m Iran
10. Ushkovsky 12936 ft3943 m Kamchatka (Russia)
11. Little Ararat 12877 ft3925 m Turkey
12. Erciyes Dagi 12851 ft3917 m Turkey

Ararat (Agri Dagi)		 13.Kerinci 12497 ft3809 m Sumatra (Indonesia)
14. Fujisan 12388 ft3776 m Honshu (Japan)
15.Rinjani 12224 ft3726 m Lombok (Indonesia)
16. Sahand 12105 ft3690 m Iran
17. Tolbachik 12080 ft3682 m Kamchatka (Russia)
18.Semeru 12060 ft3676 m Java (Indonesia)
19. Ichinsky 11880 ft3621 m Kamchatka (Russia)
20. Tendurek Dagi 11759 ft3584 m Turkey
21. Kronotsky 11575 ft3528 m Kamchatka (Russia)

Europe:
(see Note 4 below right)		 1. Elbrus 18510 ft5642 m Russia
2. Kazbek 16558 ft5047 m Georgia
3. Mount Etna 10990 ft3350 m Sicily (Italy)

Elbrus		 4. Pico 7713 ft2351 m Azores (Portugal)
5. Beerenberg 7472 ft2277 m Jan Mayen (Norway)
6. Oraefajokull 6952 ft2119 m Iceland
7. Bardarbunga 6595 ft2010 m Iceland
8. Kverkfjoll 6300 ft1920 m Iceland
9. Mont Dore 6184 ft1885 m France
10. Monts du Cantal 6086 ft1855 m France
11. Snaefell 6014 ft1833 m Iceland
12. Hofsjokull 5846 ft1782 m Iceland
13. Esjufjoll 5774 ft1760 m Iceland
14. Grimsvotn 5660 ft1725 m Iceland
15. Herdubreid 5518 ft1682 m Iceland
16. Eiriksjokull 5495 ft1675 m Iceland
17. Eyjafjallajokull 5466 ft1666 m Iceland

Africa:
(see Note 4 and 5 at right)		 1. Kilimanjaro (Kibo) 19340 ft5895 m Tanzania 4. The Canary Islands lie on the edge of the African Plate, and even a casual glance at a map shows that they must be considered part of Africa, lying less than 100 miles off its west coast. Despite this fact, many volcanological books and references group them with Europe instead of Africa because they are controlled by Spain, thus listing Pico del Teide as the third highest volcano in Europe. This erroneous confusion of political control with geographical fact will not be repeated here, and so the Canary Islands are listed as part of Africa.
2. Mount Kenya 17058 ft5199 m Kenya
3. Kilimanjaro (Mawenzi) 16893 ft5149 m Tanzania

Kilimanjaro		 4. Mount Meru 14978 ft4565 m Tanzania
5. Karisimbi 14787 ft4507 m Congo / Rwanda
6.Mikeno 14557 ft4437 m Congo
7. Mount Elgon 14178 ft4321 m Kenya / Uganda
8.Muhavura 13540 ft4127 m Uganda / Rwanda
9. Mount Cameroon 13435 ft4095 m Cameroon
10. Pico del Teide 12198 ft3718 m Canary Islands (Spain)
11.Visoke 12175 ft3711 m Congo / Rwanda
12.Sabinyo 11923 ft3634 m Congo/Uganda/Rwanda
? 13.Gahinga 11398 ft3474 m Uganda / Rwanda 5. There may be other African volcanoes between 11000 and 12000 ft (3300–3600 m) elevation which are missing from this list. Further research is needed.
? 14.Nyiragongo 11385 ft3470 m Congo
? 15.Hanang 11217 ft3419 m Tanzania
? 16.Emi Koussi 11204 ft3415 m Chad

Oceania:
(see Note 6 below right)		 1. Mount Giluwe 14331 ft4368 m Papua New Guinea Mount Giluwe page is coming soon.
2. Mauna Kea 13680 ft4205 m Hawaii
3. Mauna Loa 13680 ft4170 m Hawaii

Mauna Kea		 4.Mount Hagen 12395 ft3778 m Papua New Guinea
5.Mount Ne 11926 ft3635 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is very unreliable.
6.Doma Peaks 11706 ft3568 m Papua New Guinea
7.Mount Ialibu 11365 ft3465 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is unreliable.
8.Mount Kerewa 11706 ft3568 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is very unreliable.
9.Mount Yelia 11102 ft3384 m Papua New Guinea
10.Crater Mountain 10607 ft3233 m Papua New Guinea
11. Haleakala 10023 ft3055 m Maui (Hawaii)
12. Ruapehu 9175 ft2797 m New Zealand

Taranaki (Mt Egmont)		 13.Balbi 8907 ft2715 m Bougainville (PNG)
14.Mount Suaru 8750 ft2667 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is unreliable.
15.Mount Sisa 8694 ft2650 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is unreliable.
16.Mount Karimui 8417 ft2566 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is unreliable.
17.Hualalai 8278 ft2523 m Hawaii
18. Taranaki (Mt Egmont) 8260 ft2518 m New Zealand
19.Mount Bosavi 8225 ft2507 m Papua New Guinea Elevation data is unreliable.
20.Ulawun 7658 ft2334 m New Britain (PNG) 6. The "continent" of Oceania is a geographer's convenience, consisting of Australia and the various island groups of the central and south Pacific, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Hawaii is a part of Polynesia and thus must be included in Oceania, not North America. Many volcanological books and references group Hawaii with North America for obvious reasons of convenience, but this is not geographically accurate since the islands lie about 2500 miles (4000 km) off the coast of North America. For the purposes of this list, the island of New Guinea (including Irian Jaya) is considered part of Oceania, while the remainder of Indonesia is part of Asia. This is the only correct division, since the entire island of New Guinea lies on the continental shelf of Australia, and thus it is as an integral part of the continent of Australia/Oceania, just as Britain is of the continent of Europe. (This also agrees with standard mountaineering practice in regards to determining the Seven Summits, whereby Puncak Jaya is considered the highest peak in Oceania over Australia's Mount Kosciusko). Unlike Puncak Jaya and the other highest peaks of New Guinea which are non-volcanic, Mount Giluwe is an old eroded volcano and thus is the highest volcano in Oceania.
21. Ngauruhoe 7516 ft2291 m New Zealand

Antarctica: 1. Mount Sidley 13717 ft4181 m Marie Byrd Land
2. Mount Erebus 12447 ft3794 m Ross Island

Mount Erebus		 3. Mount Frakes 11988 ft3654 m Marie Byrd Land
4. Toney Mountain 11795 ft3595 m Marie Byrd Land
5. Mount Steere 11673 ft3558 m Marie Byrd Land
6. Mount Berlin 11411 ft3478 m Marie Byrd Land
7. Mount Takahe 11352 ft3460 m Marie Byrd Land
8. Mount Overlord 11142 ft3396 m Victoria Land
9. Mount Waesche 10801 ft3292 m Marie Byrd Land
10. Mount Hampton 10902 ft3323 m Marie Byrd Land
11. Mount Terror 10597 ft3230 m Ross Island
12. Mount Siple 10203 ft3110 m Marie Byrd Land
13. Mount Moulton 10098 ft3078 m Marie Byrd Land


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Amar Andalkar   Seattle, WA, USA   <About the Author / Contact Me>
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Last modified Friday, November 26, 2010