page_title: Table Mountain (Whatcom County, Washington)
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Table Mountain (Whatcom County, Washington) / Geology
caption_attribution_description: English: Table Mountain from Artist Point area. Washington state
context_page_description: Table Mountain is a Skagit Range summit located west of Mount Shuksan and northeast of Mount Baker in the North Cascades of Washington state. It is situated in the Mount Baker Wilderness, which is managed by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Table Mountain is located west of Artist Point, at the end of the Mount Baker Highway. From the Artist Point parking lot, a short 1.4 mile trail leads to the summit at the west end of the mountain. The summit offers views of Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker, Mount Hermann, and Mount Larrabee. Remnants of the Table Mountain Glacier are on the northeast slope. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into tributaries of the Skagit and Nooksack Rivers.
context_section_description: The North Cascades features some of the most rugged topography in the Cascade Range with craggy peaks, ridges, and deep glacial valleys. Geological events occurring many years ago created the diverse topography and drastic elevation changes over the Cascade Range leading to the various climate differences.
  The history of the formation of the Cascade Mountains dates back millions of years ago to the late Eocene Epoch. With the North American Plate overriding the Pacific Plate, episodes of volcanic igneous activity persisted. Mount Baker, a stratovolcano that is 6.7 mi (10.8 km) southwest of Table Mountain, began forming in the Pleistocene. In addition, small fragments of the oceanic and continental lithosphere called terranes created the North Cascades about 50 million years ago.
  During the Pleistocene period dating back over two million years ago, glaciation advancing and retreating repeatedly scoured the landscape leaving deposits of rock debris. The “U”-shaped cross section of the river valleys are a result of recent glaciation. Uplift and faulting in combination with glaciation have been the dominant processes which have created the tall peaks and deep valleys of the North Cascades area.
  Table Mountain is an andesite lava flow which was so thick that geologists think it must have flowed into a constraining canyon in which the molten rock formed a lava lake. Because of the wild, crazy columnar joints that occur along the sides of Table Mountain, there is a suggestion that the flow may have been constrained by glacial ice.
caption: Table Mountain from Artist Point
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