Is Mount Katahdin a volcano?
There is a grain of truth to this myth, in that there are ancient volcanic rocks preserved nearby, in northern Baxter State Park, but none of the mountains of Maine’s modern landscape are actually volcanos. Volcanos are landforms that were constructed by volcanic processes. All Maine’s mountains are erosional remnants. The rocks of Mt. Katahdin, in fact, are not volcanic rocks at all, but are granite, an igneous rock that forms by slow cooling of molten rock beneath the earth’s surface. It cannot be denied that the view of Mt. Katahdin from the northeast, with its bowl-shaped cirques carved by glaciers, superficially resembles that of a volcanic complex with summit calderas (compare with Mount St. Helens). The low-lying surrounding topography, underlain by more easily eroded sedimentary rocks, enhances the stand-alone effect.
