Although little-known to the general public,
British Columbia and
Yukon Territory are home to a vast region of volcanoes and volcanic activity in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Several mountains that many British Columbians look at every day are
dormant volcanoes. Most of them have erupted during the
Pleistocene and
Holocene. Although none of Canada's volcanoes are currently erupting, several volcanoes,
volcanic fields and volcanic centers are considered potentially active. There are
hot springs at some volcanoes while 10 volcanoes in British Columbia appear related to seismic activity since 1975, including: the
Silverthrone Caldera,
Mount Meager,
Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field,
Mount Garibaldi,
Mount Cayley,
Castle Rock,
The Volcano,
Mount Edziza,
Hoodoo Mountain,
Crow Lagoon and
Nazko Cone.
The volcanoes are grouped into five
volcanic belts with different tectonic settings.
The
Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province (sometimes known as the Stikine Volcanic Belt) is the most active volcanic region in Canada. It formed due to extensional cracking,
faulting and
rifting of the North American Plate, as the Pacific Plate grinds and slides past the
Queen Charlotte Fault, unlike subduction that produces the volcanoes in Japan, Philippines and Indonesia. The region has
Canada's largest volcanoes, much larger than the minor
stratovolcanoes found in the Canadian portion of the
Cascade Volcanic Arc.
Several eruptions are known to have occurred within the last 400 years.
Mount Edziza is a huge volcanic complex that erupted several times in the past several thousand of years, which has formed several
cinder cones and
lava flows. The complex comprises the
Mount Edziza Plateau, a large
volcanic plateau (65 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide) made of predominantly basaltic lava flows with four large
stratovolcanoes built on top of the plateau.
The associated
lava domes and
satellite cones were constructed over the past 7.5 million years during five magmatic cycles beginning with eruption of
alkali basalts and ending with
felsic and basaltic eruptions as late as 1,340 years ago. The blocky lava flows still maintain their original forms.
Hoodoo Mountain is a
tuya in northwestern British Columbia, which has had several periods of
subglacial eruptions. The oldest eruptions occurred about 100,000 years ago and the most recent being about 7000 years ago. Hoodoo Mountain is also considered
active and could erupt in the future. The nearby
Tseax Cone and
The Volcano produced some of Canada's youngest lava flows, that are about 150 years old.
Canada's worst known geophysical disaster came from the
Tseax Cone during the 18th century at the southernmost end of the
volcanic belt. The eruption produced a 22.5 km long lava flow, destroying the
Nisga'a villages and the death of at least 2000 Nisga'a people by
volcanic gases and poisonous smoke. The
Nass River valley was inundated by the lava flows and contain abundant tree molds and
lava tubes. The event happened at the same time with the arrival of the first
European explorers to penetrate the uncharted coastal waters of northern
British Columbia.
