Atlin Volcanic Field | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 1,880 m (6,170 ft) [1] |
Listing | Northern Cordilleran volcanoes |
Coordinates | 59°41′N133°19′W / 59.68°N 133.32°W [1] |
Geography | |
Location | British Columbia, Canada |
Parent range | Teslin Plateau (southern Yukon Plateau) |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Holocene |
Mountain type | Cinder cones |
Volcanic arc/belt | Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province |
Last eruption | Unknown, possible eruptions in 1898. [1] |
The Atlin Volcanic Field, also called the Llangorse Volcanic Field and the Surprise Lake Volcanic Field, is a group of late-Pleistocene to Holocene cinder cones that lies on the Teslin Plateau east of Atlin Lake, Canada. The largest volcanic feature is the 1880-m-high Ruby Mountain which has been partially dissected by Pleistocene and post-Wisconsin glaciation. Two basaltic cinder cones at the heads of Cracker Creek and Volcanic Creek lie within glacially dissected U-shaped valleys and may be of postglacial age.
A Yukon newspaper reported in 1898 that an eruption was occurring near Atlin about 80 km (50 mi) south of Gladys Lake. Miners working in the area reportedly were able to work during the dark nights, due to the glow of the eruption. The article also reported that a group of people were going down from the Yukon to investigate the eruption, but no further reports were apparently made. Several recent studies, including a summary by Edwards et al. (2003) published by the Geological Survey of Canada, have determined that Ruby Mountain was definitely not the site of a historic eruption, [2] nor were the Cracker Creek or Volcanic Creek cones.
One possible explanation for the story is that placer miners found gold-bearing gravels beneath an ancient lava flow at the base of Ruby Mountain, and were actively tunneling under the old lava flow to mine the gravels. As its name suggests, Ruby Mountain is ruby-colored due to the scoriaceous tephra that covers much of its summit and the summer sun shining off of the ruby-red flanks of the volcano may have started the rumour. There have been no evidence of the eruption found in the region and the 19th-century report is considered uncertain. [1]
Volcanoes within the field include:
The Anahim Volcanic Belt (AVB) is a west–east trending chain of volcanoes and related magmatic features in British Columbia, Canada. It extends from Athlone Island on the Central Coast, running eastward through the strongly uplifted and deeply dissected Coast Mountains to near the community of Nazko on the Interior Plateau. The AVB is delineated as three west-to-east segments that differ in age and structure. A wide variety of igneous rocks with differing compositions occur throughout these segments, comprising landforms such as volcanic cones, volcanic plugs, lava domes, shield volcanoes and intrusions.
The Chilcotin Group, also called the Chilcotin Plateau Basalts, is a large area of basaltic lava that forms a volcanic plateau running parallel with the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in south-central British Columbia, Canada.
The Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province (NCVP), formerly known as the Stikine Volcanic Belt, is a geologic province defined by the occurrence of Miocene to Holocene volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest of North America. This belt of volcanoes extends roughly north-northwest from northwestern British Columbia and the Alaska Panhandle through Yukon to the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area of far eastern Alaska, in a corridor hundreds of kilometres wide. It is the most recently defined volcanic province in the Western Cordillera. It has formed due to extensional cracking of the North American continent—similar to other on-land extensional volcanic zones, including the Basin and Range Province and the East African Rift. Although taking its name from the Western Cordillera, this term is a geologic grouping rather than a geographic one. The southmost part of the NCVP has more, and larger, volcanoes than does the rest of the NCVP; further north it is less clearly delineated, describing a large arch that sways westward through central Yukon.
Tuya Butte is a tuya in the Tuya Range of north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is a bit less isolated from other ranges than neighbouring Mount Josephine. Some of the other volcanoes in the area include South Tuya, Ash Mountain, and Mathews Tuya.
Volcanic Creek Cone is a small cinder cone 20 kilometres northeast of Atlin in northwestern British Columbia. There are two cinder cones and a lava flow at least 3 kilometres long which is present below parts of the tree covered area. The subdued form of Volcanic Creek cone is visible directly below the largest snow patch. The cone has probably suffered through at least one glacial episode. Volcanic Creek cone is part of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province.
Cracker Creek Cone is a small cinder cone in northwestern British Columbia. A large lava flow that partly filled Ruby Creek may have originated from this cone. The lower west side of the cone appears to be partly covered by glacial till suggesting that the cone is older than the most recent glacial advances down Ruby Creek. Cracker Creek Cone is in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province and is one of the three young volcanic cones in the Atlin Volcanic Field.
The Iskut volcanic field is a group of volcanoes and lava flows on and adjacent to the Alaska–British Columbia border in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. All the volcanoes in this volcanic field are situated in British Columbia along the Iskut and Unuk rivers and their tributaries, with lava flows having reached Alaska. The oldest volcanoes in the Iskut volcanic field are Little Bear Mountain and Hoodoo Mountain, which are 146,000 and 85,000 years old, respectively. Younger volcanic centres include Second Canyon, King Creek, Tom MacKay Creek, Snippaker Creek, Iskut Canyon, Cone Glacier, Cinder Mountain and Lava Fork, all of which formed in the last 70,000 years. All of the volcanoes are mafic in composition except for Hoodoo Mountain which consists of peralkaline rocks. The latest volcanic eruption took place from the Lava Fork volcano in 1800, although an uncertain 1904 eruption is also attributed to this volcano.
Ruby Mountain, locally known as Old Volcano, is a cinder cone in Stikine Region, British Columbia, Canada, located 23 km (14 mi) northeast of Atlin and 6 km (4 mi) south of Mount Barham. A recent collapse on the volcano's eastern side created a large landslide which dissects this side of Ruby Mountain. The volcano is the largest feature within the Atlin Volcanic Field.
Volcano Mountain is a cinder cone in central Yukon Territory, Canada, located a short distance north of Fort Selkirk, near the confluence of the Pelly and Yukon Rivers. Volcano Mountain is called Nelrúna in the Northern Tutchone language.
Cinder Mountain is a partly eroded cinder cone at the head of Snippaker Creek, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the Iskut-Unuk River Cones and is the source of a basaltic lava flow that extends 4 km (2 mi) north into Copper King Creek. An isolated pile of subaerial basalt flows and associated pillow lava rest on varved clay and till in King Creek. Cinder Mountain last erupted during the Pleistocene.
Level Mountain is a large volcanic complex in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located 50 kilometres north-northwest of Telegraph Creek and 60 kilometres west of Dease Lake on the Nahlin Plateau. With a maximum elevation of 2,164 metres, it is the second-highest of four large complexes in an extensive north–south trending volcanic region. Much of the mountain is gently-sloping; when measured from its base, Level Mountain is about 1,100 metres tall, slightly taller than its neighbour to the northwest, Heart Peaks. The lower, broader half of Level Mountain consists of a shield-like structure while its upper half has a more steep, jagged profile. Its broad summit is dominated by the Level Mountain Range, a small mountain range with prominent peaks cut by deep valleys. These valleys serve as a radial drainage for several small streams that flow from the mountain. Meszah Peak is the only named peak in the Level Mountain Range.
Volcanic activity is a major part of the geology of Canada and is characterized by many types of volcanic landform, including lava flows, volcanic plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes, and maars, along with less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.
Ibex Mountain is a young cinder cone in the Yukon Territory, Canada, located 33 km southwest of Whitehorse and 12 km southeast of Mount Arkell. It is in a group of basaltic cones and lava flows called Alligator Lake and is in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province. It is believed Ibex Mountain last erupted during the Pleistocene. Ibex Mountain is at the head of the Ibex River, which is southeast of Whitehorse. There is a road that runs close to Ibex Lake on the southeast side of the summit. From there is the hike to the summit of the cone.
Prindle Volcano is an isolated basaltic cinder cone located in eastern Alaska, United States, in the headwaters of the East Fork of the Fortymile River, approximately 80 kilometers northeast of Tok, Alaska. The cone is fresh-looking and has a base approximately 900 metres wide. It is the northwesternmost expression of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province. The cinder cone, and an approximately 11-kilometre (6.8-mile) long lava flow which breached the margin of the cone, erupted in the Pleistocene approximately 176,000 years ago. The lava flow extends to the southeast, then turns southwest and continues in a river valley.
The Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, also called the Clearwater Cone Group, is a potentially active monogenetic volcanic field in east-central British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 130 km (81 mi) north of Kamloops. It is situated in the Cariboo Mountains of the Columbia Mountains and on the Quesnel and Shuswap Highlands. As a monogenetic volcanic field, it is a place with numerous small basaltic volcanoes and extensive lava flows.
Fort Selkirk Vent is a geological name for a cinder cone in central Yukon, Canada, located just east of Fort Selkirk along the Yukon River.
The Volcano, also known as Lava Fork volcano, is a small cinder cone in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located approximately 60 km (40 mi) northwest of the small community of Stewart near the head of Lava Fork. With a summit elevation of 1,656 m (5,433 ft) and a topographic prominence of 311 m (1,020 ft), it rises above the surrounding rugged landscape on a remote mountain ridge that represents the northern flank of a glaciated U-shaped valley.
The volcanic history of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province presents a record of volcanic activity in northwestern British Columbia, central Yukon and the U.S. state of easternmost Alaska. The volcanic activity lies in the northern part of the Western Cordillera of the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Extensional cracking of the North American Plate in this part of North America has existed for millions of years. Continuation of this continental rifting has fed scores of volcanoes throughout the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province over at least the past 20 million years and occasionally continued into geologically recent times.
The Canadian Cascade Arc, also called the Canadian Cascades, is the Canadian segment of the North American Cascade Volcanic Arc. Located entirely within the Canadian province of British Columbia, it extends from the Cascade Mountains in the south to the Coast Mountains in the north. Specifically, the southern end of the Canadian Cascades begin at the Canada–United States border. However, the specific boundaries of the northern end are not precisely known and the geology in this part of the volcanic arc is poorly understood. It is widely accepted by geologists that the Canadian Cascade Arc extends through the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. However, others have expressed concern that the volcanic arc possibly extends further north into the Kitimat Ranges, another subdivision of the Coast Mountains, and even as far north as Haida Gwaii.