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.
Mount Edziza, known to the local Tahltan people as Tenh Dẕetle, is a volcanic mountain in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Big Raven Plateau of the Tahltan Highland which extends along the western side of the Stikine Plateau. Mount Edziza has an elevation of 2,786 metres and a topographic prominence of 1,750 metres, making it the highest point of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and one of Canada's ultra-prominent peaks. However, it had an elevation of at least 3,396 metres before its formerly cone-shaped summit was likely destroyed by a violent, climactic eruption in the geologic past; its current flat summit contains an ice-filled, 2-kilometre-in diameter (1.2-mile) crater. The mountain contains several lava domes, cinder cones and lava fields on its flanks, as well as an ice cap that is characterized by several outlet glaciers stretching out to lower altitudes. All sides of Mount Edziza are drained by tributaries of Mess Creek and Kakiddi Creek which are situated within the Stikine River watershed.
The Pyramid, also called Pyramid Dome, is a young lava dome on the northeast flank of Mount Edziza in British Columbia, Canada. It represents several different styles of volcanic activity of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex, part of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province. Its latest eruption occurred during the Pleistocene epoch.
Coffee Crater is a well-preserved cinder cone south of Mount Edziza, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed during the Holocene period. It is within the Snowshoe lava field, part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.
Tsekone Ridge, also called Tsekone Peak and Black Knight Cone, is an isolated ridge on the Big Raven Plateau of the Tahltan Highland in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located southeast of Telegraph Creek at the north side of Mount Edziza Provincial Park between Eve Cone and Mount Edziza.
Cocoa Crater is a cinder cone in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located 38 km southeast of Telegraph Creek and 8 m (26 ft) southwest of Mount Edziza. Cocoa Crater is one of the 30 cinder cones around the Mount Edziza complex that formed in the year 700. The ash around Cocoa Crater is quite deep, its summit is a jet black color and its summit is red. It is quite a different color from the brown color of Coffee Crater, which is to the south of Cocoa Crater.
Castle Rock is a volcanic plug located 13 km (8 mi) west of Iskut and 8 km (5 mi) northwest of Tuktsayda Mountain in British Columbia, Canada. Castle Rock is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes and is in the Klastline Group of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province and last erupted in the Pleistocene.
Ice Peak is the prominent south peak of Mount Edziza in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the eroded remains of a stratovolcano predating the main edifice of Mount Edziza and contains a 2,500-metre-high (8,200-foot) summit which represents the western rim of a small caldera. The Ice Peak stratovolcano has been largely destroyed by glacial erosion but it was volcanically active during the Holocene. Ice Peak and the main mass of Mount Edziza are wholly known to the local Tahltan as Tenh Dẕetle which translates to Ice Mountain.
Wetalth Ridge is an isolated ridge in northern British Columbia, Canada, located 74 km (46 mi) southwest of Tatogga and south of Telegraph Creek. It lies on the southwest side of Little Arctic Lake at the southwest corner of Mount Edziza Provincial Park.
Outcast Hill is an isolated hill in northern British Columbia, Canada, located southeast of Mess Lake. It lies at the southern end of Mount Edziza Provincial Park.
Tennena Cone, alternatively Icebridge Cone, is a small volcanic cone in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has an elevation of 2,390 metres and lies on the western flank of Ice Peak, the prominent south peak of Mount Edziza. The cone is almost completely surrounded by glacial ice of Mount Edziza's ice cap which covers an area of around 70 square kilometres. Tennena Cone is 200 metres high, 1,200 metres long and up to 600 metres wide, its symmetrical structure resembling a black pyramid. The cone and the surrounding area are in Mount Edziza Provincial Park which also includes the Spectrum Range to the south.
Ridge Cone is a cinder cone in northern British Columbia, Canada. It is thought to have last erupted in the Holocene period and is part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.
Cartoona Peak is a volcanic peak at the westernmost end of Cartoona Ridge in northern British Columbia, Canada, located just southeast of Coffee Crater in Mount Edziza Provincial Park.
IGC Centre is a lava dome in Mount Edziza Provincial Park of northern British Columbia, Canada. It is thought to have formed and last erupted during the Miocene period.
Sezill Volcano is a lava dome in Mount Edziza Provincial Park of northern British Columbia, Canada. It is thought to have formed and last erupted during the Miocene period. The volcano gets its name from being adjacent to Sezill Creek.
The Neck is a mountain in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located in Mount Edziza Provincial Park. It is a volcanic feature of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province that formed in the past 1.6 million years of the Pleistocene epoch.
Exile Hill is an isolated hill in the Spectrum Range of northern British Columbia, Canada, located southeast of Mess Lake. It lies at the southern end of Mount Edziza Provincial Park.
Tadekho Hill is an isolated hill in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located 64 km (40 mi) southwest of Tatogga and 10 km (6 mi) southwest of Kitsu Peak. It lies at the southwestern end of Mount Edziza Provincial Park.
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 Mount Edziza volcanic complex (MEVC) in British Columbia, Canada, has a history of volcanism that spans more than 7 million years. It has taken place during five cycles of magmatic activity, each producing less volcanic material than the previous one. Volcanism during these cycles has created several types of volcanoes, including cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, subglacial volcanoes, shield volcanoes and lava domes. The approximately 1,000-square-kilometre (400-square-mile) volcanic plateau forming the base of the MEVC originated from the successive eruptions of highly mobile lava flows. Volcanic rocks such as basalt, trachybasalt, benmoreite, tristanite, mugearite, trachyte and rhyolite were deposited by multiple eruptions of the MEVC; the latter six rock types are products of varying degrees of magmatic differentiation in underground magma reservoirs. At least 10 distinct flows of obsidian were produced by volcanism of the MEVC, some of which were exploited by indigenous peoples in prehistoric times to make tools and weaponry. Renewed volcanism could produce explosive eruptions and block local streams with lava flows.
