Canada contains 21 active volcanoes.
Of these, the vast majority are located within British Columbia, and are in remote locations
far from civilization.
One example includes the Tseax Cone, which last erupted in 1700, representing Canada's
deadliest eruption.
However, several hundred kilometers north northwest of this volcano is another little
known volcanic system.
This volcano bears evidence of young volcanic eruptions, such as this explosion crater shown
on screen.
The volcano I am referring to is known as Heart Peaks, which is considered to be an
active volcano.
This video will discuss this very remote Canadian volcano, and mention what its future hazards
are.
The Heart Peaks volcano is located in an isolated portion of northwest British Columbia.
Due to its remoteness, the closest major city is Juneau which is 150 kilometers to the west.
This massive volcano measures 28 kilometers long and 13 kilometers wide.
The reason why Heart Peaks is elongated towards the north and south relates to how this volcano
formed.
In this section of British Columbia, tectonic forces are slowly stretching the crust to
the east and west.
This stretching of the crust creates a series of cracks, which then allows magma to travel
upwards and erupt onto the surface.
As such, Heart Peaks is an ancient shield volcano associated with a long fissure of
magma.
Similar fissures of magma are also responsible for the construction of three other nearby
active volcanoes.
These volcanoes form a sort of chain where the Spectrum range is the southernmost of
the group, Mount Edziza is further north, then Level Mountain, and finally Heart Peaks
on the northern end.
The Heart Peaks are the single oldest potentially active volcano within Canada, as it began
forming approximately 23 million years ago.
At the time, a volume of low silica basaltic magma intruded into the crust before erupting
on the edge of a mountain range within a low lying plain.
This fissure of molten rock soon solidified into a series of cinder cones.
Eventually, one of these cinder cones became the emphasis of activity, which began building
a single broad volcanic cone.
The lava it erupted had a very low viscosity, so it quickly flowed downhill at speeds of
up to 30 kilometers per hour.
After several million years of eruptions, a broad shield volcano has been constructed.
This shield volcano was 800 meters in height, and contained a single elongated rift zone,
representing the underlying ever present fissure.
On occasion, an eruption would still occur from one of these fissures, thus building
this volcano in the shape of a rectangle.
What followed was a long period of dormancy, during which large amounts of ice and water
carved away at the edges of the modern volcano, forming steep valleys.
When Heart Peaks erupted again, the lava it erupted was more explosive as it now erupted
trachyte instead of basalt.
Over the next several million years, large sections of the volcano were covered by this
brown colored volcanic rock, forming a large plateau.
Lavas then became more viscous once again, erupting a series of andesitic lava domes
in the center of the volcano.
Later, a series of thick rhyolite lava domes erupted on the western edge of the modern
edifice which had a high degree of hydrothermal alteration.
This left behind colorful red, yellow, and pink colored lava domes.
During the last ice age, the overall volcano was covered by a thick glacial ice sheet but
eruptions still continued.
Since some lava erupted into a glacier, it could not travel very far and slowly built
up into a steep sided hill.
Eventually, a large section of the overlying glacier was melted by its proximity to the
lava, forming a small subglacial lake.
As subsequent eruptions continued, the volcanic cone eventually reached the height of the
lake.
Lavas then slowly deposited along the level of the lake water, forming a flat top.
By the time the eruptive series had ended, what remained was a unique subglacial volcanic
feature termed a "tuya".
Several tuyas and other subglacial volcanic features from this period of activity can
be found in the northern section of the overall volcano.
Since the end of the last ice age, there is evidence of one, potentially two recent volcanic
eruptions.
One of these likely originated from a 340 meter wide crater which formed as the result
of a phreatic eruption, although its true age is unknown.
Due to the uniform highly explosive nature of recent eruptions from this volcano, its
next eruption is also likely to be highly explosive.
It will either create a new maar explosion crater, or a pink colored rhyolite lava dome.
Both of these eruption types would generate pyroclastic flows which could reasonably travel
up to 8 kilometers distant.
However, absolutely no one lives close to this volcano.
The only at risk area is the road and towns located along Canadian highway 37, which could
be affected by minor levels of ashfall.
Also, any future eruption could disrupt air traffic in the region, as sparse as this may
be.
Using the US Geological Survey method of rating volcanoes, Heart Peaks would be classified
as a very low threat volcano.
I hope that you enjoyed this video!
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