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Mount Meager

Meager

Complex volcano · Canada · 2680m

The Mount Meager volcanic complex is the northernmost major volcanic center in the Canadian part of the Cascade Range. This Tertiary to Holocene complex has erupted mafic to felsic magmas from at least eight vents. The most recent eruption produced a pyroclastic flow and lava flow from a NE-flank vent about 2,350 years ago. This view from the Lillooet River valley to the west shows, from left to right, the glacially eroded volcanic necks of Mount Capricorn, Meager Mountain, and Plinth Mountain.
The Mount Meager volcanic complex is the northernmost major volcanic center in the Canadian part of the Cascade Range. This Tertiary to Holocene complex has erupted mafic to felsic magmas from at least eight vents. The most recent eruption produced a pyroclastic flow and lava flow from a NE-flank vent about 2,350 years ago. This view from the Lillooet River valley to the west shows, from left to right, the glacially eroded volcanic necks of Mount Capricorn, Meager Mountain, and Plinth Mountain. · Photo: Photo by Willie Scott, 1990 (U.S. Geological Survey). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Complex volcano
Country
Canada
Region
North America Volcanic Regions / Garibaldi Volcanic Arc
Elevation
2680m
Coordinates
50.630, -123.500
Last eruption
-410
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Composite
Major rock type
Dacite
Geological summary

Mount Meager volcanic complex, of Pliocene-to-Holocene age, forms a dissected andesitic-to-rhyodacitic stratovolcano with multiple eroded summit lava domes and volcanic necks. It lies in the Garibaldi volcanic belt and is the northernmost volcano of the Cascade arc that extends to northern California. The summit of the complex consists of overlapping piles of andesitic lava flows and younger dacitic lava domes and flows. Quaternary basalts underlying the uppermost 22 km of the Elaho valley originated at the 1375 m level in the South Fork Meager River. The most recent activity, about 2350 years ago, produced Canada's largest known Holocene explosive eruption and an associated welded block-and-ash flow and a lava flow from a vent on the NE flank of Plinth Peak. Two clusters of hot springs occur within the complex, which has been investigated for potential geothermal power.

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
410 BCE~410 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 5410 BCE410 BCE409 BCE409 BCE409 BCE

Detailed timeline

  1. 410 BCE (±200 yrs)VEI 5Geological estimate
    BCE 410 – Ongoing
    NE flank of Plinth Peak

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.