Cono Nazko

Nazko Cone, the easternmost and youngest volcano of the Anahim Volcanic Belt in the Chilcotin-Nechako Plateau, central British Columbia, rests on glacial till. It was formed in three episodes of activity, the first of which took place during a Pleistocene interglacial stage about 340,000 years ago (Souther et al., 1987). The second stage produced a large hyaloclastite scoria mound erupted beneath the Cordilleran ice sheet during the late Pleistocene. The final activity occurred about 7,200 years ago, forming a compound subaerial basanitic cinder cone that overtopped the hyaloclastite mound and produced two small lava flows that traveled about 1 km W. An airfall tephra deposit extends several kilometers to the N and E. Mining of the red cinder and scoria deposits began in the early 1990s.