Nazko Cone

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Nazko Cone is a small, possibly active basaltic volcano in central British Columbia, Canada. It is the easternmost and youngest volcano in the Anahim Volcanic Belt. The cone stands about 1,230 meters tall and sits on glacial debris, roughly 75 km west of Quesnel and 150 km southwest of Prince George.

The volcano formed in three eruptive stages. The first eruption happened about 340,000 years ago during a warmer period of the Ice Age. The second stage built a mound of rock and ash beneath the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The last eruption produced two lava flows that traveled about 1 km to the west and left a widespread ash layer to the north and east. Later, three overlapping small cones formed near the end of the explosive phase. Near the cone, ash and lava deposits can be several meters thick, but they thin quickly a few kilometers away, indicating relatively small explosive events. The final eruption may have started forest fires, as suggested by charcoal found in the ash.

Nazko Cone lies above the Anahim hotspot, a fixed source of hot mantle rock. The North American Plate moves over this hotspot at about 2 to 3 centimeters per year, creating volcanoes as it passes. Nazko Cone is the youngest volcano from this hotspot, with activity beginning around 7,200 years ago and continuing in fits and starts for a time.

In October 2007, a small swarm of earthquakes occurred about 20 km west of the cone. Most quakes were tiny, but a few reached magnitude around 3 and were located deep underground. Scientists think magma was rising beneath the area. The region is remote, so future eruptions would likely cause few deaths, though lava flows could start forest fires and affect nearby logging and ranching. Eruptions would probably be lava fountains and small cones rather than large ash clouds, and would mainly affect low-flying aircraft.

Nazko Cone has been closely monitored since 2007 by scientists who use seismometers to record earthquakes and track changes in the volcano’s shape with tiltmeters. A steady rumble or swelling of the peak can indicate an eruption is approaching.

Historically, Nazko Cone was mined in the 1990s for cinder and scoria used as landscaping material. The surrounding area once supported a unique ecosystem with large Douglas firs and a special wetland to the west formed by mixed ash and lava. There is also interest in the area’s high heat flow as a potential source of geothermal energy.