Mathew's Tuya, Canada

Location: 59.2 N, 130.43 W
Elevation: 5165 feet (1676 m)
Last Updated: November 2000


                                                                                   Photograph by B. Edwards

Mathew's Tuya, the flat-topped mountain in the center of the photograph, is a somewhat subdued volcanic landgorm. It is one of six subglacial volcanoes close to Tuya Lake, in northcentral British Columbia. It has been partly glaciated, so it is probably older than 10,000 y.b.p. The other volcanoes in the area include Tuya Butte, South Tuya, and  Ash Mountain. The volcanoes in the Tuya region of northwestern British Columbia form part of the northern Cordilleran volcanic province of northwestern Canada (Edwards & Russell 2000).


                                                                                   Photograph by B. Edwards

The picture of Mathew's tuya above illustrates the unique shape of  subglacial volcanoes that have flat tops (also refered to as tuyas). The lower slopes of the volcano comprise subglacially-erupted pillow lava and hyaloclastite, but the flat top is capped by subaerial lava flows (Simpson 1996).

-Ben Edwards, Grand Valley State University, MI



Sources of Information:

Allen, C.C., Jercinovic, M.J. and Allen, J.S.B., 1982. Subglacial volcanism in north-central British Columbia and Iceland. Journal of Geology, 90, 699-715.

Edwards, B.R. & Russell, J.K. 2000. The distribution, nature and origin of Neogene-Quaternary magmatism
in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province, northern Canadian Cordillera.
Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 112, no. 8, 1280-1295.

Mathews, W.H., 1947, Tuyas, flat-topped volcanoes in northern British Columbia. American Journal of Science, v. 245, p. 560-570.

Moore, J.G., Hickson, C.J., and Calk, L. 1995. Tholeiitic-alkalic transition at subglacial volcanoes, Tuya region, B.C., Canada,
Journal of Geophysical Research, v.100, p. 24, 577-24, 592.

Simpson, K. 1996, The geology, geochemistry and geomorphology of Mathew's Tuya: a subglacial volcano in northwestern British Columbia
[B.Sc. Thesis]: Vancouver, University of British Columbia, 97 p.


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