Photograph by C. Hickson
Photograph by C.
Hickson
Mount Meager volcano, located 150 km north of Vancouver, British Columbia, is a volcanic complex comprising at least 8 vents, the youngest of which is on the northeast side of Mount Meager (seen in the photograph above - vent is dark area surrounded by horseshoe-shaped band of snow). The most recent volcanic activity started about 2400 years ago with an eruption from a vent on the northeast side of the mountain. The eruption was a Plinian style eruption, which produced a plume of ash that traveled east across British Columbia into Alberta. The eruption also produced pyroclastic flows and a short lava flow.
Photograph by B. Edwards
Shown above is an airfall deposit of lapilli-size dacite pyroclastics
probably formed during the Plinian phase of the most recent Meager eruption.
The pumice pyroclasts are currently mined at several locations around the
volcano.
Photograph by B. Edwards
Hot debris avalanches from the most recent eruption at Mount Meager buried trees along forested slopes of the volcano, which were burned in place. Today charred remains can be seen in exposures along the Lilloet River east and south of the main vent.
-summary by Ben Edwards, Grand Valley State University, MI
Green, N.L., Armstrong, R.L., Harakal, J.E., Souther, J.G., and Read,
P.B. 1988. Eruptive
history and K-Ar geochronology of the late Cenozoic Garibaldi volcanic
belt, southwestern
British Columbia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 100, p.
563-579.
Hickson, C.J., Russell, J.K., & Stasiuk, M.V. 1999. Volcanology
of the 2350 B.P. eruption
of Mount Meager volcanic complex, British Columbia, Canada; implications
for hazards from
eruptions in topographically complex terrain. Bulletin of Volcanology,
v. 60, p. 489-507.
Read, P.B., 1977, Geology of Meager Creek geothermal area, British Columbia:
Geol.
Surv.
Can. Openfile 603.
Stasiuk, M.V., Russell, J.K., And Hickson, C.J. 1997. Distribution,
nature, and origins of the
2400 BP eruption products of Mount Meager, British Columbia: linkages
between magma
chemistry and eruption behaviour. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin
486, 27 p.
Stasiuk, M., 1990. Meager Mountain, Canada. In Wood, C.A., & Kienle,
J. (eds.) Volcanoes of North
America, Cambridge Univ. Press: Cambridge, p. 141-42
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