Photograph by L. Jackson
Location: 62.93N, 137.38W
Elevation: 4066 feet (1239 m)
Updated: November 2000
Photograph by L.
Jackson
Volcano Mountain, shown above, is located 17 km north of the junction of the Pelly and Yukon rivers, half way between Whitehorse and Dawson City, in central Yukon Territory. The volcano comprises a cinder cone and a series of lava flows. The lavas flowed through breaks in the cone wall to the northeast and the southwest, as well as from a small satellite vent on the volcano's south side. The northeastern lava flow traveled about 8 km and the southwestern flows only about 3 km. Airfall deposits of lapilli-sized fragments formed coincidently with the lava flows. The lavas contain small, angular to rounded peridotite nodules. Sediments from two ponds apparently formed by lava dams give ages of 7350 and 3210 years BP (Jackson and Stevens, 1992). Lack of lapilli in the pond sediments suggests that the lapilli-forming eruption is older than 7350 years BP. Volcano Mountain is the youngest volcano in the Fort Selkirk volcanic complex (Francis & Ludden, 1990; Jackson 2000) and one of the youngest in the northern Cordilleran volcanic province (Edwards & Russell 2000).
-summary by Ben Edwards, Grand Valley State University, MI
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.
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basanite, and
alkaline olivine basalt at Fort Selkirk, Yukon, Canada: J. Petrol.
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371-400.
Francis, D., 1990. Volcano Mountain, Yukon, Canada. In Wood, C.A., &
Kienle,J. (eds.)
Volcanoes of North America, Cambridge Univ. Press: Cambridge, p. 118-19.
Jackson, L.E., 2000. Quaternary Geology of the Carmacks map area, Yukon
Territory. Geological Survey of
Canada Bulletin 539, 74 p.
Jackson, L.E., & Stevens, W. 1992. A recent eruptive history of
Volcano Mountain, Yukon Territory.
In Current Research, Part A; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 92-1A,
p. 33-39.
Trupia, S., & Nicholls, J. Petrology of Recent lava flows, Volcano
Mountain, Yukon Territory,
Canada. Lithos, v. 37, p. 61-78.
