List of volcanoes in Canada facts for kids

Canada is a huge country, and it has many volcanoes! You might think of volcanoes as only being in places like Hawaii or Iceland, but Canada has them too, both on land and under the ocean. In fact, almost all of Canada's provinces and territories have at least one volcano, except for Prince Edward Island and Manitoba.

This list will tell you about some of the cool volcanoes found across Canada, from towering mountains to hidden spots deep underground or under the sea. Some of these volcanoes are very old and won't erupt again, while others could still be active!

British Columbia: Land of Many Volcanoes

British Columbia is a province on Canada's west coast, and it's home to a lot of volcanoes! This is because it's part of the "Ring of Fire," a big area around the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen.

Some of the volcanoes in British Columbia are:

• Mount Garibaldi: This is a large volcano near Vancouver. It last erupted about 10,000 years ago.
• Mount Meager massif: This group of volcanoes had a big eruption about 2,400 years ago. It's known for having a very large landslide in 2010.
• Mount Edziza: This is a huge volcanic area in northern British Columbia. It has many different types of volcanoes, like cinder cones and lava flows. Some parts of it are very old, but some eruptions happened more recently, within the last few thousand years.
• Nazko Cone: This volcano is in central British Columbia and last erupted about 7,200 years ago. It's a small, cone-shaped volcano.
• Hoodoo Mountain: This unique volcano looks like a flat-topped mountain. It's covered in ice and last erupted about 7,000 years ago.
• Tseax Cone: This volcano erupted more recently, between 1750 and 1775. Its lava flows created a disaster for local Indigenous communities.

Undersea Volcanoes (Seamounts)

British Columbia also has volcanoes hidden under the Pacific Ocean! These are called seamounts. They are like underwater mountains, and some of them are volcanoes.

• Bowie Seamount: This is one of the youngest seamounts off the coast of British Columbia. It last erupted about 18,000 years ago. It's so close to the surface that it almost breaks out of the water!
• Tuzo Wilson Seamounts: This group of underwater volcanoes is still active, meaning they could erupt again.

Alberta: Ancient Volcanoes

Alberta is mostly known for its mountains and prairies, but it also has some very old volcanoes. These aren't the big, cone-shaped volcanoes you might imagine. Instead, many are "pipes" or "diatremes." These are like ancient volcanic vents where magma pushed up through the Earth's crust a very long time ago. They are often found where diamonds can be formed!

Most of Alberta's volcanoes are from the Upper Cretaceous or Paleocene periods, which means they are over 60 million years old. They are not active today.

New Brunswick: Old Mountain Remnants

New Brunswick has some very old volcanic features.

• Mount Pleasant Caldera: A caldera is a large bowl-shaped hollow that forms when the top of a volcano collapses after a huge eruption. This one is from the Devonian period, which is about 360 to 420 million years ago!
• Sugarloaf Mountain: This mountain is a remnant of an ancient volcano. It's a popular spot for hiking today.

Newfoundland and Labrador: Ocean and Land Volcanoes

This eastern province also has volcanic history.

• Fogo Seamounts: Similar to British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador have seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean. These are from the Cretaceous period, around the time of the dinosaurs.
• Springdale Caldera: This is another ancient caldera, formed during the Early Silurian period, over 400 million years ago.

Northwest Territories and Nunavut: Arctic Volcanoes

Even in the cold Canadian Arctic, there are signs of ancient volcanic activity.

• Back River volcanic complex: This is a very old volcanic area, dating back to the Archaean eon, which is billions of years ago! These are some of the oldest volcanoes on Earth.
• Kimberlite pipes: Like in Alberta, these territories have kimberlite pipes, which are ancient volcanic vents that can contain diamonds.

Ontario and Quebec: Very Ancient Volcanoes

Ontario and Quebec, in central and eastern Canada, also have volcanic pasts, mostly from billions of years ago.

• Blake River Megacaldera Complex: This is one of the largest and best-preserved ancient volcanic complexes in the world! It's from the Neoarchaean eon, about 2.7 billion years ago. A "megacaldera" means it was incredibly huge.
• Sturgeon Lake Caldera: Another ancient caldera in Ontario, also from the Neoarchaean period.
• Lake Timiskaming kimberlite field: These are Jurassic-era kimberlite pipes, meaning they formed around 150 million years ago.

Saskatchewan: Diamond-Bearing Pipes

Saskatchewan is another province where ancient volcanic activity is linked to diamonds.

• Fort à la Corne kimberlite field: This area has many kimberlite pipes from the Cretaceous period, which is when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Yukon: Northern Peaks

The Yukon, in Canada's northwest, has several volcanic mountains.

• Alligator Lake Volcanic Complex: This area has several volcanic features, but their last eruption is unknown.
• Volcano Mountain: This volcano is relatively young, having last erupted in the Holocene epoch, which means within the last 11,700 years.

See also

• Outline of Canada
• Bibliography of Canada
• Index of Canada-related articles
• Volcanism of Canada
  • Volcanism of Northern Canada
  • Volcanism of Western Canada
  • Volcanism of Eastern Canada
  • List of Northern Cordilleran volcanoes
• List of mountains in Canada
• List of Cascade volcanoes