Mount Noel facts for kids

Mount Noel is an ancient volcano located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of a group of volcanoes called the Chilcotin Group. This mountain is found about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) southwest of a town called Bralorne. It sits north of a small stream that flows into Noel Creek.

About Mount Noel

Mount Noel is known as a volcanic complex. This means it is made up of different parts formed by volcanic activity. It is also a Miocene volcano. This tells us it formed a very long time ago, during the Miocene Epoch. This time period was roughly 23 to 5.3 million years ago.

Where is Mount Noel Located?

This mountain is in the beautiful area of Bridge River Country in British Columbia. It is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of another volcanic area. That area is called the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt. Mount Noel is a significant landmark in its region.

What is Mount Noel Made Of?

Mount Noel is mostly made of cooled lava flows. These are called basalt flows. They often look like stacks of columns. The mountain also has debris flows. These are like fast-moving landslides made of rock and mud. There are also some smaller amounts of pyroclastic rocks. These are rocks formed from ash and other materials thrown out by a volcano.

How Mount Noel Formed

Scientists believe Mount Noel formed because of something called back-arc extension. Imagine two giant plates of the Earth's crust moving. One plate slides under another in a process called subduction. This happens at the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of North America. When this happens, the land behind the main volcanic area can stretch and pull apart. This stretching creates cracks in the Earth's crust. Magma (molten rock) can then rise through these cracks. This is how volcanoes like Mount Noel are formed.