No latest activity reported for Wells Gray-Clearwater.

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Campbell R B, 1961. Quesnel Lake, west half, British Columbia. {Geol Surv Can Map}, 3-1961

Campbell R B, 1963. Quesnel Lake, east half, British Columbia. {Geol Surv Can Map}, 1-1963

Campbell R B, 1967. Canoe River, west half, British Columbia. {Geol Surv Can Map}, 15-1967

Campbell R B, Tipper H W, 1971. Geology of Bonaparte Lake map-area, British Columbia. {Geol Surv Can Mem}, 363: 1-100

Davis N F G, 1930. Clearwater Lake area, British Columbia. {Geol Surv Can Summary Rpt}, Part A: 274-293

Hickson C J, 1986. Quaternary volcanism in the Wells Grey-Clearwater area, east central British Columbia. {Unpublished PhD thesis}, Univ British Columbia, 357 p

Hickson C J, Edwards B R, 2001. Volcanoes and Volcanic Hazards in Canada. {In}; Brooks G R (ed) {A Synthesis of Geological Hazards in Canada}, Geol Surv Can Bull, 548: 1-248

Hickson C J, Soos A, Wright R, 1994. Catalogue of Canadian volcanoes. {Geol Surv Canada Open-File Rpt}

Hickson C J, Souther J G, 1984. Late Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Clearwater-Wells Gray area, British Columbia. {Can J Earth Sci}, 21: 267-277

Holland S S, 1976. Landforms of British Columbia, a physiographic outline. {Brit Columbia Dept Mines Petrol Resour Bull}, 48: 1-138 (2nd printing)

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. {IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior}.

Metcalf P, 1987. Petrogenesis of Quaternary alkaline lavas in Wells Gray Provincial Park, B.C. and constraints on the petrology of the subcordilleran mantle. {Unpublished PhD thesis}, Univ Alberta, 395 p

Wood C A, Kienle J (eds), 1990. {Volcanoes of North America}. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press, 354 p

The Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field in the Quesnel Highland of east-central British Columbia contains basaltic cones and lava flows of early Pleistocene-to-Holocene age. Pleistocene deposits include plateau-capping lava flows, subglacial mounds and tuyas, and hyaloclastites. Buck Hill Cone was erupted during the latest Pleistocene during the waning stages of the Fraser glaciation. Holocene eruptions took place in the Spanish Creek, Ray Lake and Kostal Lake areas (Hickson and Souther, 1984), forming cinder cones and producing lava flows that traveled up to 14 km. A lava flow from Dragon cone is radiocarbon dated at about 7600 years ago, and flows from Flourmill, Kostal, and Spanish Lake Cones rest on glaciated bedrock without an intervening paleosol, suggesting an early Holocene age. The latest eruption took place from Kostal cone about 400 years ago (Hickson and Edwards, 2001).