Watercolour and oil pastel
©2020 Charlene Brown
Spoiler alert: There are only two famous Canadian volcanoes and this isn’t
one of them.
Along with New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and the
American states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, we are in the
Circum-Pacific belt of earthquake and volcanic activity known as the Ring of
Fire.
Although we on the west coast have recently become earthquake-aware, and
are (very gradually) becoming earthquake-ready, there is little awareness of the
many volcanoes here in British Columbia.
Most, including one of the famous ones, Black Tusk, are extinct. Black Tusk is
the upper spire of a stratovolcano, visible in the background of the Whistler
Inukshuk postcard painting on the right.
Among the potentially active Canadian volcanoes, the most recent
eruption occurred about 150 years ago at Lava Forks in northwestern British
Columbia near the Alaska border.
About 100 years before that, in 1775, an eruption of the Tseax Cone killed almost 2000 of the Nisga’a people. I wrote about this eruption last year.
About 100 years before that, in 1775, an eruption of the Tseax Cone killed almost 2000 of the Nisga’a people. I wrote about this eruption last year.
I have also painted the other famous Canadian volcano, Mount Garibaldi, which
last erupted 8000 years ago.
As for the subject of this week’s painting – Mount Meager has the distinction of being the site of the most
recent big explosive eruption in British Columbia, about 2350 years ago. And a fumarole field venting steam has recently been revealed by the receding glacier on top of this dormant volcano.
