The Nass Volcano, also known as the The Tseax Cone (pronounced SEE-aks), is on the southernmost part of the Northern Stikine Volcanic Belt. It is located east of Crater Creek at outlet of Melita Lake, southeast of Gitlakdamix and 60 km north of Terrace, British Columbia. It has been active at least twice in the past few hundred years and remnants of lava flows exist in the Nass Valley. It is 290 m in diameter at its base and rests on the remnants of an earlier and somewhat larger 460 m diameter cone. It is in the most active volcanic region in Canada. The volcano is made of volcanic bombs and cinders with a crater at its summit, where a churning lava lake pooled and overflowed its rim. The volcano most likely erupted due to cracking, faulting and rifting of the North American Plate, as the Pacific Plate grinds and slides past the Queen Charlotte Fault. The Tseax Cone is a young cinder cone volcano with adjacent lava flows associated with the Nass Ranges and the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province. The Nass Valley Eruption is the youngest volcanic eruption in Canada.
After the eruption, the death toll was about 2000, but no one knows for sure how many actually died. The main causes of the fatalties was from the falling ash, volcanic gas, and poisonous smoke. The lava dammed the Tseax and Nass Rivers, and created the Lava River. It also caused forest fires and covered 2 Nisga'a villages in ash and volcanic debris (remains of a few wooden homes can be seen in a photo below). The impact of the eruption is a long term change, that can be seen today, as you can go on tours and drive past the rocky lava beds that remain of this horrific event, that is claimed to be one of Canada's worst geophysical distasters.
Many years have passed since the eruption, and life in the Nass Valley has returned to its natural beauty and has become a wonder that we marvel at. Mist covered mountains, lakes, waterfalls and pine forests, the lava beds of course, and breathtaking scenery can be scene throughout the Valley, making it a truly mystical place to visit, even though it was once a place of terror and death.
After the eruption, the death toll was about 2000, but no one knows for sure how many actually died. The main causes of the fatalties was from the falling ash, volcanic gas, and poisonous smoke. The lava dammed the Tseax and Nass Rivers, and created the Lava River. It also caused forest fires and covered 2 Nisga'a villages in ash and volcanic debris (remains of a few wooden homes can be seen in a photo below). The impact of the eruption is a long term change, that can be seen today, as you can go on tours and drive past the rocky lava beds that remain of this horrific event, that is claimed to be one of Canada's worst geophysical distasters.
Many years have passed since the eruption, and life in the Nass Valley has returned to its natural beauty and has become a wonder that we marvel at. Mist covered mountains, lakes, waterfalls and pine forests, the lava beds of course, and breathtaking scenery can be scene throughout the Valley, making it a truly mystical place to visit, even though it was once a place of terror and death.