Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field

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 was radiocarbon dated at about 7,600 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).