Nahta Cone is a part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and overlies a limestone hill. The summit of the cone contains a circular crater breached on the east which was the source of a roughly 3-kilometre-long (1.9-mile) lava flow that travelled northerly and then westerly into the head of Nahta Creek. Ejecta from the volcano extends about 500 metres (1,600 feet) to the west and 700 metres (2,300 feet) to the north. Access to this isolated volcanic cone is limited to float plane or helicopter.
Geography
Nahta Cone is located in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada, near the northern edge of the Arctic Lake Plateau.[2][6][7] It has an elevation of 1,670 metres (5,480 feet) and rises about 60 metres (200 feet) above the glacially scored surface of the plateau to a circular crater breached on the east.[1][6] The cone is surrounded by Mess Creek valley to the west, Wetalth Ridge and Little Arctic Lake to the east, Tadekho Hill to the northeast, Exile Hill to the north and Arctic Lake to the south.[3] Between Nahta Cone and Tadekho Hill is Nahta Creek which flows west through a valley into Mess Creek, a northwest-flowing tributary of the Stikine River.[5][8]
Nahta Cone lies in the southwestern corner of Mount Edziza Provincial Park about 70 kilometres (43 miles) south-southeast of the community of Telegraph Creek.[3] With an area of 266,180 hectares (657,700 acres), Mount Edziza Provincial Park is one of the largest provincial parks in British Columbia and was established in 1972 to showcase the volcanic landscape.[9][10] It also includes the Spectrum Range to the northeast and Mount Edziza further to the north which are separated by the broad east–west valley of Raspberry Pass.[10][11] Mount Edziza Provincial Park is in the Tahltan Highland, a southeast-trending upland area extending along the western side of the Stikine Plateau.[3][12]
Nahta Cone was the source of air-falltephra and a roughly 3-kilometre-long (1.9-mile) lava flow which extends northerly and then westerly into the head of Nahta Creek.[5][6] The air-fall tephra is lapilli-sized and distributed about 500 metres (1,600 feet) west and 700 metres (2,300 feet) north of the cone, suggesting the volcano was volcanically active at least twice during different wind conditions.[6][16] Erosion has unmodified the blocky surface of the lava flow but Nahta Creek at its distal end has begun to etch a new channel where it displaced the stream.[6] Canadian volcanologistJack Souther obtained a radiocarbon date of 1,340 years from the lava flow in 1970.[16]
Name and etymology
Nahta Cone and lava flow from the southeast with the Spectrum Range obscured by clouds in the background
The name of the cone was adopted 2 January 1980 on the National Topographic System map 104G/7 after being submitted to the BC Geographical Names office by the Geological Survey of Canada. It means seven in the Tahltan language, referring to the last seven survivors of the Wetalth people who were outcasted or exiled from the Tahltans in times past.[2] Several other features on the Arctic Lake Plateau such as Wetalth Ridge, Outcast Hill, Exile Hill and Tadekho Hill also have names with Tahltan roots that were adopted 2 January 1980.[19][20][21][22][23]
Accessibility
Nahta Cone can be accessed by float plane or helicopter, both of which are available for charter at the communities of Iskut and Dease Lake.[24] Arctic Lake about 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) south of Natha Cone and Little Arctic Lake about 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) east of Nahta Cone are large enough to be used by float-equipped aircraft.[3][24] Landing on Little Arctic Lake with a private aircraft requires a letter of authorization from the BC Parks Stikine Senior Park Ranger.[10]
^Edwards, Benjamin Ralph (1997). Field, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies of magmatic assimilation in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province, northwestern British Columbia (PhD thesis). University of British Columbia. pp. 10, 11. ISBN0-612-25005-9.
