Garibaldi Volcanic Belt

The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is the northern part of the Cascade Volcanic Belt. It is in British Columbia and the northwestern United States. Its volcanos are the most explosive in Canada.

Mount Garibaldi, a volcano in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt

The extent of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, showing its volcanoes and volcanic features

The volcanoes are also the closest to British Columbia's densely populated southwest corner. These volcanoes are the result of subduction of the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate: the plates meet just seaward of the west coast of Vancouver Island. The volcanoes of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt are stratovolcanoes typical of subduction zones, and include Mount Garibaldi, Mount Cayley and Mount Meager. Meager's eruption 2,350 years ago is the youngest explosive eruption in Canada. It was similar to that of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and the ongoing eruption of Montserrat in the Caribbean.