Volcanic activity is a major part of the geology of Canada and is characterized by many types of volcanic landform, including lava flows, volcanic plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes, and maars, along with less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.
Mount Edziza, a stratovolcano in northwestern British Columbia
Eve Cone, one of the best preserved cinder cones in Canada.
Plinth Peak of the Mount Meager massif in southwestern British Columbia is the source for a large-scale Plinian eruption that occurred 2,350 years ago, sending ash as far as Alberta
Komatiite sample collected in the Abitibi greenstone belt near Englehart, Ontario. Specimen is 9 cm (4 in) wide. Bladed olivine crystals are visible, though spinifex texture is weak or absent in this sample.
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton, the ancient geologic core of the North American continent. Glaciation has left the area with only a thin layer of soil, through which exposures of igneous bedrock resulting from its long volcanic history are frequently visible. As a deep, common, joined bedrock region in eastern and central Canada, the shield stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean, covering over half of Canada and most of Greenland; it also extends south into the northern reaches of the continental United States.
Panorama of Canadian Shield geography in the Flin Flon, Manitoba, region. Big Island Lake is in the background.
Weathered Precambrian pillow lava in the Temagami Greenstone Belt
Folded Precambrian gneiss of the Canadian Shield in Georgian Bay, Ontario
Typical Canadian Shield landscape: spruce, lakes, bogs, and rock
