Dormant west coast volcanoes have explosive potential

A volcaniceruption in southern Chile has forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 people. It was yet another reminder of the volatility and swiftness of a volcanic explosion.

"I'm surprised, but not that it caught us off guard," Glyn Williams-Jones told CBC's On the Coast.Williams-Jones, a professor at SFU and a volcanologist, says volcanoes are known for their ability to catch people by surprise.

He says it's never certain which dormant volcano may be the next big one, including those here onthe West Coast.

1. Mount Baker

On a clear day, the towering, snow-capped image of Mount Baker can been seen from Vancouver.

Although it sits south of the border in Washington State, Williams-Jones says it's the one potential volcano that would affect the greatest population.

"In terms of risk, it would be from mudslides," he said."

You can see all that snow and ice at the summit, so if you melt that, you can very rapidly have large mudflows and rivers. If you have even stronger activity you can potentially even have ash affect the Vancouver airport."

Despite the threat, Williams-Jones says the mountain is being well monitored by the U.S. Geological Serviceand that it hasn't shown any great activity since the 1970s.

2. Mount Meager

Located in the Coast Mountains of southwestern British Columbia near Pemberton, the dormant Mount Meager is considered a complex volcano.

"It's definitely the largest recent volcanic eruption in Canada. Thatwas exemplified by an eruption about 2,500 years ago," says Williams-Jones. He says during that explosionash carried as far as Alberta.

3. Tseax Cone

Located northwest of Terrace, B.C., the Tseax Cone is Canada's youngest volcanic eruption. The explosion is believed to have occurred sometime between 1750 and 1775.

"It was a lava flow rather than a big explosion. It is also responsible for Canada's second largest natural disaster with about 2,000 people being killed."

Williams-Jones says it's not certain exactly how the volcano killed thepopulation, although there's mentionof the possibility of poison smoke or volcanic gas beingemitted fromthe ground.

4. Mount Edziza

In Williams-Jones' words, this potentially "beast" of a volcano is located in northwestern B.C. in Stikine country. Mount Edziza is an example of subglacial volcanism, a volcano that grows under the ice.

The volcanic system remains dormant, but because it's quite far north in a less populated region, it is not as well monitored as others.

Risk of major explosion possible but unlikely

Glyn William-Jones says while an explosion is theoretically possible from any of the volcanic systems, anything happening in the near future is unlikely. Despite that, the possibility of volcanic action still exists.

"Whenever you see these kinds of events, they can go from zeroto sixtyin a short amount of time. As we've seen in Calbuco, there was very little warning and all of a sudden it was erupting."

"Just because we don't have anything currently bubbling over, isn't to say that sometime in the future we might not have something."

To hear more, tap the audio labelled: 4 dormantvolcanoes close to home that may be waiting to explode:

On The Coast7:064 dormant volcanoes close to home that may be waiting to explode

Although dormant, these 4 west coast volcanoes have the potential for explosive activity