Haddington Island (British Columbia)
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Haddington Island () is a small
volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...
island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
in the
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
province of
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, located in the Broughton Strait, and separated from Malcolm Island to the north by the Haddington Passage. It is located in the
Mount Waddington Regional District The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia. It takes in the lower Central Coast region centred on the Queen Charlotte Strait coast of northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining parts of mainland ...
. The closest major community to Haddington Island is
Port McNeill Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island's northeast shore, on Queen Charlotte Strait. Originally a base camp for loggers, it became a settlement in 1936. It was named ...
.


Geology

Haddington Island is a member in the chain of eroded volcanoes that run from
Brooks Peninsula ''Parts of this article have been adapted from thBC Parks website'' M𐞥uqʷin/Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park is a provincial park located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. History As a result of land-use pl ...
northeastward across Vancouver Island to
Port McNeill Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island's northeast shore, on Queen Charlotte Strait. Originally a base camp for loggers, it became a settlement in 1936. It was named ...
, called the Alert Bay Volcanic Belt. The existence of
felsite Felsite is a very fine-grained volcanic rock that may or may not contain larger crystals. Felsite is a field term for a light-colored rock that typically requires petrographic examination or chemical analysis for more precise definition. Color ...
and
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
at Haddington Island suggests it might have formed 3.7 million years ago as the
Juan de Fuca Juan de Fuca (10 June 1536 23 July 1602)Greek Consulate of Vancouver,Greek Pioneers: Juan de Fuca. was a Greek sailor who served PhilipII of Spain. He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Aniánnow known as the Strait o ...
and
Explorer Plate The Explorer plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, which is partially subducted under the North American plate. Along with the Juan de Fuca plate and Gorda plate, the Expl ...
to its west
subducted Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second plat ...
under the North American Plate at the
Cascadia subduction zone The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary, about off the Pacific coast of North America, that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is capable of producing 9.0+ m ...
. As the
ocean crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the Plate tectonics, tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike (geology), dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troct ...
of the Juan de Fuca and the Explorer Plate melts, it creates
magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...
that penetrates the crust, causing periodic eruptions of the volcanoes. The western end of the Alert Bay Volcanic Belt is now approximately northeast of the
Nootka Fault The Nootka Fault is an active transform fault running southwest from Nootka Island, near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Geology The Nootka Fault lies between the Explorer plate in the north and Juan de Fuca plate in south. These a ...
, which separates the Explorer and Juan de Fuca plates. However, at the time of its formation Haddington Island may have been coincident with the subducted plate boundary. Also, the timing of volcanism corresponds to shifts of plate motion and changes in the locus of volcanism along the Pemberton and
Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...
volcanic fronts. This brief interval of plate motion adjustment approximately 3.5 million years ago may have triggered the generation of
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
ic magma along the descending plate edge. Although commonly referred to as andesite, by chemical composition the Haddington Island volcanic rocks are in fact
dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...
. The rock has a very fine grained to
aphanitic Aphanites (adj. ''aphanitic''; ) are igneous rocks that are so fine-grained that their component mineral crystals are not visible to the naked eye (in contrast to phanerites, in which the crystals are visible to the unaided eye). This geo ...
texture, and has a light blue-grey to a warm brown-grey range in colour. The
groundmass The matrix or groundmass of a rock is the finer-grained mass of material in which larger grains, crystals, or clasts are embedded. The matrix of an igneous rock consists of finer-grained, often microscopic, crystals in which larger crystals, ...
comprises 80-85%
plagioclase Plagioclase ( ) is a series of Silicate minerals#Tectosilicates, tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continu ...
feldspar, with lesser
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
,
biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron- endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more al ...
and
magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...
. Small, 1–2 mm plagioclase
phenocryst image:montblanc granite phenocrysts.JPG, 300px, Granites often have large feldspar, feldspathic phenocrysts. This granite, from the Switzerland, Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif, has large white phenocrysts of plagioclase (that have trapezoid sh ...
s are distributed through the rock mass, and form approximately 1% of its volume.


Quarrying

The grey to bluff andesite on Haddington Island is considered by many to be British Columbia's finest building stone because it is easily profiled and carved. Some of British Columbia's landmark buildings were faced with Haddington Island
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
, including the
Hotel Vancouver The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, formerly and still informally called the Hotel Vancouver, is a historic hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia. Located along West Georgia Street the hotel is situated within the city's Financial District, in Downto ...
and the
British Columbia Parliament Buildings The British Columbia Parliament Buildings are in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and are home to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The Speaker and the Sergeant-at-Arms are amongst those responsible for the legislative precinc ...
. Further information on the historic use of andesite on buildings in Vancouver can be found in the article ''Andesite'' i
Vancouver Matters, BlueImprint Books, 2008 by Rob Brownie and Annabel Vaughan
The Haddington Island Quarry initially operated between 1896 and 1966. It was reopened in 2004 by Haddington Island Stoneworks of Vancouver, BC.


History

The island was named after Thomas Haddington. A provincial ferry, the Queen of Prince Rupert, ran up on the rocks here in 1967.


See also

*
List of volcanoes in Canada List of volcanoes in Canada is an incomplete list of volcanoes found in Geography of Canada, mainland Canada, in the Islands of Canada, Canadian islands and in Canadian waters. All but two Provinces of Canada, provinces, Prince Edward Island and ...
*
Volcanism of Canada 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, calder ...
*
Volcanism of Western Canada Volcanism of Western Canada has produced lava flows, lava plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, greenstone belts, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes and maars, along with examples of more less common volca ...


References

{{reflist Volcanoes of British Columbia Islands of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia