Maquinna is an active submarine mud volcano

Mud volcano

The term mud volcano or mud dome are used to refer to formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, although there are several different processes which may cause such activity. Hot water mixes with mud and surface deposits. Mud volcanoes are associated with subduction zones and about 700...

 on the Coast of British Columbia

British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, located 16-18 kilometers west of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

. It rises approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the mean level of the northeastern Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 and lies directly along the southern expression of the left laterial, strike slip Nootka Fault

Nootka Fault

The Nootka Fault is an active transform fault running southwest from Nootka Island, near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.-Geology:...

.

Geology

Maquinna is one of the few mud volcanoes documented in the northeast Pacific. It is 1.5 km (0.93205910497471 mi) across, contains a breached caldera

Caldera

A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...

 and two small summit crater

Volcanic crater

A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...

s.

Scientific studies of Maquinna showed strong, co-registered thermal, particulate, and unusual oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

 that extends 50 m (164 ft) above the volcano, indicating a water column. This data suggests the volcano is actively venting warm hydrothermal fluids.

The formation of Maquinna is thought to be high sediment accumulation and horizontal tectonic compression associated with accretionary prism

Accretionary wedge

An accretionary wedge or accretionary prism is formed from sediments that are accreted onto the non-subducting tectonic plate at a convergent plate boundary...

 formation adjacent to the west coast of Vancouver Island supporting overpressuring of fluids at depth along the Nootka Fault zone, resulting the formation of Maquinna.

See also

• Volcanism of Canada
• Volcanism of Western Canada
  Volcanism of Western Canada
  Volcanism of Western Canada produces lava flows, lava plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes and maars, along with examples of more less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.-Volcanic belts:*Anahim...
  
  
• List of volcanoes in Canada