The Mount Skukum Volcanic Complex is an early Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

 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...

 complex, located 43 km west of Carcross

Carcross, Yukon

Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, is an unincorporated community in the Territory of Yukon, Canada on Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. It has a population of 431 and is home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation....

 and 32 km northeast of Mount Porsild in the Yukon Territory

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

, 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...

. The complex composes the Skukum Group

Skukum Group

The Skukum Group is a 55 million year old volcanic group in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon, Canada. It consists of discrete calderas in a linear range from the south end of Atlin Lake to Bennett Lake, then to Aishihik Lake. The cluster of rocks crowds the Mount Skukum gold deposit...

. It is a northeast-trending complex of subaerial volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks covering 140 km².

The Mount Skukum Volcanic Complex was formed when the ancient Kula Plate

Kula Plate

The Kula Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate under the northern Pacific Ocean south of the Near Islands segment of the Aleutian Islands. It is subducting under the North American Plate at the Aleutian Trench and is surrounded by the Pacific Plate...

 was subducting

Subduction

In geology, subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate, sinking into the Earth's mantle, as the plates converge. These 3D regions of mantle downwellings are known as "Subduction Zones"...

 under North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 during the early Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

 period.

See also

• Volcanism of Northern Canada
  Volcanism of Northern Canada
  Volcanism of Northern Canada has led to the formation of hundreds of volcanic areas and extensive lava formations across Northern Canada, indicating volcanism played a major role in shaping its surface...
  
  
• Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex
  Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex
  The Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex is a huge 50 million year old extinct caldera complex that spans across the BC-Yukon border in Canada. The caldera complex is surrounded by granitic rocks containing pendants....
  
  
• List of volcanoes of Canada

External links

• Mount Skukum in the Canadian Mountain encyclopedia.