Spectrum Range

Spectrum Range
Spectrum Mountains Rainbow Mountains
The snow-covered mountains at the right-centre, lying between the Mess Creek (left) and Little Iskut River (right) drainages, are in the Spectrum Range. Mount Edziza appears at the top of this image west of snow-covered Nuttlude and Kakiddi lakes.
Highest point
Peak	Kitsu Peak
Elevation	2,430 m (7,970 ft)
Coordinates	57°25′25″N 130°41′24″W
Geography
Spectrum Range Location in British Columbia
Location in Mount Edziza Provincial Park
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
District	Cassiar Land District
Protected area	Mount Edziza Provincial Park
Range coordinates	57°24′N 130°42′W
Parent range	Tahltan Highland
Borders on	Skeena Mountains (east) Coast Mountains (west) Arctic Lake Plateau (southwest) Kitsu Plateau (northwest)
Topo map	NTS 104G7 Mess Lake
Geology
Formed by	Volcanism and erosion
Rock age	3.5–2.5 million years old
Rock type(s)	Rhyolite, trachyte, basalt
Volcanic zone	Northern Cordilleran Province
Last eruption	Unknown

The Spectrum Range is a small mountain range in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Located on the Tahltan Highland, it borders the Skeena Mountains in the east and the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the west. The range is bounded by the Arctic Lake Plateau in the southwest and the Kitsu Plateau in the northwest. It lies at the southern end of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex, which includes the two neighbouring plateaus and the Big Raven Plateau to the north. The range contains glaciers and is drained on all sides by streams within the Stikine River watershed. It is characterized by multi-coloured rocks, after which the range is named. Kitsu Peak, the highest point of the range, reaches an elevation of 2,430 metres (7,970 feet). The range is a protected area as it lies within Mount Edziza Provincial Park, one of the largest provincial parks in British Columbia.

The Spectrum Range is the eroded remains of a large lava dome whose original surface is only preserved as a few small remnants on the summits of the higher peaks. This dome, originally more than 25 kilometres (16 miles) wide, formed between 3.5 and 2.5 million years ago during the second magmatic cycle of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. Much of the dome consists of massive rhyolite and trachyte lava flows, but relatively minor basalt flows erupted later during the dome's formation. These lava flows form the nearly circular group of pyramidal peaks and long, narrow-crested ridges comprising the range; the basalt flows mainly cap the higher peaks. Volcanism in the last 2.5 million years has mostly occurred on the northwestern and southwestern sides of the range, but the precise age of the latest eruption is unknown.