 The Explorer Ridge, an underwater mountain range lying west of Vancouver Island on the Coast of British Columbia, consists of a north-south trending rift zone.It contains one major segment known as the Southern Explorer Ridge, along with other smaller segments, such as the Northern Explorer Ridge.With a depth of , the Southern Explorer Ridge is relatively shallow in comparison with most other rift zones of the northeast Pacific Ocean, indicating there has been considerable volcanic activity along this part of the Explorer Ridge in the past 100,000 years.