The northern and northwest side of the range is drained by tributaries of the
Cottonwood River; the southern and southwestern flank is formed by
Tuya Lake and its tributary,
Butte Creek, while the southeast flank is formed by the Cottonwood River and its tributaries (the Cottonwood is a tributary of the
Dease River, the Tuya of the
Stikine). The range's northern boundary is formed by the upper
Jennings River, a tributary of the
Teslin River system which is part of the
Yukon River drainage. Thus, the triple divide between the
Mackenzie,
Stikine, and
Yukon River basins lies within the range. The
Continental Divide transits the eastern side of the range, though does not touch on its highest summit,
Ash Mountain, which is at the north end of the range and is within the basin of the Jennings. The range has an area of and, other than Ash Mountain, includes
Tuya Butte,
Mathews Tuya,
Caribou Tuya, and
South Tuya. All of these are part of the
Tuya Volcanic Field, which includes other volcanic features north and west of the range Ash Mountain is the highest tuya in the range. The nearby
Kawdy Plateau to the west, to the southwest of Kawdy Mountain, is near-entirely formed by the spectacular
shield volcano of
Level Mountain.
Tuya Butte was the first tuya analyzed in the geological literature, and its name has since become standard worldwide among
volcanologists in referring to and writing about tuyas. The
Tuya Mountains Provincial Park was recently established to protect this unusual landscape, which lies north of
Tuya Lake and south of the
Jennings River near the boundary with the Yukon Territory.
Black Spruce is a dominant tree in this area; this species is near the western limit of its range. ==See also==