Like other Northern Cordilleran volcanoes, Maitland Volcano had its origins in continental rifting—a long rupture in the Earth's crust where the lithosphere is being pulled apart. This incipient rifting formed as a result of the Pacific Plate sliding northward along the Queen Charlotte Fault, on its way to the Aleutian Trench. As the continental crust stretched, the near surface rocks fractured along steeply dipping cracks parallel to the rift known as faults. Basaltic magma rose along these fractures to create effusive eruptions. The rift zone has existed for at least 14.9 million years and has created the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province. This geologic province forms part of the Ring of Fire, an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur along the Pacific Ocean.