scholarly journals Quaternary sediments, Columbia River valley, Revelstoke to the Rocky Mountain Trench, British Columbia

1985 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Fulton ◽  
R A Achard
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Quaternary Sediments

Quaternary stratigraphy and glacial history of the Peace River valley, northeast British ColumbiaThis article is one of a selection of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme Geology of northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta: diamonds, shallow gas, gravel, and glaciers.

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory M.D. Hartman ◽  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Shallow Gas ◽  
Peace River ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
Quaternary Stratigraphy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Selection Of

Two Cordilleran and three Laurentide glacial advances are recorded in Quaternary sediments and landforms in the Peace River valley, northeast British Columbia. The advances are inferred from fluvial gravels, glaciolacustrine sediments, and tills within nested paleovalleys excavated during three interglaciations and from the distribution of granitoid clasts derived from the Canadian Shield. Till of the last (Late Wisconsinan) Laurentide glaciation occurs at the surface, except where it is overlain by postglacial sediments. The advance that deposited this till was the most extensive in the study area, and the only advance definitively recognized in western Alberta south of the study area. Late Wisconsinan Cordilleran till has not been found in the study area, but Cordilleran and Laurentide ice may have coalesced briefly during the last glaciation. Support for this supposition is provided by the inferred deflection of Laurentide flutings to the southeast by Cordilleran ice. The earliest Laurentide advance may have been the least extensive of the three Laurentide events recognized in the study area. Erratics attributed to this advance occur only east of the Halfway River – Beatton River drainage divide.

Movement triggers and mechanisms of two earth slides in the Thompson River Valley, British Columbia, Canada

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1189-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Eshraghian ◽  
C. Derek Martin ◽  
Norbert R. Morgenstern
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Rupture Surface ◽  
River Erosion ◽  
Transient Seepage ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Canadian Pacific Railway ◽  
Supporting Force ◽  
Erosion Protection

Since the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway main rail lines in western Canada in 1885 and 1905, respectively, both companies have had to contend with 11 large, translational, retrogressive earth slides in the Thompson River Valley south of Ashcroft, British Columbia. The initiation of these slides is associated with the down cutting by the Thompson River through the Quaternary sediments in its valley. The slides move on two subhorizontal weak layers in a glaciolacustrine clay–silt unit within this Quaternary sediment sequence. Transient seepage and stability analyses were conducted for two sample slides, and the results were in agreement with inclinometer and piezometric data. It is concluded that the Thompson River triggers the movements in a drawdown mechanism and (or) erosion mechanism. The Thompson River affects the stability of these slides in three ways: (i) by changing the pore pressure on the rupture surface, (ii) by changing the supporting force on the toe of the slide, and (iii) by changing the geometry of the slides as a result of river erosion. The relative importance of each of these effects depends on the river erosion protection, the depth of the rupture surface, and the amount of river level fluctuation.

Glacial Lake Invermere, upper Columbia River valley, British Columbia: a paleogeographic reconstruction

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswald Sawicki ◽  
Derald G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
Northerly Direction ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

Terraces of thick lacustrine silt and deltaic gravel flank parts of the valley floor of the Rocky Mountain Trench between Skookumchuck and Donald, British Columbia. These indicate the presence of former Late Wisconsinan glacial Lake Invermere, which at its maximum extent occupied the Rocky Mountain Trench from Bluewater Creek, 6 km north of Donald, to 7 km north of Skookumchuck. The lake was 210 km long, an average of 2.5 km wide by 100 m deep, and had an area of 530 km2. Retreating glacier ice is interpreted to have formed a dam at the northern end of the lake, and blockage to the south resulted from a sediment valley fill.Glacial Lake Invermere formed as two water bodies, at elevations 885 and 900 m asl, separated by glacier ice. These two water bodies later joined to form a continuous lake at 835 m asl. Evidence of isostatic tilting is absent, suggesting uniform ice thickness and thinning, a pattern contrary to that inferred for other areas of southern British Columbia. After breaching of the valley fill at its south end, the lake terminated with final melting of Rocky Mountain Trench ice. At that time the southerly flow of water reversed to a northerly direction. A radiocarbon date from an adjacent valley indicates the lake drained prior to 10 000 BP.

Quaternary Geology, Columbia River Valley, British Columbia

1968 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Fulton
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Quaternary Geology

Late Quaternary Sediments and Geomorphic History of the Southern Rocky Mountain Trench, British Columbia

1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Glacier Recession ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountain

The southern Rocky Mountain Trench was a major outlet valley of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Quaternary sediments underlying the floor of the trench in southeastern British Columbia consist mainly of glacial, glaciofluvial, and glaciolacustrine materials deposited during the Fraser (Pinedale) Glaciation, and fluvial and lacustrine sediments deposited during the preceding interglaciation.Deposits of three stades and two intervening nonglacial intervals are recognized. Interglacial sediments which contain wood dated at 26 800 ± 1000 y B.P. underlie drift of the early stade. During the interval between the early and middle stades, the Rocky Mountain Trench in southeastern British Columbia probably was completely deglaciated, and sediments were deposited in one or more lakes on the floor of the trench. In contrast, glacier recession between the middle and late stades was of short duration and extent; glaciolacustrine sediments were deposited only along the margins of the Rocky Mountain Trench, and apparently residual ice remained in the center of the valley. Final recession of the trunk glacier occurred prior to 10 000 y B.P. with no major halts and without significant stagnation of the terminus.

Structural and stratigraphic setting of the Downie slide, Columbia River valley, British Columbia

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 698-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Brown ◽  
John F. Psutka
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Axial Plane ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Main Body ◽  
The North ◽  
Slide Mass

The Downie slide is a late to postglacial rockslide situated on the western slope of the Columbia River valley about 70 km north of Revelstoke, British Columbia. It attains a maximum thickness of 270 m and is estimated to involve 1.5 × 109 m3 of rock and debris. The head of the slide is bounded by a nearly vertical escarpment reaching heights of more than 125 m; its lateral boundaries are defined by a prominent east–west trending scarp on the south and a more subdued linear northeast trending ridge on the north. The toe forms the west bank of the Columbia River in this area.The slide occurs within a compositionally anisotropic formation of high-grade pelitic and semipelitic schists and psammites. The main shear zone at the base of the slide is located in pelitic schists. Minerals in the rock of the shear zone have been mechanically crushed and locally reduced to a fine-grained gouge.Three distinct phases of deformation are recognized in the Downie slide region. The location and attitude of the second and third fold phases and their associated fabrics controlled the external geometry of the slide.Along the western slopes of this part of the Columbia River valley the second phase of deformation has been dominant. Within the formation that contains the slide, bedding is extensively deformed by tight to isoclinal second phase minor folds that exhibit a penetrative axial plane foliation. At Downie slide this foliation dips approximately 20° eastward towards the Columbia River, and nearly parallels the slope of the hillside; the basal shear zone of the slide developed parallel to the axial plane foliation.West of the slide, third phase major and minor folds have been superimposed on the second phase geometry, but they die out eastward, and are of only minor significance within the main body of the slide. The eastern limit of major superposition coincides with the head scarp of the slide. The slide mass broke away along the hinge zone of the first major monoclinal flexure fold associated with this front of phase 3 folding.Late fracturing probably influenced the position of the northern and southern lateral boundaries of the slide.

Deglaciation of Chilliwack River valley, British Columbia

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian R. Saunders ◽  
John J. Clague ◽  
Michael C. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Detailed Record ◽  
Different Levels

Quaternary sediments and landforms in Chilliwack River valley, southwestern British Columbia, provide a detailed record of déglaciation of this area between 12 000 and 11 000 years BP. Stratigraphic, sedimentological, and radiocarbon data show that a large glacier in eastern Fraser Lowland (part of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet) blocked the mouth of Chilliwack valley at a time when the middle reaches of the valley were ice free. A lake existed between the ice dam in the lower part of the valley and a delta – sandur complex, west of Chilliwack Lake, in the upper part of the valley. Two relatively minor advances of the Fraser Lowland ice lobe into lower Chilliwack valley occurred about 11 500 and 11 200 years BP. These were separated by a brief period of recession during which tephra was deposited and a coniferous forest and soil developed on freshly deglaciated terrain. Shortly after 11 200 years BP, a glacial lake formed in Cultus Lake basin; two sets of terraces in lower Chilliwack valley are graded to different levels of this lake. The glacier dam at the mouth of Chilliwack valley disappeared about 11 000 years BP, and déglaciation of Fraser Lowland was complete less than 100 years later.

Geology and paleoecology of early Holocene lacustrine deposits in the Columbia River valley near Fauquier, southern British Columbia

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Fulton ◽  
Barry G. Warner ◽  
Helen J. Kubiw ◽  
René A. Achard
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Organic Material ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
East Side ◽  
Lacustrine Deposits ◽  
Subalpine Zone ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
The Last Glacial

Early Holocene lake sediments are exposed near Fauquier, on the east side of the Arrow lakes in the Columbia River valley of British Columbia. A glacial lake occupied the valley at the time of deglaciation, but by 10 ka BP this had been replaced by a nonglacial lake that was at least 250 km long and as much as 5 km wide.Comparison of pollen and macroscopic plant remains in these nearshore and littoral deposits with modern vegetation indicates that many of the plants present between 9 and 10 ka BP are found in the area today, either along the valley floor or at higher elevations in the subalpine zone nearby. Some of the organic material may be allochthonous; this complicates paleoecological and paleoclimatological interpretations. It appears that the climate in the Columbia River valley between 9 and 10 ka BP was as wet or wetter than at present. The presence of many of these species in the southern Columbia River valley of British Columbia during early Holocene time suggests that elements of the modern vegetation had migrated rapidly northward from southern refugia, probably within 1500 years of the end of the last glacial episode.

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