Pink Mountain Research Articles

An Inventory of Bryophytes on the Summit of Pink Mountain (Peace River District, British Columbia, Canada)

The bryophyte diversity in northern British Columbia is insufficiently studied. We conducted a bryophyte survey in a 2.2-km2 proposed ecological reserve at the summit of Pink Mountain in the Peace River District of northern British Columbia. Pink Mountain is at the southern periphery of the ranges of several arctic flora species as well as the northernmost reaches of other temperate flora species. The south summit of Pink Mountain has a high floristic diversity coincident with its limestone geology, which provides a more alkaline condition for plant growth than the north summit does. We documented 65 species, including 2 new provincial records for British Columbia (Polytrichum hyperboreum and Tayloria hornschuchii), one red-listed (threatened) species (Tortula systylia), and one blue-listed (at-risk) species (Mnium arizonicum). Polytrichum hyperboreum and T. hornschuchii have affinities to habitats more typical of polar regions. The presence of P. hyperboreum at Pink Mountain represents a southward range extension from 61°33′ N in western North America. Because isolated populations at species distribution limits are likely to be vulnerable to climate change, the establishment of an ecological reserve on the south end of the summit of Pink Mountain is important for the preservation of bryophyte habitat.

Bored Bivalves in Upper Triassic (Norian) Event Beds, Northeastern British Columbia, Canada

Skeletobionts are important components of most shallow marine ecosystems. Prior to the fossils reported herein, evidence of skeletobionts was absent from Upper Triassic successions on the northwestern margin of Pangaea. The boring Talpina ramosa is reported from bivalve body fossils from the Upper Triassic (Lower Norian) lower Pardonet Formation at Pink Mountain in northeastern British Columbia. This Ichnotaxon penetrates through both the outer and inner surface of articulated and disarticulated bivalve shells preserved within sharp-based event beds. The occurrence of these trace fossils underscores the paucity of borings, bioerosional structures, and encrusting taxa from Triassic successions in the western Pangaean realm. Due to erosional removal of shallow water strata by a post-Triassic unconformity, these event beds provide the only available information regarding the ecological health of Late Triassic depositional systems in the study area.

The Pink Mountain: Landscapes and the Conception of a Literature of Public Action

The Pink Mountain: Landscapes and the Conception of a Literature of Public Action

A large rockslide–debris avalanche in cohesive soil at Pink Mountain, northeastern British Columbia, Canada

In early July 2002, a large rockslide–debris avalanche occurred on the west slope of the Pink Mountain anticline in northeastern British Columbia (57°04′N; 122°52′W). The slopes have been subjected to previous deformation and landsliding. Pre- and post-slide digital elevation models (DEMs) were created from aerial photography. Approximately 1.04 M m 3 of sandstone and shale travelled nearly 2 km from an elevation of 1460 m to 1010 m. The landslide has a fahrböschung of 11.6° and covered 43 ha. The rock debris entrained a certain amount of fine-textured till and colluvium increasing its volume by 15%. This entrainment caused partial liquefaction of the underlying soil thereby enhancing the mobility of the landslide. We used a Bingham rheological model to dynamically model the landslide with excellent correspondence between the analysis of the actual observed behaviour of the landslide.

Stratigraphy, structure and tectonic history of the Pink Mountain Anticline, Trutch (94G) and Halfway River (94B) map areas, northeastern British Columbia

Abstract Pink Mountain Anticline stands out in front of the foothills of northeastern British Columbia (57°N, 123°W). Geologic mapping and prestack depth-migrated seismic sections show that it is localized above and west of a northwest-trending subsurface normal fault. Along with isopach maps these data demonstrate episodic normal movement on the fault during deposition of the Carboniferous Stoddart Group, Triassic Montney Formation and possibly the Jurassic–Cretaceous Monteith–Gething formations. West of this fault, during Laramide compression, a pair of backthrusts nucleated on either side of a minor east–west trending Carboniferous fault and propagated across it in an en echelon pattern. One backthrust ramped laterally across the area and separated the Pink Mountain and Spruce Mountain structures, both of which are contained within a 30+ km long pop-up structure above the Besa River Formation decollement. Glomerspirella fossils confirm the existence of the Upper Jurassic Upper Fernie Formation and Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Monteith Formation at Pink Mountain.

The Gordondale Member: designation of a new member in the Fernie Formation to replace the informal “Nordegg Member” nomenclature of the subsurface of west-central Alberta

Abstract New biostratigraphic data and revised lithostratigraphic correlations reveal that the current stratigraphic nomenclature for the Lower Jurassic portions of the Fernie Formation in the subsurface of west-central Alberta is inadequate. This paper introduces a new member, the Gordondale Member, for highly radioactive, fine-grained strata previously referred to as either the lower Fernie Formation, the Lower Fernie shelf limestone and clastics, the Nordegg Member, or the “Nordegg Member”. A new occurrence of a late Toarcian ammonite, which constrains the age of the top of the Gordondale Member, is also reported. The Hettangian to upper Toarcian Gordondale Member is an important hydrocarbon source rock and consists of dark brown, finely laminated, organic-rich, phosphatic and highly radioactive calcitic mudstones, calcilutites and fine-grained calcarenites. Fish fragments, pectinoid bivalves, Ostrea, belemnoids, ammonites, coccoliths and radiolarians are abundant. The Gordondale Member is laterally extensive and thins westward from a maximum thickness of approximately 50 m in the subsurface of west-central Alberta to 19 m at Pink Mountain in northeastern British Columbia.

A new genus of ichthyosaur from the Late Triassic Pardonet Formation of British Columbia: bridging the Triassic Jurassic gap

Both the genus Shastasaurus and the family Shastasauridae have long been hard to define due to the fragmentary nature of the type specimens. Consequently, recent interpretations of the genus have been based almost entirely on Shastasaurus neoscapularis from the Late Triassic Pardonet Formation of British Columbia. Two new specimens of this taxon, from Pink Mountain, British Columbia, demonstrate that it does not belong in the genus Shastasaurus. This paper describes the new specimens, and refers the species to Metashastasaurus gen nov. Post-cranially, the skeleton of Metashastasaurus resembles that of shastasaurids, differing primarily only in the shape of the scapula and fibula. However, the skull has a unique combination of characters, including large diamond-shaped frontals that enter the supratemporal fenestrae, and very narrow posterior extensions of the nasals, which contact the postfrontals. It also differs from the skull of Shastasaurus in the presence of both a parietal ridge and postparietal shelf. This is a combination of derived characters previously known only in Jurassic forms. The front limb has four proximal carpals and four digits, indicating that previous reconstructions were based on incomplete material. Shastasaurus pacificus Merriam 1895, the type species of the genus Shastasaurus, must be considered a nomen dubium, making the genus Shastasaurus invalid. Until this problem is clarified, the use of the generic name Shastasaurus should be restricted to Merriam's type specimens, of which only Shastasaurus alexandrae and Shastasaurus osmonti are based on adequate material.

Early human occupation in British Columbia

Preface Prologue 1. Introduction to Early Human Occupation in British Columbia The Fluted Point and Plano Traditions 2. The Prehistory of Charlie Lake Cave 3. The Significance of the Fauna from the Charlie Lake Cave Site 4. Paleoindian Sites in the Vicinity of Pink Mountain The Intermontane Stemmed Point Tradition 5. Early Human Presence in Banff National Park 6. Early Post-Glacial Habitation of the Upper Columbia Region The Pebble Tool Tradition 7. The Pasika Complex Revisited 8. Early Period Components at the Milliken Site 9. Early Namu 10. The Early Namu Archaeofauna 11. The Old Cordilleran Component at the Glenrose Cannery Site The Microblade Tradition 12. Early Maritime Culture Complexes of the Northern Northwest Coast 13. Early Period Archaeology in Gwaii Haanas: Results of the 1993 Field Program 14. Comparative Analysis of Microblade Cores from Haida Gwaii 15. The Early Prehistoric Occupation of Kitselas Canyon 16. The Namu Obsidian Industry Transitional Cultures 17. The Early Prehistory of the Mid Fraser-Thompson River Area 18. Coquitlam Lake: An Early Lithic Component in the Lower Mainland 19. Early Surface Collections from the Alberni Valley Epilogue 20. The Later Prehistory of British Columbia References Index

Lower Cambrian and Upper Precambrian Strata of Beaver Mountains, Utah

Cambrian Prospect Mountain Quartzite and seven underlying units, tentatively considered Precambrian, are mapped in the Beaver Mountains. This concordant section begins where alluvium covers the base of the oldest unit and ends at the contact between the Prospect Mountain Quartzite and the overlying Pioche Shale. Assigned to the Precambrian is 5,145 ft of strata. These rocks are slate, argillite, marble, metasiltstone, quartzite, and conglomerate, which have undergone very low-grade regional metamorphism. The uppermost Precambrian unit, a purple conglomeratic quartzite, is correlated with the Mutual Formation of north-central Utah. The overlying tan and pink Prospect Mountain Quartzite is at least 4,000 ft thick. Lithologic correlation of the Beaver Mountains section with the strata described by Christiansen (1952) from the Canyon Range in central Utah is established. Tentative correlations with the late Precambrian McCoy Creek Group of eastern Nevada and western Utah (Misch and Hazzard, 1962) are suggested.