Selkirk Mountains Research Articles

Geology of the Clachnacudainn Salient Near Albert Canyon, British Columbia

The nature of the Clachnacudainn Salient of the Shuswap Metamorphic Complex has been investigated in the vicinity of Albert Canyon, British Columbia. A concordant, folded sheet of granodiorite to quartz–diorite gneiss lying between two contrasting panels of metasedimentary rocks is exposed along the Illecillewaet Valley between Albert Canyon and Revelstoke. The lower panel, consisting predominantly of quartzo–feldspathic schist, is exposed in the Woolsey Creek Window in the core of the Lauretta Dome, and in an adjacent antiform at Clachnacudainn Creek. The upper panel, comprised in part of quartzo–feldspathic schist and migmatite, contains, in addition, thick beds of white marble and white or light gray quartzite. Marble and quartzite of the upper panel are correlated with the Badshot limestone and the Hamill quartzite found east of Albert Canyon in the Selkirk Mountains. Within the granodiorite gneiss, axes of broad open folds trend northwest–southeast as do the mineral lineations. Folding within the metasediments is complex and has not been resolved into a systematic pattern. Crosscutting bodies of diorite, granite, and pegmatite are abundant in many parts of the area, cutting both the granodiorite gneiss and the metasedimentary rocks.

Characteristics of Limestone Solution in the Southern Rocky Mountains and Selkirk Mountains, Alberta and British Columbia

The temperature, pH, and carbonate hardness of 415 water samples were determined in four limestone areas in the southern Rocky Mountains and Selkirk Mountains of Canada. Sampling covered all of the major carbonate rock formations of the region, ranged across the floral lifezones and included surface and sub-surface examples. In the forest zone at Crowsnest Pass, solute concentration in a major karst spring was inversely proportional to discharge; solute concentrations in a nearby creek and lake showed little variation with discharge. In tundra and alpine desert zones at Mt. Castleguard, solute concentrations were lower than in the forest, and marked depletion of PCO2 was indicated in some restricted cases. In the Maligne River basin, limestone forest and tundra waters were again contrasted. Solute concentrations in the trunk river and in lakes and underground channels along its course were determined by the mixing of karst and non-karst waters. At the Nakimu Caves there is a strong contrast between limestone seepage waters and allogenic streams.Karst waters of the region are classified as follows:(A) Above treeline: (i) tundra and some turbid glacial meltwaters—saturating with respect to calcite in the range 50–90 ppm CaCO3; (ii) snowmelt and some clear glacial meltwaters contacting bare limestone only—saturating with respect to calcite with <50 ppm CaCO3.(B) Below treeline: (i) holokarst groundwaters—saturating with 100–265 + ppm CaCO3; (ii) holokarst creek and lake waters—saturating with 100–140 ppm CaCO3; (iii) mixed waters from karst and non-karst terrains—with 35–90 ppm CaCO3.The forest waters compare with those from temperate and tropical forested karsts and indicate CO2 enrichment from soil air sources. The tundra waters are similar to those of the Alps and of an arctic tundra. Certain large cave streams remain very aggressive w.r.t. calcite after lengthy and rough passages through limestone. The ratio CaCO3:MgCO3 in most of the karst waters is close to 2.5:1.

Ore deposits of the Bannockburn Basin, Lardeau-area, British Columbia

The Bannockburn basin map-area in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia is underlain by Cambrian(?) metasediments. Two folds strike NW., a tightly folded and slightly overturned anticline and, on the NE., a longitudinally faulted syncline. Reverse faults, contemporaneous with folding, were followed by a major longitudinal fault and a series of cross faults. A bed of porous quartzite in the Marsh Adams formation contains disseminated galena and minor sphalerite, forming a mineralized zone called the Shelagh vein, localized along the SW. limb and crest of the overturned anticline. The sequence of minerals, from oldest to youngest, is pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and tetrahedrite. Mineralization of the Wagner claims is localized along faults. The Bannockburn claims contain galena with some sphalerite and chalcopyrite, localized as a saddle reef in the lower member of the Mohican formation.

Records of Birds Observed in the Okanogan Highlands and the Selkirk Mountains of Northern Washington

Records of Birds Observed in the Okanogan Highlands and the Selkirk Mountains of Northern Washington

Summer Birds in the Colville Valley and the Selkirk Mountains of Washington: 1941

Summer Birds in the Colville Valley and the Selkirk Mountains of Washington: 1941

STONEFLIES FROM THE PURCELL RANGE, B. C.

The Purcell Range forms the easternmost portion of the Selkirk Mountains. It runs nearly north and south and is well marked off from other mountain ranges by the Rocky Mountain Trench on the east and the Purcell Trench on the west. The latter is occupied in part by Kootenay Lake. Even the broad geography of this range is imperfectly known as yet and its entomological resources are practically unknown.

The Selkirk Mountains

The Selkirk Mountains

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ENTOMOLOGY OF THE SELKIRK MOUNTAINS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.—I. INTRODUCTORY

In company with a party of botanists and others, the wirter spent the summer of 1905 in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, much of the time in scientifically unexplored parts of that beautiful range. The Selkirks occupy the major part of teh Kootenay district of south-eastern British Columbia. It will be seen by reference to a map that they are bounded on practically all sides by the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers and the long and narrow Kootenay Lake.

On Snow-Waves and Snow-Drifts in Canada, with Notes on the "Snow-Mushrooms" of the Selkirk Mountains

On Snow-Waves and Snow-Drifts in Canada, with Notes on the "Snow-Mushrooms" of the Selkirk Mountains

The Selkirk Range

THE Canadian Pacific Railway, after crossing the watershed of the Rocky Mountains by the Hector Pass, descends for some four thousand feet into the valley of the Columbia River. This, for a hundred and seventy miles, flows in a northerly direction, parallel with the crest of the range. Then, after a great sweep to the west, it flows southward, parallel to its former course, till it receives the Kootenay, the head waters of which rise only a mile and a half away from its own. The mountain-tract insulated by these rivers is called the Selkirk Mountains. It lies roughly parallel with the Rockies, and yet further west are the Gold Range and the Cascades. Thus the railway traverses a mountain region until the valley of the Frazer River, by which it finally emerges, begins to broaden out towards the sea. It is, to use Mr. Green's words, “a region of vast ravines and wide valleys, whose sides, when not bare rock precipices, are clad in sombre forests, through which wild mountain torrents rush from glacier sources to placid lakes, where, after resting for a while and reflecting the hoary cedars and hemlocks, they issue forth as great rivers, and with swift current hurry on to lose themselves in the Pacific.” Among the Selkirk Glaciers; being the Account of a Rough Survey in the Rocky Mountain Regions of British Columbia. By William Spotswood Green (London: Macmillan and Co., 1890.)