The Monashees

Brydon Redding and Rob Mitchell

GEOG 476 – Dr. Dan Smith

27 January 2013

Columbia Mountains

Monashee Range

Context

• ~400 km long(north-south)

• Avg. 50 km wide

• Bordered by Cariboo Mountains(N), Selkirks+Arrow Lakes(E), Columbia R.(S), Okanagan Highlands+Interior Plateau(W)

• Many subranges(Gold, Jordan, Midway, Kettle River etc.)

TNRD Film

3) Prominent components - Highest peaks: Mt. Monashee

(3274m), Hallam Peak (3205m), Mt.

Thor (3146m)

- North: Robson Valley, Alberta

boundary

- East: Arrow Lakes, Columbia River

- South: Kettle River and Columbia

River

- West: North Thompson River, Interior

Plateau

: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monashee_peaks.JPG

http://bivouac.com/TempFiles/Thumb/Mtn/2209_5813.jpg

• ~6 Major peaks >3050m

• Sharp peaks, arêtes, hanging valleys

• Steep valley walls

• Relief up to 2400m

• Peaks over ~2450m served as nunataks during

pleistocene

Topography: North

http://peakery.com/mount-tanner/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monashee_Mountains2.jpg

Topography: South

• Elevation drop South of

Revelstoke

• Peaks buried in Pleistocene

• Midway range max: 2252m

• Rounded peaks prevail

• Fluvial+till deposits more abundant

5) Climate

Moore et al. (n.d.)

- Aleutian low brings moist air west

- Orographic lifting over vancouver island and coast

mountains leads to condensation

- Clouds have less moisture by the time they are lifted

by the Monashees

(NavCanada, n.d.)

(NavCanada, n.d.)

North-South Variation in Climate

- Climate varies with latitude and elevation

A) Hallam Peak

- MAT: -4.4°C

- MAP: 2127mm

- PAS: 1624mm

- NFFD: 60

B) Whatshan Peak

- MAT: 1.1°C

- MAP: 1074mm

- PAS: 563mm

- NFFD: 126

C) Old Glory Mountain Peak

- MAT: 4.3°C

- MAP: 851mm

- PAS: 346mm

- NFFD: 176

(ClimateBC, 2013)

Hydrology

Columbia River Watershed

Glaciers

glacialhelicopters.ca

West Draining:

-Oventop Glacier

-Serpentine Neve

-Pancake Glacier

East Draining:

-Blanket Glacier/Icefields

-Hallam Glacier

-Foster Glacier

Annual Runoff

-Similar runoff to coast

-2nd phase of orographic

rain

-High spring flow due to

snowmelt season

-Conservative year-to-year

runoff behaviour indicates

dominant snowmelt regime

(Eaton & Moore, n.d.)

7) Geology

Church and Ryder (2010)

- Northern region: meta-sedimentary

rocks

- Middle region: gneissic rocks of the

Shuswap terrane

- Southern region: batholiths and

foliated gneisses

(Holland, 1976)

(Williams, 2011)

The Monashee Complex

- Assemblage of meta-sedimentary rocks overlying

a base of gneiss and granitic batholiths

- Subdivided into the Frenchman Cap and Thor-

Odin complex

- Extensive folding and refolding

(Brown and Read, 1983)

(Journeay, 1981)

• Long after breakup of Rodinia,

oceanic crust and volcanic deposits

along the ocean-continent margin

were carried eastward (Trenhaille, 2010)

• Exotic terranes were accreted to

continent

• This process produced the Shuswap

terrane, a metamorphic core

complex contributing to the geology

of the Monashee range (Brown and Read,

1983)

The Shuswap Terrane

(Church and Jones, 1999)

17

Geomorphic History

-Primary ice accumulation zone

-Glacial history stored at Mud Lake

-Large sediment deposits at start of Holocene

-300m thick deposits in as little as 200yrs

9) Vegetation

- Biogeoclimatic zone: Engelmann spruce – subalpine fir zone

- represents all land below alpine tundra in the Columbia Mountains, and the majority of the

Monashee range

- Engelmann spruce generally

dominates the canopy, while

subalpine fir occupies the

understory (Coupe et al., n.d.)

- limber pine, lodgepole pine, alpine

larch, western hemlock, and western

redcedar are also abundant (Coupe et al.,

n.d.)

- Shrubs: rhododendron is

dominant; also huckleberry,

gooseberry, and false azalea (BC

Ministry of Forests, 1998)

- Subalpine meadows occur where

soil is moist; contain herbs such as

Indian hellebore, subalpine daisy,

paintbrush, and Sitka valerian

- Some subalpine grasslands exist,

but only in drier, southern areas (Church and Ryder, 2010)

- Biogeoclimatic zone: Alpine tundra zone

- represents all land above the Engelmann spruce – subalpine fir zone in the Columbia

Mountains

Mt. Thor

- harsh climate; no trees

- low-growing vegetation dominates,

including shrubs (eg. dwarf

willows), grasses and sedges (eg.

fescue, wheatgrasses and

bluegrasses, alpine sweatgrass,

etc.) and lichens

(BC Ministry of Forests, 1998)

Soils

- humo-ferric podzols are

dominant

-high acidity

-iron and aluminum-rich red

horizon

-little organic material

(Church and Ryder, 2010)

(Church and Ryder, 2010)

References B.C. Ministry of Forests (1998). The ecology of the Engelmann spruce – subalpine fir zone. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/bro /bro55.pdf

B.C. Ministry of Forests (1998). The ecology of the alpine tundra zone. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/bro/bro56.pdf

Brown, R.L., & Read, P.B. (1983). Shuswap terrane of British Columbia: A Mesozoic “core complex”. Geology, 11(3), 164-

168.

Church, B.N., & Jones, L.D. (1999). Metallogeny of the Bridge River mining camp. Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Natural

Gas. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from http://www.empr.gov.bc.ca/mining/geoscience/minfile/products

downloads/publicationslist/pages/bridge.aspx

Church, M., & Ryder, J.M. (2010). Physiography of British Columbia. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from http://www.geog.

uvic.ca/geog476/church2010.pdf

ClimateBC (Version 4.70) [Software]. Centre for Forest Conservation Genetics. Available from http://www.genetics.forestry.

ubc.ca/cfcg/ClimateBC/ClimateBC.html#desktop

Coupe, R., Stewart, A.C., & Wikeem, B.M. (n.d.). Engelmann spruce – subalpine fir zone. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/srs/Srs06/ chap15.pdf

Google Earth (Version 6.1) [Software]. Google Inc. (2011) Holland, S.S. (1976). Landforms of British Columbia: A

physiographic outline. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from http://www.geog.uvic.ca/geog476/holland1976.pdf.

Journeay, J.M. (1981). Structural setting along the northwest flank of Frenchman Cap Dome Monashee complex. British

Columbia Geological Survey Fieldwork, 187-201.

Moore, R.D., Spittlehouse, D.L., Whitfield, D.H., & Stahl, K. (n.d.). Weather and climate. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/Docs/Lmh/L mh66/Lmh66_ch03.pdf

NavCanada (n.d.). Weather patterns of British Columbia. Retrieved January 25, 2013 from http://www.navcanada.ca/

contentdefinitionfiles/publications/lak/bc/3-bc31e.pdf

Williams, P.F. (2011). Cyclicity folding in the Monashee complex of the Canadian Cordillera. Journal of Structural Geology,

33(3), 187.