A Refraction Survey across the Canadian Cordillera at 54 °N

1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Forsyth ◽  
M. J. Berry ◽  
R. M. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Ray Theory ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Crustal Velocity ◽  
Tectonic Significance ◽  
Instrument Response ◽  
Time Term

Record sections from partially reversed refraction lines in northern British Columbia show that the amplitudes of upper mantle arrivals vary smoothly with distance, while the pattern of crustal arrival amplitudes is not smooth. Normalization of the seismograms to remove the effects of varying shot size and instrument response show that Pn amplitudes are largely site-independent.Models derived from ray theory indicate a crust which thins from about 40 km in the Omineca Crystalline Belt to about 25 km in the Insular Trough. The average Pn velocity is 8.06 km s−1, and the average crustal velocity is 6.4 km s−1. The secondary energy indicates that the models are greatly simplified.A time–term profile between the Omineca Crystalline Belt and the Coast Mountains suggests a Mohorovičić transition which is characterized by two significant topographic wavelengths. The shorter (200 km) wavelength correlates roughly with the Cordilleran structural elements of Wheeler and Gabrielse (1972). The larger (800 km) wavelength may have tectonic significance.

Review: Receiver function studies in the southern Canadian Cordillera

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1514-1519 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Cassidy
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Receiver Function ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Moho Depth ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Low Velocity ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
Low Velocity Zone ◽  
Velocity Zone

Receiver function analysis has proven to be a powerful, yet inexpensive tool for estimating the S-wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath three-component seismograph stations in the southern Canadian Cordillera. Receiver function studies using a portable broadband seismograph array across southwestern British Columbia provided site-specific estimates for the location of the subducting Juan de Fuca plate. The oceanic crust was imaged at 47−53 km beneath central Vancouver Island, and 60–65 km beneath the Strait of Georgia. Further, these studies revealed a prominent low-velocity zone (VS = −1.0 km/s) that coincides with the E reflectors imaged ~5–10 km above the subducting plate on Lithoprobe reflection lines. The E low-velocity zone was shown to extend into the upper mantle beneath the Strait of Georgia and the British Columbia mainland, to depths of 50–60 km. Combining the receiver function and refraction models revealed a high Poisson's ratio (0.27–0.38) for this feature. The continental Moho was estimated at 36 km beneath the Strait of Georgia, and a crustal low-velocity zone associated with the Lithoprobe C reflectors beneath Vancouver Island was interpreted to extend eastward, near the base of the continental crust, to the British Columbia mainland. Analysis of data from the recently deployed Canadian National Seismograph Network demonstrates the variations in crustal thickness and complexity across the southern Canadian Cordillera, with the Moho depth varying from 35 km in the Coast Mountains, to 33 km near Penticton, to 50 km near the Rocky Mountain deformation front.

Neoglacial history of the Coast Mountains near Bella Coola, British Columbia

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Desloges ◽  
J. M. Ryder
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Sampling Errors ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Glacier Advance ◽  
Bella Coola

The maximum Holocene extent of glaciers in the study area is marked by late Neoglacial (Little Ice Age) terminal moraines. Moraine stratigraphy and 14C dates from a small number of sites suggest that glacier advance, almost as extensive as that of the late Neoglacial, occurred about 2500 14C years BP, and that late Neoglacial advance began well before 770 14C years BP (or the thirteenth century A.D.); glacier termini then stood close to the position of the climax moraines for several centuries. Dates of stabilization of end moraines at 16 glaciers were determined by dendrochronology, with tree-ring counts corrected for sampling errors and ecesis. Most terminal moraines date from 1860 to 1900. Many recessional moraines were formed between 1900 and 1940, coincident with a regionally documented phase of cooler and wetter climate. The proposed chronology is similar to results from elsewhere in the Canadian Cordillera.

Status of the Jurassic in the Canadian Cordillera of British Columbia, Alberta, and southern Yukon

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Frebold ◽  
H. W. Tipper
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Tectonic Events ◽  
Source Of Information

Jurassic index fossils of the Canadian Cordillera indicate the presence of some zones of most Jurassic stages. In this report the more important localities are listed, the source of information, published and unpublished, is indicated, and an up-dated correlation chart is presented. The importance of tectonic events and their effect on the completeness of the Jurassic fossil record and on the Jurassic paleogeography are stressed.

Petrology of ultramafic xenoliths from Rayfield River, south-central British Columbia

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1679-1687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dante Canil ◽  
Mark Brearley ◽  
Christopher M. Scarfe
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Phase Equilibrium ◽  
Partial Melting ◽  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Mantle Xenoliths ◽  
Spinel Lherzolite ◽  
Equilibrium Constraints ◽  
Host Magma ◽  
South Central ◽  
Ultramafic Xenoliths

One hundred mantle xenoliths were collected from a hawaiite flow of Miocene–Pliocene age near Rayfield River, south-central British Columbia. The massive host hawaiite contains subrounded xenoliths that range in size from 1 to 10 cm and show protogranular textures. Both Cr-diopside-bearing and Al-augite-bearing xenoliths are represented. The Cr-diopside-bearing xenolith suite consists of spinel lherzolite (64%), dunite (12%), websterite (12%), harzburgite (9%), and olivine websterite (3%). Banding and veining on a centimetre scale are present in four xenoliths. Partial melting at the grain boundaries of clinopyroxene is common and may be due to natural partial melting in the upper mantle, heating by the host magma during transport, or decompression during ascent.Microprobe analyses of the constituent minerals show that most of the xenoliths are well equilibrated. Olivine is Fo89 to Fo92, orthopyroxene is En90, and Cr diopside is Wo47En48Fs5. More Fe-rich pyroxene compositions are present in some of the websterite xenoliths. The Mg/(Mg + Fe2+) and Cr/(Cr + Al + Fe3+) ratios in spinel are uniform in individual xenoliths, but they vary from xenolith to xenolith. Equilibration temperatures for the xenoliths are 860–980 °C using the Wells geothermometer. The depth of equilibration estimated for the xenoliths using geophysical and phase equilibrium constraints is 30–40 km.

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