The 1946 Mount Colonel Foster rock avalanche and associated displacement wave, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Evans
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rock Avalanche ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Wave Crest ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Mountainous Terrain ◽  
The North ◽  
Displacement Wave ◽  
Volcaniclastic Rocks ◽  
Landslide Lake

The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake (M = 7.2) triggered a rock avalanche from the north face of Mount Colonel Foster, central Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Approximately 1.5 × 106 m3 of Triassic volcaniclastic rocks detached from between el. 1965 m and el. 1600 m. Although just over half of this volume was deposited in the upper part of the track above el. 1080 m, approximately 0.7 × 106 m3 descended the lower part of the track and entered the waters of Landslide Lake at el. 890 m. The resultant displacement wave ran up a maximum vertical distance of 51 m on the opposite shore and the wave crest was about 29 m high when it spilled over the lip of the lake. Water displaced during the event destroyed forest in the upper reaches of the Elk River valley up to 3 km from Landslide Lake. The wave at Landslide Lake is comparable to other waves generated by similar magnitude rock avalanches in Peru and Norway and it is the largest recorded in the Canadian Cordillera. The case history illustrates the conditions where substantial damage may be caused by a rock avalanche well beyond the limits of its debris when it produces a landslide-generated wave in the mountainous terrain of the Cordillera. Key words: rock avalanche, earthquake-induced landslides, landslide-generated waves, mountains.

A landslide-generated tsunami and outburst flood at Elliot Creek, coastal British Columbia  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marten Geertsema ◽  
Brian Menounos ◽  
Dan Shugar ◽  
Tom Millard ◽  
Brent Ward ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rock Avalanche ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Outburst Flood ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Rock Face ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
Causative Relationship ◽  
Displacement Wave ◽  
Steep Slopes

<p>On 28 November 2020, about 18 Mm<sup>3</sup> of quartz diorite detached from a steep rock face at the head of Elliot Creek in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. The rock mass fragmented as it descended 1000 m and flowed across a debris-covered glacier. The rock avalanche was recorded on local and distant seismometers, with long-period amplitudes equivalent to a M 4.9 earthquake. Local seismic stations detected several earthquakes of magnitude <2.4 over the minutes and hours preceding the slide, though no causative relationship is yet suggested. More than half of the rock debris entered a 0.6 km<sup>2 </sup>lake, where it generated a huge displacement wave that overtopped the moraine at the far end of the lake. Water that left the lake was channelized along Elliot Creek, deeply scouring the valley fill over a distance of 10 km before depositing debris on a 2 km<sup>2</sup> fan in the Southgate River valley. Debris temporarily dammed the river, and turbid water continued down the Southgate River to Bute Inlet, where it produced a 70 km turbidity current and altered turbidity and water chemistry in the inlet for weeks. The landslide followed a century of rapid glacier retreat and thinning that exposed a growing lake basin. The outburst flood extended the damage of the landslide far beyond the limit of the landslide, destroying forest and impacting salmon spawning and rearing habitat. We expect more cascading impacts from landslides in the glacierized mountains of British Columbia as glaciers continue to retreat, exposing water bodies below steep slopes while simultaneously removing buttressing support.</p>

scholarly journals Observations on the May 2019 Joffre Peak landslides, British Columbia

Landslides ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 913-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Friele ◽  
Tom H. Millard ◽  
Andrew Mitchell ◽  
Kate E. Allstadt ◽  
Brian Menounos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Debris Flow ◽  
Seismic Analysis ◽  
Rock Avalanche ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Depth Estimate ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
The North ◽  
Debris Flood

AbstractTwo catastrophic landslides occurred in quick succession on 13 and 16 May 2019, from the north face of Joffre Peak, Cerise Creek, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia. With headscarps at 2560 m and 2690 m elevation, both began as rock avalanches, rapidly transforming into debris flows along middle Cerise Creek, and finally into debris floods affecting the fan. Beyond the fan margin, a flood surge on Cayoosh Creek reached bankfull and attenuated rapidly downstream; only fine sediment reached Duffey Lake. The toe of the main debris flow deposit reached 4 km from the headscarp, with a travel angle of 0.28, while the debris flood phase reached the fan margin 5.9 km downstream, with a travel angle of 0.22. Photogrammetry indicates the source volume of each event is 2–3 Mm3, with combined volume of 5 Mm3. Lidar differencing, used to assess deposit volume, yielded a similar total result, although error in the depth estimate introduced large volume error masking the expected increase due to dilation and entrainment. The average velocity of the rock avalanche-debris flow phases, from seismic analysis, was ~ 25–30 m/s, and the velocity of the 16 May debris flood on the upper fan, from super-elevation and boulder sizes, was 5–10 m/s. The volume of debris deposited on the fan was ~ 104 m3, 2 orders of magnitude less than the avalanche/debris flow phases. Progressive glacier retreat and permafrost degradation were likely the conditioning factors; precursor rockfall activity was noted at least ~6 months previous; thus, the mountain was primed to fail. The 13 May landslide was apparently triggered by rapid snowmelt, with debuttressing triggering the 16 May event.

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.

A Review of Geophysical Studies in the Canadian Cordillera

1971 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 788-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Berry ◽  
W. R. Jacoby ◽  
E. R. Niblett ◽  
R. A. Stacey
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Heat Flow ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Geophysical Data ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Crust And Upper Mantle ◽  
Juan De Fuca

Geophysical studies of the crust and upper mantle have been conducted in the Canadian Cordillera for over two decades, but only recently have sufficient data been collected to permit a synthesis and a correlation with the major geological units. The studies have included gravity, heat flow, and magnetotelluric observations, geomagnetic depth sounding, and high level aeromagnetics as well as both small and large scale refraction and reflection seismic surveys.It now appears that major crustal units may be recognized geophysically:(i) Seismic and gravity data suggest that the Plains and Rocky Mountains are underlain by two units of the North American craton with a crustal section 45–50 km thick. The northern unit appears to terminate at the Rocky Mountain Trench while the southern unit may extend to the Omineca Geanticline.(ii) The combined geological and geophysical data suggest that the Rocky Mountain Trench and possibly the Kootenay Arc near the 49th parallel mark the edge of the Precambrian continental margin and that the western Cordillera was formed by a complex succession of plate interactions with repeated reactivation of block boundaries.(iii) A combination of magnetic and heat flow data suggest that the region between the Rocky Mountain Trench and the Fraser Lineament is part of the Cordilleran Thermal Anomaly Zone recognized by Blackwell in the United States.(iv) Seismic data in Central British Columbia suggest that the Pinchi Fault system is a boundary between two crustal blocks.(v) The crustal thickness of the Coast Geanticline appears to increase gradually to the west to approximately 40 km and, at least in southern British Columbia, does not have a root zone below the mountains.(vi) The crustal section beneath Vancouver Island is abnormally thick and there is some paleomagnetic data which suggest that the Island may not have been formed in its present position, contiguous to the Cordillera. The crustal section for the northern part of the Insular Trough is significantly thinner.(vii) The active spreading of the Juan de Fuca Rise – Explorer Trench is now well documented. The geophysical data suggest active subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath Oregon, Washing-ton, and southern Vancouver Island. However, further north there is no evidence for subduction.

Tsunami Deposits Beneath Tidal Marshes on Northwestern Vancouver Island, British Columbia

1997 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boyd E. Benson ◽  
Kurt A. Grimm ◽  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Tidal Marshes ◽  
Tsunami Source ◽  
Cascadia Subduction Zone ◽  
Tsunami Deposits ◽  
The North ◽  
Sand Sheet ◽  
Sand Sheets

AbstractTwo sand sheets underlying tidal marshes at Fair Harbour, Neroutsos Inlet, and Koprino Harbour on the northwestern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, were probably deposited by tsunamis. The sand sheets become thinner and finer-grained landward, drape former land surfaces, contain marine microfossils, are locally graded or internally stratified, and can be correlated with earthquakes that generated tsunamis in the region. 137Cs dating and historical accounts indicate that the upper sand sheet was deposited by the tsunami from the great Alaska earthquake in 1964. Radiocarbon ages on plant fossils within and on top of the lower sand sheet show that it was deposited sometime after about A.D. 1660. We attribute the lower sand sheet to a tsunami from the most recent plate-boundary earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone about 300 yr ago, extending the documented effects of this earthquake north of the Nootka fault zone. The 1964 tsunami deposits differ little in thickness and continuity among the three marshes. In contrast, the lower sand sheet becomes thinner and less continuous to the north, implying a tsunami source south of the study area.

Paleomagnetic and geobarometric study of the mid-Cretaceous Whitehorse Pluton, Yukon Territory

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1379-1391 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Harris ◽  
D. T. A. Symons ◽  
W. H. Blackburn ◽  
C. J. R. Hart
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Crystallization Temperature ◽  
Remanent Magnetization ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
The North ◽  
North American Craton ◽  
High Level

This is the first of several Lithoprobe paleomagnetic studies underway to examine geotectonic motions in the northern Canadian Cordillera. Except for one controversial study, estimates for terranes underlying the Intermontane Belt in the Yukon have been extrapolated from studies in Alaska, southern British Columbia, and the northwestern United States. The Whitehorse Pluton is a large unmetamorphosed and undeformed tonalitic body of mid-Cretaceous age (~112 Ma) that was intruded into sedimentary units of the Whitehorse Trough in the Stikinia terrane. Geothermobarometric estimates for eight sites around the pluton indicate that postmagnetization tilting has been negligible since cooling through the hornblende-crystallization temperature and that the pluton is a high-level intrusion. Paleomagnetic measurements for 22 of 24 sites in the pluton yield a well-defined characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) direction that is steeply down and northwards. The ChRM direction gives a paleopole of 285.5°E, 81.7°N (dp = 53°, dm = 5.7°). When compared with the 112 Ma reference pole for the North American craton, this paleopole suggests that the northern Stikinia terrane has been translated northwards by 11.0 ± 4.8° (1220 ± 530 km) and rotated clockwise by 59 ± 17°. Except for an estimate from the ~70 Ma Carmacks Group volcanics, this translation and rotation estimate agrees well with previous estimates for units in the central and southern Intermontane Belt. They suggest that the terranes of the Intermontane Belt have behaved as a fairly coherent unit since the Early Cretaceous, moving northward at a minimum average rate of 2.3 ± 0.4 cm/a between ~140 and ~45 Ma.

Development of late Paleozoic volcanic arcs in the Canadian Cordillera: an example from the Klinkit Group, northern British Columbia and southern Yukon

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 907-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée-Luce Simard ◽  
Jaroslav Dostal ◽  
Charlie F Roots
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Alkali Basalts ◽  
The North ◽  
Pacific Margin ◽  
North American Craton ◽  
Arc Setting

The late Paleozoic volcanic rocks of the northern Canadian Cordillera lying between Ancestral North America to the east and the accreted terranes of the Omineca belt to the west record early arc and rift magmatism along the paleo-Pacific margin of the North American craton. The Mississippian to Permian volcano-sedimentary Klinkit Group extends discontinuously over 250 km in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon. The two stratotype areas are as follows: (1) in the Englishman Range, southern Yukon, the English Creek Limestone is conformably overlain by the volcano-sedimentary Mount McCleary Formation (Lower Clastic Member, Alkali-Basalt Member and Volcaniclastic Member), and (2) in the Stikine Ranges, northern British Columbia, the Screw Creek Limestone is conformably overlain by the volcano-sedimentary Butsih Formation (Volcaniclastic Member and Upper Clastic Member). The calc-alkali nature of the basaltic volcaniclastic members of the Klinkit Group indicates a volcanic-arc setting ((La/Yb)N = 2.77–4.73), with little involvement of the crust in their genesis (εNd = +6.7 to +7.4). Alkali basalts in the Mount McCleary Formation ((La/Yb)N = 12.5–17.8) suggest periodic intra-arc rifting events. Broadly coeval and compositionally similar volcano-sedimentary assemblages occur in the basement of the Mesozoic Quesnel arc, north-central British Columbia, and in the pericratonic Yukon–Tanana composite terrane, central Yukon, suggesting that they all represent pieces of a single long-lived, late Paleozoic arc system that was dismembered prior to its accretion onto Ancestral North America. Therefore, Yukon–Tanana terrane is possibly the equivalent to the basement of Quesnel terrane, and the northern Quesnel terrane has a pericratonic affinity.

Paleomagnetism of the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, southwestern Canadian Cordillera

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1403-1422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph J Enkin ◽  
Judith Baker ◽  
Peter S Mustard
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Paleontological Data ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Prime Target

The Baja B.C. model has the Insular Superterrane and related entities of the Canadian Cordillera subject to >3000 km of northward displacement with respect to cratonic North America from ~90 to ~50 Ma. The Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group (on and about Vancouver Island, British Columbia) is a prime target to test the model paleomagnetically because of its locality and age. We have widely sampled the basin (67 sites from seven islands spread over 150 km, Santonian to Maastrichtian age). Most samples have low unblocking temperatures (<450°C) and coercivities (~10 mT) and strong present-field contamination, forcing us to reject three quarters of the collection. Beds are insufficiently tilted to provide a conclusive fold test, and we see evidence of relative vertical axis rotations. However, inclination-only analysis indicates pretilting remanence is preserved for many samples. Both polarities are observed, and reversals correlate well to paleontological data, proving that primary remanence is observed. The mean inclination, 55 ± 3°, is 13 ± 4° steeper than previously published results. Our new paleolatitude, 35.7 ± 2.6° is identical to that determined from the slightly older Silverquick and Powell Creek formations at Mount Tatlow, yet the inferred displacement is smaller (2300 ± 400 km versus 3000 ± 500 km) because North America was drifting southward starting around 90 Ma. The interpreted paleolatitude conflicts with sedimentologic and paleontologic evidence that the Nanaimo Basin was deposited near its present northern position.

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