Floods, Faults, and Fire: Geological Field Trips in Washington State and Southwest British Columbia
The ten geological field guides presented in this volume explore key areas of the geologist’s Paradise that is Washington State and British Columbia. These trips investigate a wide variety of geologic and geographic terrains, from the dry steppe of the channeled scablands and Columbia River basalt group to the east, across the glaciated and forested Cascade arc and Coast Mountains, to the geologically complex islands in the west. This guidebook may be unique in that four of the trips utilize boats to reach remote field areas and are therefore rarely visited by geologists. Although these trips were guided during the 2007 GSA Cordilleran Section meeting, the guides were written to ensure that people can easily guide their own trips. The result provides an excellent source of exciting, thought-provoking geologic adventures for years to come.
Canadian Cascade volcanism: Subglacial to explosive eruptions along the Sea to Sky Corridor, British Columbia
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Published:January 01, 2007
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CiteCitation
J.K. Russell, C.J. Hickson, Graham Andrews, 2007. "Canadian Cascade volcanism: Subglacial to explosive eruptions along the Sea to Sky Corridor, British Columbia", Floods, Faults, and Fire: Geological Field Trips in Washington State and Southwest British Columbia, Pete Stelling, David S. Tucker
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Abstract
Here we describe a two-day field trip to examine Quaternary volcanism in the Canadian Cascade arc, named the Garibaldi volcanic belt. Day 1 of the trip proceeds along the Whistler corridor from Squamish to Pemberton and focuses on Quaternary glaciovolcanic deposits. Interactions between volcanoes and ice in the Garibaldi volcanic belt have been common during the past two million years and this has resulted in a diverse array of landforms, including subglacial domes, tuyas, impounded lava masses, and sinuous lavas that exploited within-ice drainage systems. On Day 2, the trip heads northwest of Pemberton, British Columbia, along logging roads to see deposits from the 2360 yr B.P. eruption of the Mount Meager volcanic complex. This eruption began Plinian-style, generating pyroclastic fall and flow deposits and ended with the production of block and ash pyroclastic flows by explosive (Vulcanian) collapse of lava domes (e.g., Soufriére Hills). Many of the traits of the deposits seen on this two day trip are a reflection of, both, the style of eruption and the nature of the surrounding landscape. In this regard, the trip provides a spectacular window into the nature and hazards of effusive and explosive volcanism occurring in mountainous terrains and the role of water and ice.
- British Columbia
- Canada
- Cascade Range
- Cenozoic
- Coast Mountains
- Cordilleran ice sheet
- explosive eruptions
- field trips
- geologic hazards
- glacial environment
- glaciation
- guidebook
- igneous rocks
- lava
- Mount Meager
- North America
- paleoenvironment
- plinian-type eruptions
- pumice
- pyroclastics
- quarries
- Quaternary
- road log
- uplifts
- volcanic rocks
- volcanism
- volcanoes
- Western Canada
- Garibaldi volcanic belt
- Northern Cascade volcanic arc