Landforms of British Columbia 1976 - Department of Geography

8,820 feet, and the lowest point in the area, on the Columbia River at the north
boundary, has an elevation of 2,618 feet. The maximum relief is thus about
6,200 feet.
“The drainage pattern of the creeks and rivers to a certain degree reflects
the underlvine structure. In the Stanford Range manv of the obliaw or transverse
parts of t& iajor creeks are located along ob;que or~transverse f&t%
“Glacial erosion, features, such as U-shaped valleys, hanging valleys, and
cirques, have not been observed in the Stanford Range. However, it is probable
that ice at one time completely covered the entire range because erratics are found
up to elevations of 7,500 feet.
“ . . the area was covered by a continental ice-sheet that produced a very
limited amount of erosion. The ice disappeared probably by stagnation and
melting . . the Stanford Range doez not appear to have been subject to a
late-stage alpine glaciation.“*
[Photographs: B.C. 891:94; B.C. 894:32, 45; R.C.A.F. T3lR:l62, 166.1
The Park (A4oin) Ranges of the Rocky Mountains (see Plates XXXVA,
XXXVB, and XXXVIA) begin as a physiographic and structural unit at the Bull
River just north of Fernie and extend northwestward for about 375 miles to
Mount Sir Alexander (10,740 feet) at the head of McGregor River. A high
percentage of their area lies within the boundaries of the several National and
Provincial parks that lie along the Alberta-British Colombia Boundary. The
ranges become topographically prominent northwest of the Palliser River; lO,OOOand
11,000.foot peaks abound, and almost all the highest peaks of the Canadian
Rockies are included. The highest peak in the Rocky Mountains is Mount Robson
(12,972 feet), in the Park Ranges north of the Canadian National Railway. The
ranges are crossed by both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways, ,
and it is the scenic grandeur of the Park Ranges that is publicized and known to
thousands of tourists. On the Canadian Pacific Railway they extend from Leanchoil
and the Beaver River to the Castle Mountain thrust 12 miles west of Banff, a width
4
of about 40 miles. On the Canadian National Railway they extend from the
Trench at Jackman to the Pyramid (Castle Mountain) fault zone 3 miles northeast
of Jasper, a width of about 35 miles.
The Park (Main) Ranges are largely underlain by sedimentary and meta-
morphic rocks of late Precambrian and Lower Pahzozoic age. Thick cliff-forming
limestone and quart&e formations of Cambrian age form many of the mountains.
The rocks in the Park Ranges are somewhat less deformed than are those of the
Pront Ranges to the east and of the Kootenay (Western) Ranges to the west.
Although the details of structure are not thoroughly known, the rocks in the Park
Ranges mostly are involved in rather gentle, open folds lying between westerly
dipping thrust faults, and it is this structure that is characteristic. The flat to
gently dipping beds, especially of the thick quartzite or limestone formations,
produce massive monumental and cast&ted peaks, of which Mount Robson is
the outstanding example (see Plate XXXVA).
The ranges are dissected and drained by tributaries flowing westward into
the Fraser, Columbia, and Kootenay Rivers and eastward into the Peace, Athabasca,
North Saskatchewan, Bow, and other rivers. The great relief and the great heights
within the ranges provide world-renowned alpine scenery. The topography is
extremely rugged. Mature dissection of the region has reduced interstream areas
to narrow knife-like ridges. The peaks are commonly matterhorn in form (for ,
example, Mount Assiniboine) and are erosion forms of truly alpine type, being