SOIL SURVEY

-6-PHYSIOGRAPHYYoho National Park is situated in the Continental Ranges of the Souther nRocky Mountains which is within the Eastern System of the Cordilleran Physiographi cRegion (Bostock 1968) . The rugged terrain of Yoho National Park was sculptured fromstratified sedimentary rocks by extensive alpine glaciers . Vestiges of these glacier sremain scattered throughout the higher elevations within the Park (Figure 2) .The landscape is extremely variable, ranging from relatively flat alluvia lfloodplains and gently sloping alluvial fans of limited extent, to steeply slopingmorainal and colluvial slopes, and dominated by towering mountain peaks . TheKicking Horse Valley bisects Yoho National Park perpendicular to the northwest -southeast trend of the mountain ranges .The lowest elevation in the Park is about 1,000 m a .s .l ., near the wester nentrance to the Park, while the highest point in the Park is the south tower of Moun tGoodsir which has an elevation of 3,540 m a .s .l .GEOLOGYBedrock GeologyThe mountains of Yoho National Park are formed from complexly deforme dsedimentary, metasedimentary, and igneous rocks (Douglas et al . 1968) . Cook(1975) has described the sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks ranging in age fro mlower Cambrian(Gog Group) to lower Ordovician (Survey Peak Formation) . Igneousrocks in Yoho are most likely mid-Paleozoic in age (Balkwill 1969) . The exposedcumulative thickness in Yoho is approximately 12,500 feet (3,820m) . Sedimentaryand metasedimentary rocks are divided into an Eastern Facies and a Western Facie swhich are separated by a narrow geographic zone, known as the Kicking Horse Ri m(Aitken 1971) . The shallow water deposits of the EasternFacies are of the sam eage as, and can be correlated with the deep water deposits of, the Western Facies .The Eastern Facies is composed of the Gog Group and the Mount Whyte ,Cathedral, Stephen, Eldon, Pika, Arctomys, Waterfowl, Sullivan, Lyell, Biso nCreek, Mistaya, and Survey Peak Formations . The Gog Group, which outcrops