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Rainbow Range (Coast Mountains)
Encyclopedia
The Rainbow Range, formerly known as the Rainbow Mountains, is a mountain range
in British Columbia
, Canada
, located 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) northwest of Anahim Lake. Named Tsitsutl, which now is the name of its highest peak
and meaning "rainbow mountains" in the Ulkatcho dialect of the Carrier language
, is on the western edge of the Chilcotin Plateau
, adjoining the Pacific Ranges
of the Coast Mountains
to the south, and the Kitimat Ranges
of the Coast Mountains to the north. In some classification systems it is considered part of the Coast Mountains and has been assigned here in Wikipedia to the Pacific Ranges although it is not formally part of that range-complex.
It lies north of the Bella Coola
and Atnarko River
s and south and west of the Dean River
, which curves around its north flank, and is relatively drier in climate and easier of terrain than more mountainous areas immediately west.
) massive peralkaline
shield volcano
in the Anahim Volcanic Belt
which includes the lower but similar Itcha
and Ilgachuz Range
s. The shield has a diameter of 30 km (19 mi) is now heavily eroded by glacier
s carving into the volcanic rock
and sand
s over millions of years. The volcanism that created the shield is not well studied and is poorly understood. It is thought to be the result of the North American Plate
passing over a hotspot
, similar to the one feeding the Hawaiian Islands
, known as the Anahim hotspot
. The only real separate volcanic peak associated with the Rainbow Range is Anahim Peak
which sits on its northeast flank. Other peaks in the range are other high eroded remnants of the shield, including Beef Peak, TaiaTaeszi Peak, Mount MacKenzie
and Tsitsutl Peak
2495 m (8,186 ft), which is the highest summit of the Rainbow Range.
The range gets its name from the intense and varied colours of its terrains' volcanic lava
s and sands from heavy mineralization
, like the Spectrum Range
in the Spatsizi Plateau
.
, while to its east the Itcha and Ilgachuz Ranges form the core of the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park
.
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, located 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) northwest of Anahim Lake. Named Tsitsutl, which now is the name of its highest peak
Tsitsutl Peak
Tsitsutl Peak is the highest volcanic peak of the Rainbow Range in British Columbia, Canada, located within Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park, northwest of Anahim Lake and northeast of Thunder Mountain.-Name origin:...
and meaning "rainbow mountains" in the Ulkatcho dialect of the Carrier language
Carrier language
The Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier is the usual English name. People who are referred to as Carrier speak two related languages. One,...
, is on the western edge of the Chilcotin Plateau
Chilcotin Plateau
The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e...
, adjoining the Pacific Ranges
Pacific Ranges
The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. Located entirely within British Columbia, Canada, they run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to Bella Coola, north of which are the Kitimat Ranges.The Pacific Ranges...
of the Coast Mountains
Coast Mountains
The Coast Mountains are a major mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often...
to the south, and the Kitimat Ranges
Kitimat Ranges
The Kitimat Ranges are one of the three main subdivisions of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, the other being the Pacific Ranges to the south and the Boundary Ranges to the north...
of the Coast Mountains to the north. In some classification systems it is considered part of the Coast Mountains and has been assigned here in Wikipedia to the Pacific Ranges although it is not formally part of that range-complex.
It lies north of the Bella Coola
Bella Coola River
The Bella Coola River is a major river on the Pacific slope of the Coast Mountains in southern British Columbia. The town of Bella Coola, which is the historic and ancient capital of the Nuxalk people, is at its mouth on North Bentinck Arm...
and Atnarko River
Atnarko River
The Atnarko River is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia.-Course:The Atnarko River flows originates at Charlotte Lake. It flows generally west for approximately , joining the Telchako River to form the Bella Coola River. For much of its length the river flows through Tweedsmuir...
s and south and west of the Dean River
Dean River
The Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins in the volcanic-shield Ilgachuz Range on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at the now-uninhabited, remote...
, which curves around its north flank, and is relatively drier in climate and easier of terrain than more mountainous areas immediately west.
Geology
The Rainbow Range is an eight-million-year-old (MioceneMiocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
) massive peralkaline
Peralkaline
Peralkaline rocks include those igneous rocks which have a deficiency of aluminium such that sodium and potassium are in excess of that needed for feldspar. The presence of aegerine and riebeckite are indicative of peralkaline conditions....
shield volcano
Shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...
in the Anahim Volcanic Belt
Anahim Volcanic Belt
The Anahim Volcanic Belt is a long volcanic belt, stretching from just north of Vancouver Island to near Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. The Anahim Volcanic Belt has had three main magmatic episodes: 15–13 Ma, 9–6 Ma, and 3–1 Ma. The volcanoes generally become younger eastward at a rate of to ...
which includes the lower but similar Itcha
Itcha Range
The Itcha Range is a mountain range on the Chilcotin Plateau of the West-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The range is located 25 miles northeast of Anahim Lake...
and Ilgachuz Range
Ilgachuz Range
The Ilgachuz Range is a name given to an extinct shield volcano in British Columbia, Canada. It is not a mountain range in the normal sense, because it was formed as a single volcano that has been eroded for the past 5 million years. It lies on the Chilcotin Plateau, located some north-northwest...
s. The shield has a diameter of 30 km (19 mi) is now heavily eroded by glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s carving into the volcanic rock
Volcanic rock
Volcanic rock is a rock formed from magma erupted from a volcano. In other words, it is an igneous rock of volcanic origin...
and sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
s over millions of years. The volcanism that created the shield is not well studied and is poorly understood. It is thought to be the result of the North American Plate
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, Bahamas, and parts of Siberia, Japan and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust...
passing over a hotspot
Hotspot (geology)
The places known as hotspots or hot spots in geology are volcanic regions thought to be fed by underlying mantle that is anomalously hot compared with the mantle elsewhere. They may be on, near to, or far from tectonic plate boundaries. There are two hypotheses to explain them...
, similar to the one feeding the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, known as the Anahim hotspot
Anahim hotspot
The Anahim hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in central British Columbia, Canada. It is situated on the Interior Plateau, a large region that lies between the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains to the east, and the Hazelton Mountains, Coast Mountains and Cascade Range to the west...
. The only real separate volcanic peak associated with the Rainbow Range is Anahim Peak
Anahim Peak
Anahim Peak, sometimes mistakenly called Anaheim, is a volcanic cone in the Anahim Volcanic Belt in British Columbia, Canada, located northwest of Anahim Lake and east of Tsitsutl Peak. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over a hotspot, similar to the one feeding the Hawaiian...
which sits on its northeast flank. Other peaks in the range are other high eroded remnants of the shield, including Beef Peak, TaiaTaeszi Peak, Mount MacKenzie
Mount MacKenzie
Mount MacKenzie is a volcanic peak, located northeast of Hagenborg, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the volcanic peaks of the Rainbow Range, which is one of the three major shield volcanoes that form the Anahim Volcanic Belt...
and Tsitsutl Peak
Tsitsutl Peak
Tsitsutl Peak is the highest volcanic peak of the Rainbow Range in British Columbia, Canada, located within Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park, northwest of Anahim Lake and northeast of Thunder Mountain.-Name origin:...
2495 m (8,186 ft), which is the highest summit of the Rainbow Range.
The range gets its name from the intense and varied colours of its terrains' volcanic lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
s and sands from heavy mineralization
Mineralization (geology)
In geology, mineralization is the hydrothermal deposition of economically important metals in the formation of ore bodies or "lodes".The first scientific studies of this process took place in Cornwall, United Kingdom by J.W.Henwood FRS and later by R.W...
, like the Spectrum Range
Spectrum Range
The Spectrum Range, formerly called the Spectrum Mountains and the Rainbow Mountains, is a subrange of the Tahltan Highland in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, 20 km west of the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, south of Mount Edziza and north of the Arctic Lake Plateau. The...
in the Spatsizi Plateau
Spatsizi Plateau
The Spatsizi Plateau is a plateau in the upper basin of the Stikine River in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Most of the plateau, which is a sub-plateau of the Stikine Plateau, is enshrined in either Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park or Spatsizi Headwaters Provincial Park...
.
Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park
The Rainbow Range lies partly in the Tweedsmuir South Provincial ParkTweedsmuir South Provincial Park
Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Formerly part of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park it was formed from the southern portion of that park, the northern portion being redesignated Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area in order to allow...
, while to its east the Itcha and Ilgachuz Ranges form the core of the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park
Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park
Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Chilcotin Country of British Columbia, Canada. The park is 111,977 hectares in size and contains Far Mountain and Mount Downton, its two most prominent peaks.-History and conservation:...
.
See also
- List of volcanoes in Canada
- Volcanism of Canada
- Volcanism of Western CanadaVolcanism of Western CanadaVolcanism of Western Canada produces lava flows, lava plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes and maars, along with examples of more less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.-Volcanic belts:*Anahim...
- Rainbow Range (Rocky Mountains)Rainbow Range (Rocky Mountains)The Rainbow Range is a small subrange of the Park Ranges subdivions of the Northern Continental Ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the border between Alberta and British Columbia in Mount Robson Provincial Park...
- Spectrum RangeSpectrum RangeThe Spectrum Range, formerly called the Spectrum Mountains and the Rainbow Mountains, is a subrange of the Tahltan Highland in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, 20 km west of the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, south of Mount Edziza and north of the Arctic Lake Plateau. The...