Klastline Formation

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Klastline Formation
Stratigraphic range: Pleistocene
0.774–0.118  Ma
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Type Geological formation [1]
Unit of Mount Edziza volcanic complex [2]
Sub-unitsJunction Member, Village Member [3]
Underlies Big Raven Formation [4]
Overlies Edziza Formation [4]
Lithology
Primary Alkali basalt [1]
Location
Coordinates 57°30′N130°36′W / 57.5°N 130.6°W / 57.5; -130.6 [2]
Region British Columbia [1]
CountryCanada [1]
Type section
Named for Klastline River [1]
Named by Souther et al., 1984 [4]

The Klastline Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Pleistocene age in northwestern British Columbia, Canada.

Contents

Description

The Klastline Formation is part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. [1] This is the second largest eruptive centre in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province, attaining a volume of 670 cubic kilometres (160 cubic miles) and an area of 1,000 square kilometres (390 square miles). [5] It consists of shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes, cinder cones and lava domes that have formed in the last 12 million years. [1] [6]

The Klastline Formation was emplaced during the fourth magmatic cycle of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. [1] It consists of volcanic rocks that were issued from at least three eruptive centres on the northern and eastern sides of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex which produced minor lava fountains and small pyroclastic cones. [1] [3] Lava of the Klastline Formation temporarily blocked streams adjacent to the volcanic complex which resulted in the creation of lava dammed lakes. [1]

Lithology

The Klastline Formation consists primarily of alkali basalt flows interbedded with sand and gravel. [1] [3] It contains two named subunits; the Village Member which consists of regular columnar basalt jointing, and the Junction Member which is characterized by swirly jointed basalt. A sedimentary sequence referred to as the Days Ranch Member is preserved between various remnants of the Village Member. It consists of well-sorted sand and gravel. [3]

Distribution

The Klastline Formation has a volume of 5.4 cubic kilometres (1.3 cubic miles), making it one of the least voluminous geological formations of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. [1] [2] It occurs along the valleys of Kakiddi Creek and the Klastline River where it forms isolated, usually flat-topped erosional remnants with 6-to-12-metre (20-to-39-foot) high escarpments. Klastline Cone on the western side of Kakiddi Valley was the main source of the Klastline Valley flows. Remnants of Klastline Formation basalt flows south of Buckley Lake form scattered outcrops and likely issued from a low, grassy hill surrounded by younger Big Raven Formation basalt flows. [1] A 55-kilometre-long (34-mile) sequence of Klastline Formation basalt flows is exposed along the Stikine River downstream from the Klastline River confluence. [3]

Age

The Klastline Formation was probably deposited over a long period of eruptive activity during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. [3] [7] K–Ar dating of a large remnant of Klastline Formation basalt in Klastline Valley has yielded an age of 0.62 ± 0.04 million years. This age is consistent with its stratigraphic position between the Edziza and Kakiddi formations, which have ages of 0.9 million years and 0.3 million years, respectively. [4] A K–Ar date of 0.33 ± 0.03 million years has been obtained from the top of a Village Member basalt flow on the Tahltan River, suggesting that Klastline volcanism may have been coeval with that of the Kakiddi Formation. [3] [4] Village Member basalt about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) downstream from the mouth of the Tahltan River on the east bank of the Stikine River has yielded a similar Ar–Ar date of 0.30 ± 0.10 million years. [3]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Raven Formation</span> Geological formation in British Columbia, Canada

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Tennaya Creek is a tributary of Kakiddi Creek, which in turn is a tributary of the Klastline River, part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally west for about 16 km (9.9 mi) to join Kakiddi Creek about 19 km (12 mi) south of Kakiddi Creek's confluence with the Klastline River. Tennaya Creek's watershed covers 63.3 km2 (24.4 sq mi) and its mean annual discharge is estimated at 1.50 m3/s (53 cu ft/s). The mouth of Tennaya Creek is located about 48 km (30 mi) southeast of Telegraph Creek, about 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Iskut and about 86 km (53 mi) south-southwest of Dease Lake. Tennaya Creek's watershed's land cover is classified as 31.3% barren, 26.0% conifer forest, 17.9% snow/glacier, 12.6% herbaceous, 9.9% shrubland, and small amounts of other cover.

Tenchen Creek is a tributary of Kakiddi Creek, which in turn is a tributary of the Klastline River, part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally flows northeast for about 8 km (5.0 mi) to join Kakiddi Creek about 13 km (8.1 mi) south of Kakiddi Creek's confluence with the Klastline River. Tenchen is a combination of the Tahltan words "ten" and "chen", which mean "ice" and "dirty" respectively.

Tsecha Creek is a tributary of Kakiddi Creek, which in turn is a tributary of the Klastline River, part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally west for about 16 km (9.9 mi) to join Kakiddi Creek about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Kakiddi Creek's confluence with the Klastline River. Tsecha Creek's watershed covers 23.1 km2 (8.9 sq mi) and its mean annual discharge is estimated at 0.423 m3/s (14.9 cu ft/s). The mouth of Tsecha Creek is located about 44 km (27 mi) east-southeast of Telegraph Creek, about 26 km (16 mi) west of Iskut and about 73 km (45 mi) south-southwest of Dease Lake. Tsecha Creek's watershed's land cover is classified as 47.8% barren, 27.5% conifer forest, 13.1% shrubland, 10.3% snow/glacier, and small amounts of other cover.

The Mount Edziza volcanic complex (MEVC) in British Columbia, Canada, has a long history of volcanism that spans more than six million years. It occurred during five cycles of magmatic activity which were characterized by 13 periods of eruptive activity. This volcanism has led to the formation of several types of volcanic landforms, including cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, subglacial volcanoes, shield volcanoes, lava domes and lava fields. The 1,000-square-kilometre (390-square-mile) plateau comprising the MEVC owes its origin to successive eruptions of highly mobile lava flows. Volcanic rocks such as alkali basalt, hawaiite, trachybasalt, benmoreite, tristanite, mugearite, trachyte, comendite and pantellerite were deposited by multiple eruptions of the MEVC; the latter eight were produced by varying degrees of magmatic differentiation in underground magma reservoirs.

Tennaya Glacier is one of several glaciers draining the eastern side of the Mount Edziza ice cap in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located southeast of the summit of Mount Edziza and northwest of Ice Peak at the head of Tennaya Creek. Meltwater from Tennaya Glacier feeds Tennaya Creek which eventually flows into Nuttlude Lake, an expansion of Kakiddi Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edziza Formation</span> Geological formation in British Columbia, Canada

The Edziza Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Pleistocene age in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. First described in 1984, the Edziza Formation was mapped as one of several geological formations of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. It overlies at least four other geological formations of this volcanic complex that differ in age and composition. The main volcanic rock comprising the Edziza Formation is trachyte which was emplaced by volcanic eruptions at the end of the third magmatic cycle of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex 0.9 million years ago.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Souther, J. G. (1992). The Late Cenozoic Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada. pp. 22, 28, 191, 246, 267. doi:10.4095/133497. ISBN   0-660-14407-7.
  2. 1 2 3 Edwards, Benjamin Ralph (1997). Field, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies of magmatic assimilation in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province, northwestern British Columbia (PhD thesis). University of British Columbia. p. 10. ISBN   0-612-25005-9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Spooner, Ian S.; Osborn, Gerald D.; Barendregt, R.; Irving, E. (1996). "A Middle Pleistocene (isotope stage 10) glacial sequence in the Stikine River valley, British Columbia" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 33. NRC Research Press: 1429−1431. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Klastline Formation". Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units . Government of Canada . Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  5. ↑ Edwards, Benjamin R.; Russell, James K. (2000). "Distribution, nature, and origin of Neogene–Quaternary magmatism in the northern Cordilleran volcanic province, Canada". Geological Society of America Bulletin . 112 (8). Geological Society of America: 1284. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(2000)112<1280:dnaoon>2.0.co;2. ISSN   0016-7606.
  6. ↑ "Edziza: Synonyms & Subfeatures". Global Volcanism Program . Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2021-08-10. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  7. ↑ Smellie, John L.; Edwards, Benjamin R. (2016). Glaciovolcanism on Earth and Mars: Products, Processes and Palaeoenvironmental Significance. Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN   978-1-107-03739-7.
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