Little Iskut Formation

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Little Iskut Formation
Stratigraphic range: 7.2  Ma
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Type Geological formation [1]
Unit of Mount Edziza volcanic complex [2]
Sub-unitsUpper Little Iskut [1]
Lower Little Iskut [1]
Underlies Armadillo Formation [1]
Nido Formation [1]
Overlies Raspberry Formation [1]
Lithology
Primary Trachybasalt [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 Little Iskut River [1]
Named by Souther et al., 1984 [3]

The Little Iskut Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Miocene age in northwestern British Columbia, Canada.

Contents

Naming

The Little Iskut Formation takes its name from the Little Iskut River, a tributary of the Iskut River which flows southeast from the southern end of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. [1] [4]

Geology

The Little Iskut Formation has a volume of 14.6 km3 (3.5 cu mi), making it the seventh most voluminous geological formation comprising the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. [1] [2] It occurs at the northeastern end of the Spectrum Range where it covers a roughly 10-kilometre-wide (6.2-mile) wide area. A small portion of the Little Iskut Formation is exposed in the Mess Creek Escarpment to the west. [1]

The Little Iskut Formation consists of trachybasalt flows and breccia. It ranges in thickness from 90 m (300 ft) on Stewpot Ridge to about 300 m (980 ft) near the middle of Artifact Ridge. The Little Iskut Formation originally formed a small symmetrical shield volcano during the Miocene. [1]

The Little Iskut Formation conformably overlies the Raspberry Formation south of Bourgeaux Creek. Little Iskut trachybasalt is overlain by rhyolite of the Armadillo Formation and basalt of the Nido Formation. Two subunits comprise the Little Iskut Formation. The upper unit consists entirely of trachybasalt lava flows while the lower unit consists of abundant breccia. [1]

K–Ar dating has yielded an age of 7.2 ± 0.3 million years for Little Iskut trachybasalt. [1]

See also

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Stewbomb Creek is a tributary of the Little Iskut River and part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally southeast for roughly 14 km (8.7 mi) to join the Little Iskut River, which flows into the Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine River.

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.

Artifact Creek is a tributary of Stewbomb Creek and part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally southeast for roughly 13 km (8.1 mi) to join Stewbomb Creek, which flows into the Little Iskut River.In turn the Little Iskut River flows to the Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine River.

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. Eruptions of the MEVC issued a wide variety of volcanic rocks. Among them were alkali basalt, hawaiite, trachybasalt, benmoreite, tristanite, mugearite, trachyte, comendite and pantellerite. The latter eight volcanic rocks were produced by varying degrees of magmatic differentiation in underground magma reservoirs.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Souther, J. G. (1992). The Late Cenozoic Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada. pp. 32, 47, 61, 63, 246, 249, 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. "Little Iskut Formation". Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units . Government of Canada . Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  4. "Little Iskut River". BC Geographical Names . Archived from the original on 2021-10-24. Retrieved 2023-06-27.