Mount Mercer (Alberta)

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Mount Mercer
Mount Mercer.jpg
South aspect of Mount Mercer (centre)
Highest point
Elevation 2,970 m (9,740 ft) [1] [2] [3]
Prominence 295 m (968 ft) [1]
Parent peak Beersheba Peak (3,054 m) [1]
Isolation 1.93 km (1.20 mi) [1]
Listing Mountains of Alberta
Coordinates 50°55′24″N115°31′13″W / 50.92333°N 115.52028°W / 50.92333; -115.52028 [4]
Naming
Etymology Malcolm Mercer
Geography
Canada Alberta relief location map - transverse mercator proj.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Mount Mercer
Location in Alberta
Canada relief map 2.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Mount Mercer
Location in Canada
Mount Mercer (Alberta)
Interactive map of Mount Mercer
Country Canada
Province Alberta
Protected area Banff National Park
Parent range Sundance Range
Canadian Rockies
Topo map NTS   82J13 Mount Assiniboine [4]
Geology
Rock age Cambrian
Mountain type Fault block
Rock type Limestone

Mount Mercer is a 2,970-metre (9,744-foot) mountain summit located in Alberta, Canada.

Contents

Geography

Mount Mercer is set within Banff National Park, three kilometres east of the Continental Divide, and is situated near the southern end of the Sundance Range, [4] which is a sub-range of the Canadian Rockies. Located four kilometres east of Assiniboine Pass, [2] Mount Mercer is a remote peak which is not visible from any road. Mount Mercer's nearest higher neighbor is Mount Allenby, 1.9 km (1.2 mi) to the north-northwest, and Mount Assiniboine is 10 km (6.2 mi) to the southwest. [1] Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into Mercer and Bryant creeks which empty to the nearby Spray Lakes Reservoir. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,130 m (3,710 ft) above Bryant Creek Valley in less than 2 km (1.2 mi).

Geology

Mount Mercer is composed of limestone which is a sedimentary rock laid down during the Precambrian to Jurassic periods. [5] Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the Laramide orogeny. [6]

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Mercer is located in a subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. [7] Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

Etymology

Mount Mercer is named in remembrance of Major-General Malcolm Mercer (1859–1916), a Canadian general who led the 3rd Canadian Division during the First World War before he was killed in action at Mount Sorrel in Belgium on June 2, 1916. [3] [8] He was the highest ranking Canadian killed in the war. The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1924 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada. [4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mount Mercer". peakvisor.com. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Putnam, William Lowell; Boles, Glen W. (1973). Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada, South. American Alpine Club. p. 109.
  3. 1 2 "Mount Mercer". cdnrockiesdatabases.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Mount Mercer". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  5. ↑ Belyea, Helen R. (1960). The Story of the Mountains in Banff National Park (PDF). parkscanadahistory.com (Report). Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  6. ↑ Gadd, Ben (2008). Geology of the Rocky Mountains and Columbias.
  7. ↑ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi: 10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007 . ISSN   1027-5606.
  8. ↑ The Canada Gazette, February 23, 1918, p. 2862
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