Work Channel

Work Channel
formerly Wark Channel
Location	British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates	54°29′03″N130°13′13″W / 54.48417°N 130.22028°W / 54.48417; -130.22028 (Work Channel)
Type	fjord
Etymology	Named after John Work (born John Wark) by Hudson's Bay Company officers, c.1837
Part of	Coast Mountains
Basin  countries	Canada
Max. length	48 kilometres (30 mi) [1]
Surface area	110 square kilometres (42 sq mi) [1]
Location
Interactive map of Work Channel

Work Channel ^[2] formerly Wark Channel ^[3] is a fjord in the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It lies to the northeast of the Tsimpsean Peninsula. It was named about 1837 by officers of the Hudson's Bay Company after John Work, born John Wark. ^[4] It was first charted in 1793 by James Johnstone and Robert Barrie, two of George Vancouver's officers during his 1791-95 expedition. ^[5]

Geology

This lineament is not a discrete fault but a crustal boundary separating two contrasting metamorphic structural domains. The eastern side records a younger Eocene low-pressure high-temperature metamorphism (characterized by sillimanite-bearing pelitic schists and migmatitic gneisses), whereas the western side preserves an older Jurassic metamorphic gradient (chlorite → kyanite → muscovite migmatite) associated with crustal burial and thrusting. ^[6]

References

1. Trites, R. W. A study of the oceanographic structure in British Columbia inlets and some of the determining factors (Doctoral dissertation). University of British Columbia. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
2. "Work Channel". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2020-06-16.
3. "Work Channel (Formerly Wark Channel)". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2020-06-16.
4. "Work Channel". BC Geographical Names .
5. Vancouver, George; Vancouver, John (1801). A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific ocean, and round the world. London: J. Stockdale.
6. Crawford, M. L.; Hollister, L. S. (1982). "Contrast of metamorphic and structural histories across the Work Channel lineament, Coast Plutonic Complex, British Columbia". Journal of Geophysical Research. 87 (B5): 3849–3860. doi:10.1029/JB087iB05p03849 . Retrieved 2025-12-30.