The Little Tuya River is a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Tuya River
The Tuya River is a major tributary of the Stikine River in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. From its source at High Tuya Lake in Tuya Mountains Provincial Park just south of Ash Mountain, the highest peak of the Tuya R ...
in northwest part of the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
It flows generally south and east about
[Length measured using BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, an]
Toporama
/ref> to join the Tuya River near Cariboo Meadows. The Little Tuya River's watershed covers ,[ and its mean annual discharge is an estimated .]
The mouth of the Little Tuya River is located about northeast of Telegraph Creek
Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in northern British Columbia at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek. The only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, it is home to approximately 250 members of Tah ...
, British Columbia, about west-southwest of Dease Lake
Dease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located a few hours south of the Yukon border on Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake o ...
, British Columbia, and about east of Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...
. The river's watershed's land cover
Land cover is the physical material at the surface of Earth. Land covers include grass, asphalt, trees, bare ground, water, etc. Earth cover is the expression used by ecologist Frederick Edward Clements that has its closest modern equivalent being ...
is classified as 37.8% shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
, 28.8% conifer forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
, 14.6% mixed forest
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These for ...
, 9.2% barren, and small amounts of other cover.[
The Little Tuya River was named in association with the Tuya RIver. A ]tuya
A tuya is a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period.
As lava ...
is a geologic term for a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
formed when lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
erupts through a thick glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
or ice sheet
In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at Las ...
. The geologic term comes from Tuya Butte
Tuya Butte is a tuya in the Tuya Range of north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is a bit less isolated from other ranges than neighbouring Mount Josephine. Some of the other volcanoes in the area include South Tuya, Ash Mountain, and Math ...
, which was named in association with Tuya Lake
Tuya Lake, located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, presumably derives its name from the presence of nearby steep-sided, flat-topped volcanoes, known as tuyas. The lake is situated just south of Tuya Butte at a latitude of about 59 degree ...
. The term may come from the Tahltan language
Tahltan, Tāłtān, also called Tałtan ẕāke ("Tahltan people language"), dah dẕāhge ("our language") or didene keh ("this people’s way") is a poorly documented Northern Athabaskan language historically spoken by the Tahltan people (also ...
.
The Little Tuya River is in the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation
The Tahltan First Nation, also known as the Tahltan Indian Band, is a band government of the Tahltan people. Their main community and reserves are located at Telegraph Creek, British Columbia. Their language is the Tahltan language, which is an A ...
, of the Tahltan
The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahane' ...
people.
Geography
The Little Tuya River originates on the east side of the massive Level Mountain
Level Mountain is a large volcanic complex in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located north-northwest of Telegraph Creek and west of Dease Lake on the Nahlin Plateau. With a maximum elevation of , it is the second-hig ...
shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...
, near the headwaters of the Koshin River
The Koshin River is a tributary of the Nahlin River in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally north about Length measured using Google Maps path tool, BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, anTopoQuest/ref> to ...
, Beatty Creek, and Matsatu Creek
Matsatu Creek, historically called the Matsatu River, is a tributary of Kakuchuya Creek and part of the Taku River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is located north of the abandoned settlement of Shes ...
, and about east of Meszah Peak
Meszah Peak is a volcanic cone located north of Telegraph Creek and southwest of Zus Mountain in British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest peak of the Level Mountain Range, a cluster of bare peaks on the summit of the massive Level Mountain ...
, the highest peak of the Level Mountain Range
The Level Mountain Range is a small but prominent mountain range occupying the broad summit of Level Mountain in northern British Columbia, Canada. Located between the Tuya River in the east and the Sheslay River in the west, it represents a hig ...
, a cluster of bare peaks on the summit of Level Mountain.
The river flows south and east, first through Level Mountain's high and relatively barren lava plateau
A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanism, volcanic activity. There are two main types: lava plateaus and pyroclastic plateaus.
Lava plateau
Lava plateaus are formed by highly fluid basaltic lava during numerous successive erup ...
, then through rugged forested terrain. Its lower course flows through rugged forested terrain, where it is joined by its main tributary, Mansfield Creek
Mansfield Creek is a tributary of the Little Tuya River, which in turn is a tributary of the Tuya River, part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally south and east for rough ...
. The Little Tuya RIver empties into the Tuya River near the abandoned settlement of Cariboo Meadows.
Geology
Coal has been found in rocks exposed in the drainage of the Little Tuya River and Mansfield Creek between the communities of Dease Lake
Dease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located a few hours south of the Yukon border on Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake o ...
and Telegraph Creek
Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in northern British Columbia at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek. The only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, it is home to approximately 250 members of Tah ...
in northwestern BC. The coal was first discovered in 1904, but the main exploration of its economic potential occurred in the 1980s to 1990s.[Ryan, B.D. 1991. Geology and Potential Coal and Coalbed Methane Resource of the Tuya River Coal Basin; in Geological Fieldwork 1990, B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Paper 1991-1, pp. 419-427.]
See also
* List of rivers of British Columbia
The following is a partial list of rivers of British Columbia, organized by watershed. Some large creeks are included either because of size or historical importance
(See Alphabetical List of British Columbia rivers ). Also included are lakes th ...
References
{{Rivers of Level Mountain
Cassiar Land District
Level Mountain
Nahlin Plateau
Rivers of British Columbia
Stikine Country
Stikine Plateau
Tahltan