Pavilion Lake is a freshwater lake located in

Marble Canyon Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for rive ...

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 ...

home to colonies of freshwater

microbialite Microbialite is a benthic sedimentary deposit made of carbonate mud (particle diameter < 5 μm) that is formed with the mediation of microbes. The constituent carbonate mud is a type of

Location and Local Communities

It is located between the towns of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...

and Cache Creek (29.44 kilometres WNW,

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver ...

, from Cache Creek) and lies along BC Highway 99, 8.85 highway kilometres (northeast then southeast) from

Pavilion, British Columbia Pavilion is an unincorporated community on the eastern side of the Fraser River in the South Cariboo region of southwestern British Columbia. The place is near Mile 21 of the Old Cariboo Road. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road about nort ...

. There is a small community of lakeshore residences, some

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

al and seasonal only, located on the lake's eastern shore adjacent to the highway. The lake is overlooked by the

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

s of

, which is the southern buttress of the Marble Range, and the

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' ...

s of the northernmost

Clear Range The Clear Range is a small mountain range located in the angle of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers in south-central British Columbia. It has a small subdivision just northeast of that confluence named the Scarped Range. The Clear Range totals 16,27 ...

. Also overlooking the lake is Chimney Rock (''K'lpalekw'' in

Secwepemc'tsn The Shuswap language (; shs, Secwepemctsín ) is the traditional language of the Shuswap people ( shs, Secwépemc ) of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia ...

, " Coyote's Penis"), which like the lake and the canyon have spiritual significance to the adjoining native communities, the Tskwaylaxw people of

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

and the Bonaparte band of Secwepemc at Upper Hat Creek. One of the

rancherie A Rancherie is a First Nations residential area of an Indian reserve in colloquial English throughout the Canadian province of British Columbia. Originating in an adaptation of '' ranchería'', a Californian term for the residential area of a ''ran ...

s and a rodeo and pow-wow ground of the Pavilion Band is located at Marble Canyon's south entrance. The lake area and its foreshore were added to Marble Canyon Provincial Park in order to protect its special scientific and heritage values.

Characteristics

The lake demonstrates karst hydrology, with underground inflows from Marble Canyon creeks. The lake has generally low biological productivity, and is classified as ultraoligotrophic. It also features a high degree of water clarity. The lake gets covered with ice annually, and is dimictic, going through two thermal overturns per year. The lake reaches a maximum depth of 65 meters below the surface. It is also a

hard water Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbo ...

lake, due to its high mineral content.

Microbialites and Scientific Research

Part of a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

formation, the lake is most notable for being home to colonies of microbialites, a type of

stromatolite Stromatolites () or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations ( microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). T ...

. Colonies of microbialites grow from depths of 5 to 55 meters. Low sedimentation rates may allow for continued development of these colonies. One estimate puts microbialite growth at 0.05 mm per year within the last 1,000 years. Research at Pavilion Lake has suggested that most biological activity in microbialite structures occurs near the surface of these structures. The lake's harsh geochemical environment prevents the development of metazoan grazers, also allowing for microbialite development. The lake has been the subject of astrobiology research by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, the Canadian Space Agency, and research institutions from around the world. The research falls under the umbrella of the

Pavilion Lake Research Project The Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) is an international, multi-disciplinary, science and exploration effort to explain the origin of freshwater microbialites (similar to stromatolites) in Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada. History A ...

. The Pavilion Lake Research Project has used the site to help train Canadian Space Agency astronauts. Microbialite Three Poles Diver 50 - 60 feet

References

External links

Pavilion Lake Research Project website

from SFU site
description of site
from SFU website
Location map and images from ''Nature'' magazine
{{authority control Astrobiology Lillooet Country Thompson Country Lakes of British Columbia Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia

Location and Local Communities

Characteristics

Microbialites and Scientific Research

See also

References

External links