The Rainbow Range, formerly gazetted as the Rainbow Mountains, is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

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 ...

, located northwest of Anahim Lake. Located on the western edge of the

Chilcotin Plateau The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between t ...

, the range adjoins the Coast Mountains

Pacific Ranges , photo = Mount Garibaldi (50997016501).jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Mount Garibaldi massif as seen from Squamish , map = , map_image = South BC-NW USA-relief PacificRanges.png , ...

to the south, and the

Kitimat Ranges , photo = Lax Kw'alaams.jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Lax Kw'alaams backdropped by Mount McNeil , map = , map_image = BC-relief_Kitimatranges.png , map_caption = Kitimat Ranges ...

to the north. In some classification systems it is considered part of the Coast Mountains. It lies north of the Bella Coola and

Atnarko River The Atnarko River is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Course The Atnarko River flows originates at Charlotte Lake. It flows generally west for approximately , joining the Telchako River to form the Bella Coola River. For muc ...

s and south and west of the

Dean River The Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins at Aktaklin Lake on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at th ...

, which curves around its north flank, and is relatively drier in climate and easier of terrain than more mountainous areas immediately west. Once called Tsitsutl, meaning "rainbow mountains" in the Ulkatcho dialect of the

Carrier language The Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ) or Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derive ...

,BC Parks, South Tweedsmuir Provincial Park page, Conservation section
/ref> that name is now the name of the range's highest peak.

Geology

The Rainbow Range is an eight-million-year-old (

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

) massive

peralkaline Peralkaline rocks include those igneous rocks which have a deficiency of aluminium such that sodium and potassium are in excess of that needed for feldspar. The presence of aegerine (sodium pyroxene) and riebeckite (sodium amphibole) are indicati ...

shield volcano in the

Anahim Volcanic Belt The Anahim Volcanic Belt (AVB) is a west–east trending chain of volcanoes and related magmatic features in British Columbia, Canada. It extends from Athlone Island on the Central Coast, running eastward through the strongly uplifted and deeply ...

which includes the lower but similar Itcha and Ilgachuz Ranges. The shield has a diameter of is now heavily eroded by

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 over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s carving into the

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic ...

and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

s over millions of years. The volcanism that created the shield is not well studied and is poorly understood. It is thought to be the result of the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacif ...

passing over a hotspot, similar to the one feeding the Hawaiian Islands, known as the

Anahim hotspot The Anahim hotspot is a hypothesized hotspot in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It has been proposed as the candidate source for volcanism in the Anahim Volcanic Belt, a long chain of volcanoes and other magmatic features tha ...

. The only real separate volcanic peak associated with the Rainbow Range is

Anahim Peak Anahim Peak, also spelled Anaham, ʔAnaghim, or Anaheim, is a volcanic cone in the Anahim Volcanic Belt in British Columbia, Canada, located northwest of Anahim Lake and east of Tsitsutl Peak. It was formed when the North American Plate moved ...

which sits on its northeast flank. Other peaks in the range are other high eroded remnants of the shield, including Beef Peak, TaiaTaeszi Peak,

Mount MacKenzie Mount Mackenzie is a mountain just southeast of the city of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Selkirk Mountains, it is the site of the Revelstoke Mountain Resort ski area and was named for the Right Honourable Sir Alexander Mac ...

and Tsitsutl Peak , which is the highest summit of the Rainbow Range. The range gets its name from the intense and varied colours of its terrains' volcanic

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 ...

s and sands from heavy mineralization, like the Spectrum Range in the

Spatsizi Plateau The Spatsizi Plateau is a plateau in the upper basin of the Stikine River in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Most of the plateau, which is a sub-plateau of the Stikine Plateau, is enshrined in either Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincia ...

Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park

The Rainbow Range lies partly in the Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park, while to its east the Itcha and Ilgachuz Ranges form the core of the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park.

References

External links

Rainbow Range entry in Canadian Mountain EncyclopediaSkiing the Pacific Ring of Fire and Beyond
{{Anahim Volcanic Belt Anahim Volcanic Belt Volcanoes of British Columbia Mountain ranges of the Interior Plateau Shield volcanoes of Canada Extinct volcanoes Miocene shield volcanoes Polygenetic shield volcanoes Landforms of the Chilcotin Range 3 Coast Land District

Geology

Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park

See also

References

External links