Tenchen Glacier is located on the eastern flank of Mount Edziza in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It lies within an immense

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

whose headwall has breached the eastern side of Mount Edziza's summit

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

. At the head of Tenchen Glacier are icefalls that drape down shear, cliffs from the breached eastern crater rim; permanent ice fills the summit crater. Meltwater from Tenchen Glacier feeds Tenchen Creek which eventually merges with Kakiddi Creek. The name of the glacier was suggested by the Geological Survey of Canada on November 19, 1979, and eventually became official on November 24, 1980. ''Tenchen'' is derived from the Tahltan words ''ten'' and ''chen'', which mean ''ice'' and ''dirty'' respectively. The name of this glacier is a reference to its debris-covered surface.

Geology

The Tenchen cirque is the product of erosion that gradually enlarged an initial scar formed by an

explosive eruption In volcanology, an explosive eruption is a volcanic eruption of the most violent type. A notable example is the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Such eruptions result when sufficient gas has dissolved under pressure within a viscous magma such ...

that blew away part of the eastern summit crater rim.

Hydrothermally altered Metasomatism (from the Greek μετά ''metá'' "change" and σῶμα ''sôma'' "body") is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids. It is the replacement of one rock by another of different mineralogical and chemical c ...

rocks of the central volcanic conduit as well as lava lakes that once filled the summit crater are exposed in the headwall of Tenchen cirque. These rocks are part of the Edziza Formation which comprises the central

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

of Mount Edziza. Landsliding of the steep headwall and bounding spurs of Tenchen cirque has resulted in Tenchen Glacier being completely covered by rock debris.

References

{{Mount Edziza volcanic complex Glaciers of Mount Edziza

Geology

See also

References