The Tintina Trench is a large northwest-southeast valley extending through

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, Canada. It is a prominent topographic lineament along the northern extension of the

Northern Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a ...

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, ...

and it has its origin from the

Tintina Fault The Tintina Fault is a large right-lateral strike-slip fault in western North America, extending from northwestern British Columbia, Canada to the centre of the U.S. state of Alaska. It represents the Yukon continuum between the Rocky Mountain Tr ...

. It was named by R.G. McConnell of the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...

in 1904 after an indigenous word for “chief.” The Tintina Trench crosses the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

between the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

near Finlayson lake, between Ross River and Watson Lake. The northwestern part of the valley is occupied by the

Yukon River The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...

before it flows northwestward into

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The central part of the valley is occupied by the

Pelly River The Pelly River (Ts'ekínyäk Chú) is a river in Canada, and is a headstream of the Yukon River. The river originates west of the Mackenzie Mountains and flows long through the south central Yukon. The Pelly has two main tributaries, the Ros ...

before its confluence with the Yukon River at

Fort Selkirk Fort Selkirk is a former trading post on the Yukon River at the confluence of the Pelly River in Canada's Yukon. For many years it was home to the Selkirk First Nation (Northern Tutchone). History Archaeological evidence shows that the site has ...

. The southern Tintina Trench is drained by the

Liard River The Liard River of the North American boreal forest flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Co ...

which first flows south-eastward, then eastward and finally merges into the Mackenzie River at

Fort Simpson, NWT Fort Simpson ( Slavey language: ''Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́'' "place where rivers come together") is a village, the only one in the entire territory, in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located on a ...

where the combined waters turn back north for the Mackenzie's long flow to the Arctic Ocean. Communities and features of the Trench include the following: * Lower Post, BC on the Liard Plain, see 'last outpost of civilization' by

George Mercer Dawson George Mercer Dawson (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian geologist and surveyor. Biography He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and a noted geologis ...

. *

Watson Lake, Yukon Watson Lake is a town in Yukon, Canada, located at mile 635 on the Alaska Highway close to the British Columbia border. It has a population of 790 in 2016. The town is named for Frank Watson, an American-born trapper and prospector, who settled in ...

on the Liard Plain, but a waypoint for travel up the Tintina *

Ross River, Yukon Ross River is an unincorporated community in Yukon, Canada. It lies at the junction of the Ross River and the Pelly River, along the Canol Road, not far from the Campbell Highway. Primary access to the Campbell Highway is via a nine-mile acc ...

Faro, Yukon Faro is a town in the central Yukon, Canada, the home of the now abandoned Faro Mine. It was the largest open-pit lead– zinc mine in the world as well as a significant producer of silver and other natural resources. The mine was built by the ...

Stewart Crossing, Yukon Stewart Crossing is a settlement in Yukon, Canada located on the Stewart River. It is about 179 km east of Dawson City on the Klondike Highway, near the junction with the Silver Trail, from which it is about southwest of Mayo. A Yukon gov ...

Dawson City, Yukon Dawson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Dawson (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Dawson (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places Antarctica ...

lying just west of and outside the actual Tintina Trench *

Forty Mile, Yukon Forty Mile is best known as the oldest town in Canada’s Yukon. It was established in 1886 at the confluence of the Yukon and Fortymile rivers by prospectors and fortune hunters in search of gold. Largely abandoned during the nearby Klondike G ...

Eagle, Alaska Eagle ( in Hän Athabascan) is a city on the south bank of the Yukon River near the Canada–US border in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. It includes the Eagle Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The ...

Robert Campbell Highway Yukon Highway 4, also known as the Robert Campbell Highway or Campbell Highway, is a road between Watson Lake, Yukon on the Alaska Highway to Carmacks, Yukon on the Klondike Highway. It is long and mostly gravel-surfaced. It serves the communi ...

Geology

The location of the Tintina Trench corresponds with recessive weathering rocks which have been deformed by 450 km of right lateral faulting along the

References

External links

Travel information on the Tintina Trench
* A summer 2007 article courtesy of Canadian Geographic magazine
Fault Zone: A massive geological scar slicing diagonally across the Yukon...
Geology of Yukon Valleys of Yukon {{Yukon-geo-stub