Chasm Provincial Park is a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

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 near the town of Clinton. Expanded to in 1995, the park was originally created in 1940 to preserve and promote a feature known as the Painted Chasm, or simply The Chasm, a

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

created from melting glacial waters eroding a

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 ...

over a 10 million year span called the

Chilcotin Group The Chilcotin Group, also called the Chilcotin Plateau Basalts, is a large area of basaltic lava that forms a volcanic plateau running parallel with the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in south-central British Columbia, Canada. Predominantly, during Mioc ...

. The walls of the Chasm contain tones of red, brown yellow, and purple and are an average of in height. The Chasm is approximately wide and long, and lies adjacent to the route of the

Cariboo Road The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen's Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching fro ...

, which lines the northern apex of the Chasm alongside the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

line. In addition to the park upland areas of ponderosa pine, marshes and lakes are included in the park's boundaries.

Wildlife

Wildlife found in the park includes bighorn sheep, moose, mule deer, black bear, coyote, small mammals, songbirds and birds of prey.

Images

File:Chasm Provincial Park trees and flood basalts.jpg, Multiple

flood basalt A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot reach ...

flows and trees in Chasm Provincial Park File:The Great Chasm, 13 miles above Clinton (15350700748).jpg, The Great Chasm in 1867, by

Frederick Dally Frederick Dally (July 29, 1838 – July 28, 1914) was an English Canadian portrait and landscape photographer best known for his views of the Cariboo goldfields in British Columbia. Early life and Victoria He was born on July 29, 1838, in South ...

References

Provincial parks of British Columbia Canyons and gorges of British Columbia Geography of the Cariboo Landforms of the Cariboo Bonaparte Country 1940 establishments in British Columbia Protected areas established in 1940 {{BritishColumbia-park-stub