FALL/WINTER2016
MLCM
83
words :: LeslieAnthony
Standingatop theMalamute
, a graniticwhale
breachingbesideHighway99opposite the
StawamusChief,QuestUniversity geologist Steve
Quane hectors ourmagnifying-lens-wielding
group through a series of simple observations.
First, we evaluate theChief—its height, sheer face,
overhangs anddomed flanks; its colour, streaking,
and conspicuous dike cutting top-to-bottom
through the entire formation.Nextwe examine
the smooth rockonwhichwe stand, its polished
surface swarmedby striations that look like
fingernails dragged throughwarmbutter.
WhenQuane askswhatwe thinkwe’re looking at,
the terms “volcano” and “glacier” cropup often.
Clearly,manyof us have already leapt ahead to
the very essence of the “fire and ice” idea behind
DynamicGeology of the Sea-to-SkyCorridor,
the
adult-education course inwhichwe’ve enrolled.
The ever-smilingQuane, however, is havingnone
of our brown-nosing.
While it’s hardnot to reach forwhatwe imagine
might be behindour observations, there’s a
process that needs respecting.Quanenow steps us
through the reasoning scientistswoulduse todraw
conclusions, helpingus self-deliver a likely geologic
script. It turns out that a glacier did, in fact, occupy
this entire valley. A large one, over twokilometres
high,meaning that theChief—and the university
campus, and the baby farm that is Squamish—
were at one time deepbeneath it. As testament, the
glacier’s terminalmorainenow lies under thewaters
ofHowe Sound as a reef at PorteauCove.
Representing the 150,000,000 year-oldbasement
of theCoastMountains, theChief comprises
molten rocks formed20kilometres below the
Earth’s crust, begging a singular question: how
does something gestated sodeeply get exposedon
the surface?Threeways, saysQuane: 1) pushed
up frombelowby subduction, the same process
that sparkedneighbouring volcanoes likeBlack
Tusk andDiamondHead, visible fromwherewe
stand; 2) revealedby glaciers andwater eroding
material from above, and; 3)with a little help from
isostatic rebound (what landdoes once theweight
of glaciers is removed).
Whatwe come awaywith isn’t all deep-time dogma
and geologicmetric, but the decidedlyold-school
idea of observation versus interpretation.The
formermust come first: tenobservationsmay lead
toone conclusion, but an eleventhmight change
that completely.
Andwhile geologic conclusions stemming from
these are unavoidable, I have another: it occurs
tome that the corridor’smultifarious outdoor
activities—skiing its peaks, sledding its icecaps,
riding its rivers, climbing its faces, hiking and
biking its trails, canyoneering, scuba diving and
evenwind-riding inHowe Sound, southernmost
fjord inNorthAmerica—all owe something to this
unique interactionof volcanoes and glaciers.
SteveQuane, in the field.Garibaldi Lake.
Basalt columns near Highway 99.
One day, the Squamishwaterfront could all be underwater.
LESLIEANTHONY
