Hello! My name is Olivia and I go to Langara College. I’m majoring in biology with a side passion geology and music. I spend most of my time working and studying, (woo so much fun!) but when I’m not I love to spend time with my dog, Shadow.

“The Barrier” was created by the collision of lava and glacier

“The Barrier” was formed about 9000 years ago when lava from the volcano was blocked from the large glacier in the valley below. As the lava in the front cooled against the melting glacier, it formed a cliff. The water from the melted glacier collected behind the cooled lava creating a ‘dam-like’ structure, forming Garibaldi lake. The glaciers blue colour comes from the melted glacier water that contains rock flour (finely ground particles of rock.

Stawamus Chief is a medium-sized pluton

A pluton is a large spherical structure that is about more than 50 km inside of the earth. The Stawamus Chief, in particular, was formed during the cretaceous period by the cooling and solidification of magma. This rock was exposed by the erosion of rocks above the pluton during the millions of years after it formed. Once the granite rock was exposed, glacial erosion eroded the rock to have the steep walls that it has today.

Britannia Mountain ores are full of copper

Britannia mountain’s ores formed over one million years ago. As it formed a hot spring deposited the metals on the ocean floor, and the circulation of warm seawater transported individual pieces of the metal and slowly came together as a large deposit of metals. The lava from the nearby volcanoes immerse the metal pieces and stop them from dissolving into the seawater. Thousands of years later uplifting, the construction of mountains and erosion from glaciers and rivers helped to expose parts of the ore.