Pavilion Lake is a freshwater lake located in Marble Canyon,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

home to colonies of freshwater

microbialite Microbialite is a benthic sedimentary deposit made of carbonate mud (particle diameter less than 5 μm) that is formed with the mediation of microbes. The constituent carbonate mud is a type of '' automicrite'' (or ''authigenic carbonate mu ...

Location and local communities

It is located between the towns of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...

and Cache Creek (29.44 kilometres WNW, as the crow flies, from Cache Creek) and lies along BC Highway 99, 8.85 highway kilometres (northeast then southeast) from

Pavilion, British Columbia Pavilion is an unincorporated community on the eastern side of the Fraser River in the South Cariboo region of southwestern British Columbia. The place is near Mile 21 of the Old Cariboo Road. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road about n ...

. There is a small community of lakeshore residences, some

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for happiness, enjoyment, amusement, ...

al and seasonal only, located on the lake's eastern shore adjacent to the highway. The lake is overlooked by the

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

s of Marble Canyon, which is the southern buttress of the Marble Range, and the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s of the northernmost Clear Range. Also overlooking the lake is Chimney Rock (''K'lpalekw'' in

Secwepemc'tsn The Shuswap language (; , ) is a northern Interior Salish language traditionally spoken by the Shuswap people (, ) of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia b ...

, " Coyote's Penis"), which like the lake and the canyon have spiritual significance to the adjoining native communities, the Tskwaylaxw people of

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

and the Bonaparte band of Secwepemc at Upper Hat Creek. One of the rancheries and a rodeo and pow-wow ground of the Pavilion Band is located at Marble Canyon's south entrance. The lake area and its foreshore were added to Marble Canyon Provincial Park in order to protect its special scientific and heritage values.

Characteristics

The lake demonstrates karst hydrology, with underground inflows from Marble Canyon creeks. The lake has generally low biological productivity, and is classified as ultraoligotrophic. It also features a high degree of water clarity. The lake gets covered with ice annually, and is dimictic, going through two thermal overturns per year. The lake reaches a maximum depth of 65 meters below the surface. It is also a

hard water Hard water is water that has a high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bic ...

lake, due to its high mineral content.

Microbialites and scientific research

Microbialite Three Poles Diver 50 - 60 feet

Part of a

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

formation, the lake is most notable for being home to colonies of microbialites, a type of

stromatolite Stromatolites ( ) or stromatoliths () are layered Sedimentary rock, sedimentary formation of rocks, formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by Photosynthesis, photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing micr ...

. Colonies of microbialites grow from depths of 5 to 55 meters. Low sedimentation rates may allow for continued development of these colonies. One estimate puts microbialite growth at 0.05 mm per year within the last 1,000 years. Research at Pavilion Lake has suggested that most biological activity in microbialite structures occurs near the surface of these structures. The lake's harsh geochemical environment prevents the development of metazoan grazers, also allowing for microbialite development. The lake has been the subject of

astrobiology Astrobiology (also xenology or exobiology) is a scientific field within the List of life sciences, life and environmental sciences that studies the abiogenesis, origins, Protocell, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the univ ...

research by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

, and research institutions from around the world. The research falls under the umbrella of the Pavilion Lake Research Project. The Pavilion Lake Research Project has used the site to help train

astronauts.

References

External links

Pavilion Lake Research Project website

from SFU site
description of site
from SFU website
Location map and images from ''Nature'' magazine
{{authority control Astrobiology Lillooet Country Thompson Country Lakes of British Columbia Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia

Location and local communities

Characteristics

Microbialites and scientific research

See also

References

External links