Tencho Glacier is a

mountain glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires d ...

in northwestern

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. It is located inside

Mount Edziza Provincial Park Mount Edziza Provincial Park is a provincial park in Cassiar Land District of northern British Columbia, Canada. It was established on 27 July 1972 to showcase the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and the surrounding Tahltan Highland. Geography The ...

on the

Tahltan Highland The Tahltan Highland is an upland area of plateau and relatively lower mountain ranges in British Columbia, Canada, lying east of the Boundary Ranges and south of the Inklin River (the east fork of the Taku River). Its eastern boundary is formed ...

, an upland area of the

Stikine Plateau The Stikine Plateau is a plateau in northern British Columbia, Canada. It lies between the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the west and southwest and the Cassiar Mountains along its northeast, and between the Skeena Mountains on its so ...

. Tencho Glacier is the source of several small streams that flow from the

Mount Edziza volcanic complex The Mount Edziza volcanic complex ( ; abbreviated MEVC) is a group of volcanoes and associated lava flows in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Located on the Tahltan Highland, it is southeast of Telegraph Creek and southwest of Dease Lak ...

Etymology

The name of the glacier was suggested by the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; , CGC) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the environment. A branch of the Earth Science ...

on November 15, 1979, and eventually became official on November 24, 1980. ''Tencho'' is derived from the

Tahltan The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahan ...

words ''ten'' and ''cho'', which mean ''ice'' and ''big'' or ''great'' respectively. This glacier is so-named because it is the largest glacier of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.

Geography

Tencho Glacier originates from Ice Peak and Tennena Cone on the southern flank of

Mount Edziza Mount Edziza ( ; ) is a volcanic mountain in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Big Raven Plateau of the Tahltan Highland which extends along the western side of the Stikine Plateau. Mount Ed ...

. Its southern terminus is surrounded by Kaia Bluff in the southeast, Coffee Crater in the south and

Cocoa Crater Cocoa Crater, sometimes called Cocoa Cone, is a cinder cone in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has an elevation of and is one of several volcanic cones in the Snowshoe Lava Field at the southern end of the ...

in the southwest. Unnamed

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

of Taweh Creek originate from the southwestern side of Tencho Glacier between Cocoa Crater and Coffee Crater. Shaman Creek originates from the southern end of Tencho Glacier whereas the eastern side of Tencho Glacier is drained by unnamed tributaries of Tennaya Creek. Several unnamed tributaries of Sezill Creek originate from the western side of Tencho Glacier by Tennena Cone.

Geology

Tencho Glacier overlies the Ice Peak Formation, one of several

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

s comprising the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.

Obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

of the Ice Peak Formation occurs east and west of Tencho Glacier and possibly extends under the glacier.

Beds A bed is a piece of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many be ...

of coarse comenditic

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava (or shallow intrus ...

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of extremely vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicula ...

belonging to the

Sheep Track Member The Sheep Track Member is a stratigraphic unit of the Big Raven Formation, part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It consists of pumice from an explosive eruption that fell over an area about . The pu ...

of the Big Raven Formation are exposed along the western edge of Tencho Glacier. They are up to thick and were deposited by an eruption that probably originated from a deep, circular depression on the surface of Tencho Glacier north of Coffee Crater. A crescent-shaped ridge at the southern terminus of Tencho Glacier might be a glacially modified

tuff ring Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...

that formed in a meltwater lake when the glacier extended onto the

Big Raven Plateau The Big Raven Plateau is an intermontane plateau in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It lies on the Tahltan Highland and is surrounded by several valleys, including those of Mess Creek, Kakiddi Creek, Chakima Creek ...

References

{{Mount Edziza volcanic complex Glaciers of Mount Edziza Tahltan place names

Etymology

Geography

Geology

See also

References