The Salmon River Watershed, located in the interior plateau of south central British Columbia, drains a 1500 km2 area to Shuswap Lake, which in turn drains to the South Thompson and down the Fraser River. Its headwaters are located in the Bouleau and Tahaetkun areas between the Nicola and Okanagan drainages. It also receives significant drainage from the fly hills. Elevations range from 349 m (Salmon Arm) to 2038m (Tahaetkun Mtn).
Major geologic formations in the watershed include volcanic and sedimentary rock of the Kamloops Group, located upstream of Westwold, argellite, greenstone, quartizite, limestone, conglomerate and granitic intrusives of the Cache Creek group located between Westwold and Glenemma, and metasediments and metavolcanics of the Mt Ida Group located between Glenemma and Salmon Arm (McPhee et al, 1996, Miles , 1995, Fulton 1975). The upland surficial geology is dominated by rock, till and undifferentiated till and colluvium. The lower valley includes surficial features such as landslides extending across the valley floor in the upper watershed, large fans, slides and gravel deposits and associated bogs and swamps in the mid valley floor and discontinuous terraces, and remnant lake bottom features in the lower watershed to Shuswap lake. (summarized from Miles, 95). These permanent geological and surficial features play a significant role in determining hydrology and land use within the watershed. The Salmon River is a remnant glacial meltwater stream. The "ribbon" of water that has flowed down the valley since the end of glaciation, is disproportionate to the size, width and sediment features of the valley bottom. Erosive forces which shaped the landscape 10,000 years ago moved large volumes of sediments to the valley floor between Westwold and Falkland, which are so massive and continuous as to be capable of passing the entire Salmon River flow below ground except for two or three months of the year at freshet. The river was thought to have flowed to the Okanagan drainage before a glacial fluvial delta developed which diverted the river to the north, where it flows today to Shuswap lake. There is considerable evidence that some underground flow still exits the system near Scwebs bridge, continuing to drain below surface to the Okanagan (Obedkoff, 1978). This was supported by flow measurements taken during the drought of 2003 as well. The Watershed has forested landscape, natural river processes of erosion and deposition, and the resulting high salmon population carrying capacity of the watershed. Large deposits of high quality gravel have contributed to the spawning and rearing success of past salmon populations. Vegetated banks provided structure and habitat.
TO LOG THIS CACHE YOU MUST Email Me THE FOLLOWING:
1. A picture of you and your GPS on the bridge
2. The height of the water on the TRans Canada Highway Bridge at the time of your visit. (This can just be telling me how deep it is from looking if you couldn't find the pole)
3. Name at least two of the biogeoclimatic zone, the Salmon River passes through