The Okanagan Valley and surrounding mountains have been shaped by fire and ice. Black Knight Mountain, as well as nearby Boucherie, Knox, Dilworth, and Layer Cake mountains were formed by volcanic activity about 50MYA. You can learn more about some of the other mountains by visiting nearby earthcaches GC1F5VM, GC2RR1T, and GC2RR28. There have also been several more recent volcanic events nearby, notably the King Edward flow (above Oyama) about 15MYA, the Kallis Flow (Big White) approximately 7MYA, and the Lambly Creek flow about 0.75MYA (above Bear Creek Park). Long after these volcanic episodes this part of North America was covered by glaciers. The Okanagan Lake area was covered to a depth of one to three kilometers by the Cordilleran ice sheet which flowed towards the south and southeast. This glaciation lasted until about 17,500TYA, and as the ice melted about 13,00 years ago a large lake, Glacial Lake Penticton, was formed behind a large ice plug to the south. At its highest, the lake surface was at about 475m, which is 100m above the current Okanagan Lake level.
To earn credit for this earthcache please email your answers to the following questions to the cache owner. Logs entered without an accompanying email will be deleted.
1. Why does the north side of the mountain have a much gentler slope than the south side?
2. What is the elevation at GZ? Would this location have been covered by glacial ice at the height of the glaciation? Would it have been covered by Glacial Lake Penticton?
3. How many landslides/debris fields on the west-facing slope of black Knight Mountain do you see from GZ?