Coast Mountains

The Coast Mountains are a mountain range along the Pacific coast of British Columbia and southeastern Alaska, extending north into Yukon. They include extensive icefields, glaciers, fjords, and steep coastal terrain.

Pacific Coast Ranges: A chain of mountain ranges along western North America’s Pacific margin. The Coast Mountains form a major northern section of this broader mountain system.
Pacific Ranges: The southernmost major division of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia. They contain the range’s southern peaks and major glacier systems.
Subduction: The descent of one tectonic plate beneath another into the mantle. Ancient subduction generated magma that contributed to the Coast Mountains’ bedrock.
Garibaldi Provincial Park: A protected mountain area north of Vancouver, British Columbia, known for glaciers, volcanic terrain, and alpine lakes. It protects a well-known southern Coast Mountains landscape.
Glacier retreat: The sustained reduction in a glacier’s size as melting and ice loss exceed accumulation. Many Coast Mountains glaciers are shrinking as regional temperatures rise.
Coast Range Arc: A long-lived belt of igneous rocks formed by subduction along western North America. Its plutonic rocks make up much of the Coast Mountains’ bedrock.
Kitimat Ranges: A central division of the Coast Mountains in western British Columbia. Their rugged terrain occupies the coastward middle section of the range.
North American Plate: A tectonic plate that carries most of North America and parts of the Atlantic and Arctic floors. Its western margin interacted with oceanic plates during the range’s formation.
Coast Mountains Conservation Initiative: A conservation effort focused on protecting wilderness in British Columbia’s Coast Mountains. It addresses pressures on the range’s temperate rainforest and mountain habitats.
Climate change in British Columbia: Observed and projected changes in British Columbia’s climate, including warming, shifting precipitation, and extremes. Its effects alter snowpack, glacier mass, and water supplies in the range.

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