Capital Region Profile "Local Governments Working Together"
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Regional Planning Services Capital Region Profile "Local Governments Working Together" Physical Setting Vol. 1, No. 3 Spring 1996 s well as being extremely Aattractive for human settlement, the Capital Region’s physical setting and attributes are very diverse and in some cases unique. This volume presents an overview of the Region’s physical setting, relative location and natural features. Physiography he Region consists of two Tphysiographic divisions: The countryside in the northern and western portions consists of the Insular Mountains and San Juan Finlayson Arm from the Gowlland Tod Provincial Park Ridge, an area characterized by A deep fjord whose steep banks are heavily forested steep slopes and frequent outcrops of dark volcanic bedrock. characterized by wave-cut cliffs, formed as the Wrangellia land mass Elevations above sea level in this steep promontories, offshore rocks, by volcanic rocks forced northward area vary dramatically from 0 to and small islands. from the equator. Meanwhile, the 1,100 meters. mountains predating the arrival of Geology1 this new land mass were eroding The remaining area of the Region, and washing sediments which includes the Saanich he geologic history of the southwestward into an ocean trench Peninsula and the Gulf Islands, TCapital Region is complicated, and basin, now the Georgia Basin. consists mostly of a coastal plain and to some extent it remains a A portion of the eroded material varying in elevation from sea level mystery. A combination of was later put under great pressure to 200 meters. The plain is marked complex rock structures, erosive from the weight of the rocks forced by rolling hills, “kettle” topography features and forces, multiple over them (metamorphosized), (dips and hillocks) and marine geologic processes, and climatic while other sedimentary deposits basins with an essentially unaltered change have contributed to the remained unaltered. Fossilized glacial drift-type relief. The area topography, and continue to affect vegetation of that period formed is, for the most part, well-drained the area. the coal seams in the Region. but a wide range of moisture conditions may be observed in To summarize, about 100 million Erosion of the landscape continued, most localities. years ago, Vancouver Island revealing bedrock beneath. together with parts of Alaska, the Volcanic and subsurface activity Much of the shoreline of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and part continued. Where the plates that Region is ragged, being of the southwest BC coast were form the earth’s crust met, faults formed and moved as intense pressures were exerted. By 38 million years ago the basic geologic features found today had been laid down. On top of this incredible mixture of rock formations came the glaciers of the Ice Ages which covered the Region four times in the last two million years. The ice sheets scratched and gouged the rock formations, scraping off sediment deposits. Their weight caused the land mass on which they travelled first to drop and then as the ice sheets retreated, to rebound and rise. This caused variations in the The Saanich Peninsula looking toward Sidney Island from Bear Hill Regional Park coastline. Sediments picked up - coastal plains lie in the rainshadow of the Malahat Ridge during the glaciers’ movements were deposited as the sheets moved crosses the Island from a point Malahat Fault, running from forward, then receded. The last northwest of Port Renfrew, Goldstream along Findlayson Arm glacier left the Region 9,000 years continues eastwards along the deep through to Sidney, and the ago, but the height of the land mass trench of the San Juan River, and Shawnigan Fault, running beside continued to rise for the next 1,500 into the Strait of Georgia north of Sooke Lake, through Shawnigan years after the ice’s weight was Swartz Bay. The Leech River Lake, and Patricia Bay. Depending removed. Some of the dry land Fault runs east-west below Sooke on the type of quake, its location, thus created was flooded again as Lake and just offshore south of and duration, the damage caused to worldwide temperatures increased, Saxe and Clover Points. the natural landscape may include submerging some coastlines. Perpendicular to that are the cracking of the surface, landslides, In present times, severe winter storms (usually from the southeast), ocean currents, tides and waves can be observed as they continue to have dramatic effects on the Region’s beaches and headlands. The movement of the plates that make up the Earth’s crust continues to affect the Region today. To the west of Vancouver Island, the Juan de Fuca plate is pushing itself (not always smoothly) under the North American plate. As a result, this area like most of the continent’s west coast is subject to earth tremors of varying magnitude. The Region is also criss-crossed with fault lines: the San Juan Fault Beechy Head in East Sooke Regional Park - a good example of typical rugged coastline in the Western Region. Page 2 Capital Region Profile - Physical Setting liquifaction of fine-grained soils Victoria Airport where an (clay, sand and gravel), water annual average of 2082 hours inundations (caused by quake- has been recorded, second generated waves called only to the Canadian Prairies tsunamis), and shoreline and high for annual hours of sunshine. watermark changes. (Earthquake potentials and readiness will be Winds average 10 km/h from discussed further in the volume the west throughout the year. on Protective Services). Strongest winds occur in the winter months, and are from a southwest and southeasterly Climate2 direction. he climate of Vancouver The climate of the southeast TIsland is strongly influenced portion of the Island is by the ocean, topography and influenced by the Olympic latitude. It is characterized by and Insular Mountains to the hot and relatively dry summers, south and west respectively and mild wet winters resulting in resulting in what has been a frost-free season of roughly called the Inner Coast climate. 202 days in Victoria. At the Victoria International Airport, Precipitation and cloudiness average temperatures range from 0 are reduced and the McKenzie Bight - Mt. Work Regional Park a January low of 0.3 C to a July temperature range is high of 21.80C. The highest somewhat increased from the effect of the Olympic Mountains, temperature recorded at the west coast of the Island. 0 and receives 85.8 cm of Airport was 36.1 C in 1941, and Victoria (Airport), near the the lowest, -15.60C in 1950. precipitation annually (rarely junction of the Straits of anything but rainfall). Of that Georgia and Juan de Fuca, amount only 10.6 cm fall during Bright sunshine is a feature of the benefits from the rain-shadow area, particularly adjacent to the months of June to September inclusive. Victoria (City) receives Climate Statistics: Major Canadian Centers an average of 61.9 cm of precipitation annually, 8.5 cm of Mean Jan. Mean July Precipitation* Precipitation Sunshine this in the summer months. City Temp.(0C) Temp.(0C) (cm) No. of Days* (Hrs)* Victoria (City) +5 +15 61.9 135 2185 The climate throughout the Charlottetown -7 +18 112.8 229 1803 Saanich Peninsula and adjacent Sidney -4 +18 138.1 178 1824 islands is in many respects similar Quebec -12 +19 109.9 231 1708 to that of much of the Northern Montreal -9 +22 99.9 225 1959 Mediterranean region. The Ottawa -11 +21 85.1 212 1995 summer temperature is somewhat Toronto -4 +22 79.0 175 2045 lower but the drought during the summer months is generally just Winnipeg -18 +20 53.5 178 2230 as pronounced. The deep north- Regina -17 +19 39.8 170 2277 south valley of which Findlayson Calgary -11 +17 43.7 174 2208 Arm is a flooded part helps create Edmonton -15 +18 45.7 184 2237 both the dryness of the Peninsula, Vancouver +2 +17 106.8 169 1931 and the near-rainforest conditions * Annual Averages of Goldstream Park and parts of the Highlands which receive an Source: Environment Canada Document No. 00 0063 9010 Capital Region Profile - Physical Setting Page 3 average of 137 cm (54") of precipitation annually. Port Renfrew on the western edge of the Region is more directly exposed to weather arriving from the Pacific. Though the weather station records for this location have only been kept for long enough to provide average conditions for the period from June to October, in that dry portion of the year the average rainfall is 80.1 cm, nearly as much as the Peninsula gets in the entire year. One day in February 1986, 29.3 cm (nearly a foot) of rain fell. Temperature averages are slightly Sea lions use the rocky shores as “haul-outs” lower than those experienced on the Peninsula. ecological conditions and rivers and the ocean. Large characteristics of the Region. mammals such as wolves, cougar, 3 Natural History bear, wolverine and elk roam the The western portion of the Region area. he Capital Region is one of the is rugged and ‘wild’. The shoreline Tmost biologically rich and is rocky and pounded by surf. The The east is much drier and contains variable areas in Canada. The character of the forest changes the majority of the human major differences in terrain and markedly from the lush coniferous population. The shoreline is rocky climate between west and east, coastal and valley bottoms to the but sheltered. Bays and inlets are have shaped the very different steep sub-alpine ridges. Streams common. The terrain is gently chisel down from the ridge tops to rolling. Dry ‘rainshadow’ forests rise to scattered low rocky hilltops. Many plants found in this portion of the region are dry- and warm-climate species at the northern extension of their range.