Geography
The Queen Charlotte islands are separated from the main coastline
of British Columbia by the 130-kilometre wide Hecate Strait. Just
a few kilometres off-shore the ocean reaches depths of 2,000 feet.
Along this same ocean floor runs the Queen Charlotte Fault, marking
the boundary between the continental and pacific tectonic plates.
At the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,600 years ago, the island
archipelago was in fact linked to the B.C. mainland and the Hecate
Strait was one vast wilderness tundra. But the gradually warming
climate thawed out the ice sheets at about the same time as there
was a settling of a bulge in the Earth's crusts underneath the
islands. The two combined to bring a rapid rise in the sea levels.
Shorelines changed dramatically and widespread flooding forced
the Queen Charlotte islands' first inhabitants to hurriedly move
their villages to higher ground. According to Haida folklore,
entire villages were drowned in the attempt. (1)
Sea Life
Stellar's sea lions make their home in the Queen Charlotte Islands,
which boasts one of the largest breeding colonies on Canada's
west coast. But the sea lions are only one member of a richly
diverse marine life along the archipelago's sheltered east coastline.
The sea abounds with salmon, herring, halibut and rockfish, as
well as invertebrates like mussels, crabs, barnacles, star fish,
sea urchins and octopus. Nowhere is this abundance more apparent
than in the waters of "Qeet" (or Burnaby Narrows), a 50-metre
wide channel that provides a constant flow of nutrient-rich water.
Grey whales migrate through here each spring as well as ten other
species of whales such as killer, humpback, beaked, sperm, sei
finback and minke. Porpoise and Dolphin round out the spectacular
show. (2)
• • • • •
Footnotes
1. uncredited, Nan Sdins: Spirits Of Haida Gwaii (http://www.HistoryLands.com/sites/12-nan-sdins, © 1999 Digital Wizards Inc.)
2. uncredited, Nan Sdins: Spirits Of Haida Gwaii (http://www.HistoryLands.com/sites/12-nan-sdins, © 1999 Digital Wizards Inc.)
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