Castles & karst |
Geomorphological Setting
![Picture](/uploads/5/0/4/5/50450907/1430449594.png)
The Castleguard area is part of the Main Ranges structural province of the Rocky Mountains.
Resistant Lower Paleozoic formations are repetitively overthrust from the west onto the resistant Upper Paleozoic formations. This has produced massive structures with comparatively little prominent folding or any other local deformation. Peaks rise 3,400 to 3,700 m. and extensive highland plateaus occur on the strongest rocks – these high plateaus support a chain of highland icecaps.
The Columbia Icefield is the most extensive of the icecaps in the area, and feeds eight major glaciers in the area. The karst area can be considered a single, massive block, which is dipping south-southeast into the southeast-oriented Castleguard Valley. There are few joints, but they are large and deep. Faulting is of little significance here.
The climatic conditions of the area have been calculated, however, there are no meteorological stations in the area with long-term data. Mean annual temperature is estimated to be 0 degrees C at the approximate base of the karst, falling to -7 C where the highest ice-free karst rocks are exposed. Day temperatures higher than 0 C are expected throughout late March to mid-November. Freezing temperatures may occur at night throughout the summer above 2,000 meters.