Dear Annie,

The current mountains along the British Columbia coastline are believed to be formed by a larger island that existed several eons ago off the British Columbia coast, where this large island subducted under the North American Plate, creating the mountains we enjoy from Alaska to approximately the Washington State and British Columbia border today. The Canadian mountains are believed to be formed completely, and very differently geologically, compared to the mountain chains found along the western side of the United States because of this presumed former large island off the British Columbia coastline, compared to volcanic geological events south of the border.

Therefore, geological layers would more than likely be exposed from previous deposits of oceanic sediments, and previous carboniferous deposits...

As a side note, the Canadian portion of the Rocky Mountains is also believed to be presented more than one once, during their cyclical geological history prior to the large island crashing into the North American Plate. Portions of Western Canada, along the entire length of the Canadian Rockies leeward side, have salt layers that are four hundred to eight hundred metres thick, and they are found at depths greater than 1000 metres below the current surface. These salt layers can be possibly explained by trapped evaporating oceans, caused by continuous plate tectonic action along the west coast, where plate tectonics created the rising mountains trapping the saltwater and allowing the evaporation event to begin, geological time eroded the previous mountain sets allowing each salt layer to be covered with quietly deposited fine sedimentary shale like material, therefore separating the deposited salt layers.

Please forgive my vague overview and explanation, but I am remembering faded text from my university days where I studied geology, coastal geomorphology, and glaciology as a distraction from my Architectural studies. Then again, maybe my memory has faded...

jim k