Spatsizi Plateau

Spatsizi Plateau
Plateau
Spatsizi Plateau
Coordinates: 57°50′00″N 128°29′00″W
Location	British Columbia, Canada
Part of	Stikine Plateau
Geology	Flood basalt

The Spatsizi Plateau is a plateau in the upper basin of the Stikine River in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Most of the plateau, which is a sub-plateau of the Stikine Plateau, is enshrined in either Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park or Spatsizi Headwaters Provincial Park. It is flanked on the south and southwest by the Skeena Mountains, on the southeast by the Omineca Mountains, on the northeast by the Stikine Ranges of the Cassiar Mountains, and on the west by the Klastline Plateau (another subplateau of the Stikine Plateau).

Name

The name is an adaptation of a phrase in the Sekani language meaning "red goat", a reference to the habit of mountain goats in the area rolling on a particular red-coloured mountain, turning their coats red (tspah=goat, tsije=red).

Geology and terrain

The plateau is a large lava plateau, dissected by river valleys, and contains various small mountain ranges. Both the Stikine and Spatsizi Rivers have their sources in the plateau.

Climate

The climate of the plateau, which is of high altitude, is sub-arctic in nature. Isolated from the moisture of the Pacific Ocean by successive walls of mountains and other plateaus, the Spatsizi is semi-arid in many areas.

Fauna

The Spatsizi Plateau is the range of the largest remaining herd of woodland caribou in British Columbia. Other fauna in the area include mountain goats, moose, grizzlies and wolves.

References

• "Spatsizi Plateau". BC Geographical Names.