At the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Queen Charlotte Islands were witness to dramatic transformations. Surveyors and scientists mapped the islands, describing the resources and conditions. Because of the favourable climate and locale, settlers and capital flowed to the Islands, changing the landscapes. And although the Islands' indigenous peoples embraced many aspects of the modernisation in the islands, they were excluded from claims to the islands. The modernization of the Queen Charlotte Islands came to a fevered climax in 1913, with the building of canneries, mines whaling stations, and logging camps, and with a flurry of land speculation. Haida frustration also increased at this time, spurned by their alienation from the land and their treatment as wards of the state. This thesis considers these transformations in the Queen Charlotte Islands by reflecting on various representations of place. Through these disparate images is the common narrative of progress through which the Islands are framed - be it through various prospects of tourism, science, capital, church or bureaucracy. What becomes apparent in all attempts to define and describe this place are the failures of vocabularies that are brought by settlers and visitors and imposed upon the Islands. Rather, the ability to know and control becomes allusive, thus openning more questions into the meaning of place.

At the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Queen Charlotte Islands were witness to dramatic transformations. Surveyors and scientists mapped the islands, describing the resources and conditions. Because of the favourable climate and locale, settlers and capital flowed to the Islands, changing the landscapes. And although the Islands' indigenous peoples embraced many aspects of the modernisation in the islands, they were excluded from claims to the islands. The modernization of the Queen Charlotte Islands came to a fevered climax in 1913, with the building of canneries, mines whaling stations, and logging camps, and with a flurry of land speculation. Haida frustration also increased at this time, spurned by their alienation from the land and their treatment as wards of the state. This thesis considers these transformations in the Queen Charlotte Islands by reflecting on various representations of place. Through these disparate images is the common narrative of progress through which the Islands are framed - be it through various prospects of tourism, science, capital, church or bureaucracy. What becomes apparent in all attempts to define and describe this place are the failures of vocabularies that are brought by settlers and visitors and imposed upon the Islands. Rather, the ability to know and control becomes allusive, thus openning more questions into the meaning of place. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

The Queen Charlotte transform fault zone, which lies immediately east of the Queen Charlotte Islands, marks the boundary between the oceanic Pacific and the continental North American plates. Relative plate motions suggest that oblique underthrusting of the Pacific plate beneath North America may be presently occurring along this transform fault. To investigate this plate boundary and the implications of oblique subduction on crustal structure beneath the region, an onshore-offshore seismic refraction survey was conducted in 1983. The survey was designed to sample the crust beneath the Queen Charlotte Islands and across Hecate Strait to the mainland of British Columbia. Six ocean bottom seismographs and 11 land based stations were deployed along a 200 km line extending from 20 km west of the Queen Charlotte Islands to the mainland. Thirteen 540 kg and twenty 60 kg explosive charges were detonated along a 110 km long east-west line in the ocean to the west of the receivers. The multiple shots recorded on multiple receivers, all along the same line, effectively reverses the profile over some of its length. The objective of this study is to provide a model of the deep crustal structure beneath the fault zone, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and Hecate Strait. An exemplary subset of the extensive data set was selected to meet this objective. Beneath the deep ocean the Moho dips at about 2° to the east. At the Queen Charlotte terrace, a 25 km wide zone immediately west of the active Queen Charlotte fault, the dip of the Moho increases to about 5°. The crust is about 12 km thick at the terrace and 18 km thick at the eastern edge of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and in excess of 30 km thick at the mainland. The terrace unit itself is divided into two units - an upper unit with low velocity (4.1 km/s) and high gradient (0.3 km/s/km) and a lower unit with a high velocity (6.5 km/s) and a low gradient (0.05 km/s/km). This model, while not definitive, supports the interpretation of oblique shallow underthrusting of the Pacific plate beneath the Queen Charlotte Islands. The upper terrace unit could represent a sedimentary accretionary wedge and the lower terrace unit - the subducting slab. A model in which compression across the Queen Charlotte transform fault zone is taken up by deformation of the Queen Charlotte Islands in the form of crustal shortening and thickening is not compatible with the thin crust beneath the islands and Hecate Strait. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

The Queen Charlotte Islands are the most isolated islands in British Columbia and are populated by eight species of indigenous land mammals, all except one of which are represented by at least one endemic form. Geological and botanical evidence lend strong support to the hypothesis that the Islands could have been a refuge to most of these mammals during the last (Vashon) glaciation. Their unique mammal fauna could be the product of insular evolution, or due to the fact that it is of geographical relicts. Absence of fossil material prohibits a final solution to this problem, but circumstantial evidence suggests that the mammals have evolved their unique characteristics as a result of living in an insular environment. This conclusion is reached after the study of the most common mammals living on the Islands; the deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus keeni and P. sitkensis prevostensis) and the dusky shrews (Sorex obscurus elassodon and S. o. prevostensis), and after a wide literature survey of mammals found on other islands. The most important evidence favouring the insular evolution theory is the uniformity displayed when the characteristics of insular birds and mammals are compared with relatives living on the nearby mainland. Birds living on islands often possess longer tarsi and culmens; artiodactyls, lagomorphs and carnivores tend to be smaller on islands, while rodents are usually larger, live longer and possess shorter tails. A corollary of the relict hypothesis holds that a large reliot rodent can not survive active competition with the smaller form and is displaced by the latter when they come into contact. This theory could not be substantiated by the present study; on the contrary, the two would likely interbreed. The differences between the insular populations of large Peromysous are greater than one would expect if they owed their similarity to a common origin. Finally, the relict hypothesis would hold that such a characteristic as large size is conservative, whereas evidence indicates that this is not generally true. Reasons are suggested for the characteristics which are commonly found in insular mammals and herein lies the most interesting area for future work. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

This study compares the morphology of coastal, gravel-bed streams in two unlogged and two logged Queen Charlotte Islands watersheds. This comparison quantifies the influence of logging and related activities on channel morphology and, consequently, the fresh water physical habitat of salmonids. Further, it provides a basis upon which to determine habitat rehabilitation criteria for disturbed channels. Pools and riffles are detailed because: a) they reflect changes in sediment supply; b) they are important fish habitats, and; c) their general character has been documented in previously published literature allowing application of geomorphological results to habitat evaluation. Longitudinal profiles conducted over relatively long channel segments located within each watershed indicate that channels in watersheds logged to the channel banks by old techniques have reduced pool-to-pool spacings and increased riffle amplitudes and magnitudes. There is an increase in channel stored sediment resulting in proportionally larger riffles and smaller pools. This represents a reduction in available rearing habitat. No significant differences exist in pool and riffle characteristics between unlogged watersheds and those logged by contemporary techniques. In all cases the pool and riffle character differed from most previously published results. Results obtained from detailed study reaches located within each channel segment show that large organic debris is a controlling factor influencing the morphology of these streams. Based upon a comparison of reaches, it is concluded that LOD characteristics are altered in the older logged channels. This includes a shift in the size distribution, with smaller material being more prevalent. Orientation of this material is also altered; more LOD is lying parallel to the flow direction, as opposed to the more common diagonal orientation found in unlogged channels. This shift in orientation is responsible for a reduction in channel width and depth variability, reduced sediment texture, fewer cut banks, smaller pool areas and decreased channel stability. This results in reduced habitat diversity and quality. No morphological differences were detected between unlogged and recently logged reaches. The architecture of unlogged channels can be duplicated to rehabilitate disturbed streams. Pool and riffle sequences should be spaced approximately 2½ channel widths apart and riffle magnitudes should average 0.013 m/m. LOD should play a major role in rehabilitation. Long pieces of debris should be placed either diagonally across the channel to increase depth and width variability and to store sediment or parallel to the flow if width is to be reduced. Diversity can be increased by placing large root wads to produce small scour holes. Only small debris steps, accounting for approximately 10% of the overall change in elevation should be used. This comparative study of channel morphology emphasizes the importance of critically evaluating basin morphometric properties and the role of LOD orientation. Further, it indicates that previous studies reporting average values and neglecting LOD provide insufficient detail to quantify fish habitat. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

This study is an examination of the rate at which organic debris and clastic sediment accumulate in a gully after it is scoured by a debris torrent. Of particular interest is the effect that a change in land use from old-growth to clear-cut conditions may have on these rates. This change should result in a reduction in the delivery of large organic debris (LOD), which is a major factor in sediment storage in gullies. It is hypothesized that this change in land use, and the subsequent reduction in the LOD supply, should result in a significant difference in debris recharge rates between old-growth and clear-cut gullies. Twenty-nine gullies in both land-treatment groups were sampled on the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Sampling procedures involved the estimation of the volume of LOD and sediment in storage (normalized by the gully surface area) and the determination of the time elapsed since the last debris torrent. These data were then used to estimate recharge rates(3h1)am’year of LOD, sediment, and total debris. Recharge rates of each material were compared between land-treatment groups using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test. This test revealed that LOD has been delivered to old-growth gullies at a significantly higher rate relative to clear-cut gullies. There was no significant difference in sediment and total debris recharge rates between gullies in the two groups, but this outcome was partially a result of the small samples and the different debris recharge times in each data set. Graphical representations of the data permitted the identification of possible temporal trends in sediment and debris accumulation, which may be strengthened with larger data sets. Debris recharge rates have several applications. The estimate of sediment volume stored in a gully can be used in the construction of local sediment budgets, as one component of a watershed sediment cascade is quantified. The calculation of debris recharge rates will provide insight into the transfer rate of sediment from hillslopes to low order channels and to the storage capacity of the channels. Finally, debris recharge rates can be used to improve knowledge of the frequency-magnitude characteristics of debris torrents in an area.

This study is an examination of the rate at which organic debris and clastic sediment accumulate in a gully after it is scoured by a debris torrent. Of particular interest is the effect that a change in land use from old-growth to clear-cut conditions may have on these rates. This change should result in a reduction in the delivery of large organic debris (LOD), which is a major factor in sediment storage in gullies. It is hypothesized that this change in land use, and the subsequent reduction in the LOD supply, should result in a significant difference in debris recharge rates between old-growth and clear-cut gullies. Twenty-nine gullies in both land-treatment groups were sampled on the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Sampling procedures involved the estimation of the volume of LOD and sediment in storage (normalized by the gully surface area) and the determination of the time elapsed since the last debris torrent. These data were then used to estimate recharge rates(3h1)am’year of LOD, sediment, and total debris. Recharge rates of each material were compared between land-treatment groups using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test. This test revealed that LOD has been delivered to old-growth gullies at a significantly higher rate relative to clear-cut gullies. There was no significant difference in sediment and total debris recharge rates between gullies in the two groups, but this outcome was partially a result of the small samples and the different debris recharge times in each data set. Graphical representations of the data permitted the identification of possible temporal trends in sediment and debris accumulation, which may be strengthened with larger data sets. Debris recharge rates have several applications. The estimate of sediment volume stored in a gully can be used in the construction of local sediment budgets, as one component of a watershed sediment cascade is quantified. The calculation of debris recharge rates will provide insight into the transfer rate of sediment from hillslopes to low order channels and to the storage capacity of the channels. Finally, debris recharge rates can be used to improve knowledge of the frequency-magnitude characteristics of debris torrents in an area. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 214-241). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.