Columbia Icefield

The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains of North America. Located in the Canadian Rockies astride the Continental Divide along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the ice field lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and partly in the southern end of Jasper National Park.

The Columbia Icefield is located in the Canadian Rockies astride the Continental Divide along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the ice field lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and partly in the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 325 square kilometres (125 sq mi) in area, 100 metres (330 ft) to 365 metres (1,198 ft) in depth and receives up to 7 metres (280 in) of snowfall per year.

The Columbia Icefield was formed during the Great Glaciation, or Illinoisan period (238,000 to 126,000 BC). The initial advancement of the ice field ended during the latter millennia of the Early Wisconsinan period (73,000 to 62,000 BC), around the time Homo sapiens began to appear on the earth. The next major advance of the ice field occurred during the Late Wisconsinan period (18,000 to 9,000 BC), which marked the end of the major intercontinental land mass bridges. During the Crowfoot Glacier advance (9,000 to 7,000 BC), humans learned farming and civilizations began to develop along the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers. The last major period of advance occurred during the Little Ice Age, which lasted from about 1,200 to 1900 AD. Around 1800, the Athabasca Glacier peaked, then went through a period of recession, and then advanced again until 1840, when it began receding until the present day.

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