Peyto Lake of Banff National Park-Neraton Land

Banff National Park has numerous large glaciers and icefields,
many of which are easily accessed from the Icefields Parkway. Small cirque glaciers are fairly common in the Main Ranges, situated in depressions on the side of many mountains. As with the majority of mountain glaciers around the world, the glaciers in Banff are retreating. Photographic evidence alone provides testimony to this retreat and the trend has become alarming enough that glaciologists have commenced researching the glaciers in the park more thoroughly, and have been analyzing the impact that reduced glacier ice may have on water supplies to streams and rivers. The largest glaciated areas include the Waputik and Wapta Icefields, which both lie on the Banff-Yoho National Park border. Wapta Icefield covers approximately 80 square kilometres (30.9 sq mi) in area. Outlets of Wapta Icefield on the Banff side of the continental divide include Peyto, Bow, and Vulture Glaciers. Bow Glacier retreated an estimated 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) between the years 1850 and 1953, and since that period, there has been further retreat which has left a newly formed lake at the terminal moraine. Peyto Glacier has retreated approximately 2,000 metres (6,561 ft) since 1880, and is at risk of disappearing entirely within the next 30 to 40 years. Both Crowfoot and Hector Glaciers are also easily visible from the Icefields Parkway, yet they are singular glaciers and are not affiliated with any major icesheets.

The Columbia Icefield, at the northern end of Banff,
straddles the Banff and Jasper National Park border and extends into British Columbia. Snow Dome, in the Columbia Icefields, forms a hydrological apex of North America, with water flowing from this point in to the Pacific via the Columbia, the Arctic Ocean via the Athabasca River, and into the Hudson Bay and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean, via the North Saskatchewan River. Saskatchewan Glacier, which is approximately 13 kilometers (8 mi) in length and 30 square kilometres (11.6 sq mi) in area, is the major outlet of the Columbia Icefield that flows into Banff. Between the years 1893 and 1953, Saskatchewan Glacier had retreated a distance of 1,364 metres (4,474 ft), with the rate of retreat between the years 1948 and 1953 averaging 55 meters (180 ft) per year. Overall, the glaciers of the Canadian Rockies lost 25% of their mass during the 20th century.


The Canadian Rockies are comprised of sedimentary rock, including shale, sandstone, limestone, and quartzite, that originated as deposits in a shallow inland sea. The geologic formations in Banff range in age from Precambrian eon to the Jurassic period. The mountains were formed 80-120 million years ago, as a product of thrust faults. Over the past 80 million years, erosion has taken its toll on the landscape, with more extensive erosion occurring in the foothills and Front Range than in the Main Range. Banff's mountains exhibit several different shapes that have been influenced by the composition of rock deposits, layers, and their structure. Numerous mountains in Banff are carved out of sedimentary layers that slope at 50-60 degree angles. Such dip slope mountains have one side with a steep face, and the other with a more gradual slope that follows the layering of the rock formations, e.g., Mount Rundle, near the Banff townsite.

Other types of mountains in Banff include complex,
irregular, anticlinal, synclinal, castellate, dogtooth, and sawback mountains. Castle Mountain exemplifies a castellate shape, with steep slopes and cliffs. The top section of Castle Mountain is comprised of a layer of Paleozoic-era shale, sandwiched between two limestone layers. Dogtooth mountains, such as Mount Louis, exhibit sharp, jagged slopes. The Sawback Range, which consists of dipping sedimentary layers, has been eroded by cross gullies. Scree deposits are common toward the bottom of many mountains and cliffs.

Banff's landscape has also been marked by glacial erosion,
with deep U-shaped valleys and many hanging valleys that often form waterfalls. Matterhorn-type mountains, such as Mount Assiniboine, have been shaped by glacial erosion that has left a sharp peak. A number of small gorges also exist, including Mistaya Canyon and Johnston Canyon.


	The Canadian Rockies consist of several northwest-southeast trending ranges. Closely following the continental divide, the Main Ranges form the backbone of the Canadian Rockies.

The Front Ranges are located east of the Main Ranges. Banff National Park extends eastward from the continental divide and includes the eastern slope of the Main Ranges and much of the Front Ranges. The latter include the mountains around the Banff townsite. The foothills are located to the east of the Park, between Calgary and Canmore. On the other side of the Park, the Western Ranges pass through Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. Still farther west is the Rocky Mountain Trench, the western boundary of the Canadian Rockies region in British Columbia.


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