A fascinating look at the geology of British Columbia and its role in creating the diversity of life in this provinceGeology is the foundation of natural history. Drifting continents, rising and falling mountain barriers, volcanic eruptions, and moving ice sheets have all played an essential role in creating the diversity of life in British Columbia today. In this updated edition of this bestseller in the British Columbia: A Natural History Series, Sydney Cannings and Richard Cannings tell the story of the province's geology and the history of its living creatures. Starting 200 million years ago, when there was no British Columbia west of the present Rocky Mountains, the authors take us on a journey through time, describing the collisions of island chains called terranes, the sliding of plates, the erupting of volcanos, and the movement of glaciers that created British Columbia as we know it today. They also describe the rich legacy of fossils left behind as a result of all this geological activity.Climate has also changed over the eons. Twelve thousand years ago, after the glaciers receded, the climate of the southern mainland was colder and drier than it is today; the coast received about 600 millimetres less rainfall annually than it does today. Both geological changes and climate changes have determined what types of plants and animals live where they do today.

For example, because flickers were once separated by Pleistocene ice sheets, today there are two subspecies of this bird--the Yellow-shafted Flicker of eastern B.C. and the Red-shafted Flicker of western B.C. For the same reason, the Jack Pine is found in the east, and the Lodgepole Pine is found in the west.The continents continue to move and mountains continue to grow every day. Over the last fifty years, a third of the Kootenay's grasslands have become forested and Barren Owls have come to occupy the whole province. Although the landscape may look static to us, British Columbia is constantly being transformed before our very eyes.

In this new, updated edition, the first half of the book has been extensively revised to reflect the current thinking about plate tectonics and the geological history of British Columbia. There are also seven new maps and a number of new photographs, as well as more updates to the second half of the book. The authors are adding an appendix listing the various types of rock in British Columbia and where they are found, adding a field-guide component to this informative book that will engage readers and compel them to go see these rocks for themselves. Sydney Cannings is a zoologist working on endangered species for Environment Canada in Whitehorse, Yukon. He has also worked as an endangered species specialist for the British Columbia government and as the curator of the Spencer Entomological Museum at the University of British Columbia. JoAnne Nelson has worked as a geologist and a mapping specialist and has taught at the University of British Columbia. She is currently the lead B.C.

Geological Survey geologist in the Edges project, which studies the evolution of the Cordilleran mountain chain. Richard Cannings works as a consulting biologist assessing endangered species and organizing bird population surveys, among other projects. He is the author of An Enchantment of Birds, The Rockies: A Natural History, and, with Sydney Cannings, British Columbia: A Natural History and The B.C. Roadside Naturalist. He lives in Penticton, British Columbia.