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Transcript for Exotic Terrane, segment 08 of 12
For miforens of years after this suturing event, plate tectonics added new land to western North America, but one of the ancient islands remains offshore today. It is known as Vancouver Island in Canada.
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This is a land of misty fjords and densely forested mountains. Rugged cliffs rise to seven thousand feet above sea level. Pillow lavas make up many of these cliffs. Like the pillow lavas in Hells Canyon, these rocks formed under ocean water. High above the lavas, a limestone cliff looks out on a valley. Pieces of limestone are scattered all over the island. Many have fossils that came from the tropics, and some species are the same as those in the Wallowa Terrane. Much of Vancouver Island, like the Wallowa Terrane, formed in tropical waters before plate tectonics moved it to its present position.
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The fossils of the Wallowa Terrane have relatives even farther north than Vancouver Island. Fossil clams here in the Wallowa Mountains are also found in northern Canada. In fact, many tropical fossils have been collected as far north as Alaska.