Alpine karst systems at Crowsnest Pass, Alberta-British Columbia, Canada

Crowsnest Pass is a deep E-W breach through a westernly dipping thrust plate of massive platform limestones that contains one major aquiclude stratum. Preglacial drainage was karstic, strike-oriented to the Pass in separate systems above and below the aquiclude. Alpine glacial cirque and trough valley entrenchment has disordered the aquifers. In different catchments there is now karst drainage down dip, against dip, aslant strike, or surface drainage. Karstic strike drainage survives where hydraulic gradients exceed 1:15. The aquiclude is breached at one site. It is shown that regional prediction of karstic flow in alpine terrains is problematic.