{{Short description|Glacier in British Columbia, Canada}} {{Infobox glacier | name = Tencho Glacier | image = Southern flank of Mount Edziza.jpg | caption = [[Coffee Crater]] with Tencho Glacier in the background | type = [[Mountain glacier]] | location = [[Mount Edziza]], [[British Columbia]], Canada | map = Canada British Columbia | label_position = right | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 9 | mapframe-wikidata = yes | coordinates = {{coord|57|38|59|N|130|39|06|W|region:CA-BC|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref = <ref name="Tencho">{{cite bcgnis|id=15009|name=Tencho Glacier|access-date=2024-01-11}}</ref> | status = Retreating }} '''Tencho Glacier''' is a [[mountain glacier]] in northwestern [[British Columbia]], Canada. It is located inside [[Mount Edziza Provincial Park]] on the [[Tahltan Highland]], an upland area of the [[Stikine Plateau]].<ref name="HR">{{cite map|url=https://volcano.si.edu/maps/GVAlaskaCanada/G910509-006.jpg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502071600/https://volcano.si.edu/maps/GVAlaskaCanada/G910509-006.jpg|title=Telegraph Creek, Cassiar Land District, British Columbia|scale=1:250,000|series=104 G|map=A 502|edition=3|type=Topographic map|publisher=[[Department of Energy, Mines and Resources]]|year=1989|language=en,fr|access-date=2021-09-25|archive-date=2021-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|last=Holland|first=Stuart S.|url=http://cmscontent.nrs.gov.bc.ca/geoscience/PublicationCatalogue/Bulletin/BCGS_B048.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114024907/http://cmscontent.nrs.gov.bc.ca/geoscience/PublicationCatalogue/Bulletin/BCGS_B048.pdf|archive-date=2018-11-14|title=Landforms of British Columbia: A Physiographic Outline|publisher=[[Government of British Columbia]]|page=49|year=1976|asin=B0006EB676|oclc=601782234}}</ref> Tencho Glacier is the source of several small streams that flow from the [[Mount Edziza volcanic complex]].
==Etymology== The name of the glacier was suggested by the [[Geological Survey of Canada]] on November 15, 1979, and eventually became official on November 24, 1980. ''Tencho'' is derived from the [[Tahltan]] words ''ten'' and ''cho'', which mean ''ice'' and ''big'' or ''great'' respectively. This glacier is so-named because it is the largest glacier of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.<ref name="Tencho"/>
==Geography== Tencho Glacier originates from [[Ice Peak]] and [[Tennena Cone]] on the southern flank of [[Mount Edziza]].<ref name="HR"/><ref name="HS">{{cite cgndb|id=JBAUY|title=Tencho Glacier|access-date=2024-01-11}}</ref> Its southern terminus is surrounded by Kaia Bluff in the southeast, [[Coffee Crater]] in the south and [[Cocoa Crater]] in the southwest. Unnamed [[tributaries]] of [[Taweh Creek]] originate from the southwestern side of Tencho Glacier between Cocoa Crater and Coffee Crater. [[Shaman Creek]] originates from the southern end of Tencho Glacier whereas the eastern side of Tencho Glacier is drained by unnamed tributaries of [[Tennaya Creek]].<ref name="HR"/> Several unnamed tributaries of [[Sezill Creek]] originate from the western side of Tencho Glacier by Tennena Cone.<ref name="HR"/><ref name="HS"/>
==Geology== Tencho Glacier overlies the [[Ice Peak Formation]], one of several [[geological formation]]s comprising the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.<ref name="Souther">{{Cite report|last1=Souther|first1=J. G.|author-link1=Jack Souther|title=The Late Cenozoic Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex, British Columbia|work=[[Geological Survey of Canada]]|publisher=Canada Communication Group|series=Memoir 420|year=1992|pages=28, 213, 237, 267, 320, 231|isbn=0-660-14407-7|doi=10.4095/133497|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Godfrey-Smith">{{cite thesis|last=Godfrey-Smith|first=Dorothy I.|type=M.A.|url=https://www.deschutesmeridian.com/IAOS/pdf/godfrey-smith_1985.pdf|title=X-Ray Fluorescence Characterization of the Obsidian Flows From the Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex of British Columbia, Canada|year=1985|publisher=[[Simon Fraser University]]|page=49|access-date=2024-01-11}}</ref> [[Obsidian]] of the Ice Peak Formation occurs east and west of Tencho Glacier and possibly extends under the glacier.<ref name="Godfrey-Smith"/> [[Bed (geology)|Beds]] of coarse [[comenditic]] [[trachyte]] [[pumice]] belonging to the [[Sheep Track Member]] of the [[Big Raven Formation]] are exposed along the western edge of Tencho Glacier. They are up to {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=off}} thick and were deposited by an eruption that probably originated from a deep, circular depression on the surface of Tencho Glacier north of Coffee Crater. A crescent-shaped ridge at the southern terminus of Tencho Glacier might be a glacially modified [[tuff ring]] that formed in a meltwater lake when the glacier extended onto the [[Big Raven Plateau]].<ref name="Souther"/>
==See also== *[[List of glaciers in Canada]] *[[Idiji Glacier]] *[[Tenchen Glacier]] *[[Tennaya Glacier]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Mount Edziza volcanic complex}}
[[Category:Glaciers of Mount Edziza]] [[Category:Tahltan place names]]