Geo Tours of Kamloops, British Columbia

Are you ready to test your imagination? Geologists interpret that at one time, several thousand years ago, the city centre of modern Kamloops sat on the shores of a larger Kamloops Lake . However, the North Thompson River acts as a great conveyor belt carrying sand and silt. Over the years the river continued to dump its load of sediment at its delta where it flowed into Kamloops Lake . Year after year, the lake shoreline moved westwards as the eastern end of the lake filled.

This process continues today, with the delta front migrating westwards about 13 metres each year. Geologists estimate that if the modern rate of advance continues, Kamloops Lake will fill completely in 4000 years. Kamloops Lake will become Kamloops valley!

The legacy of this westward advance is a flat delta plain that extends from Kamloops to Kamloops Lake . The land is flat because the sand and silt are deposited in the channel of the Thompson River or on the adjacent plain during spring floods. During these floods, the delta plain is inundated with a slow-moving lake of muddy water that leaves behind a layer of sand and silt (just ask anyone who has had their house flooded). This sand and silt is rich agricultural soil and much of the delta is farmland.  The drive up Red Lake Road past Tranquille to a roadside pullout at Stop 4a offers panoramic view of Kamloops Lake and the Thompson River delta. The access road and walk along the Lake Trail at Tranquille (Stop 4b) provides close up views of the delta lands, sand bars, and wetlands of the Thompson River delta. It also provides a look at the much smaller gravel delta of the Tranquille River .