Assessing the geohazards of Mount Meager, BC, Canada: Insights to advance green energy production on volcanoes

Climate change is leading to the retreat of glaciers and more extreme weather events that greatly increase landslide hazards on Canadian mountains as seen by the recent catastrophic events and fatalities in British Columbia. BC also hosts dormant volcanoes which are important areas for development of geothermal energy yet are vulnerable as they consist of hydrothermally altered and weakened rock. By integrating satellite remote sensing with ground-based monitoring, and geological and geotechnical information, this project aims to help the Meager Creek Development Corporation better assess and effectively mitigate the slope stability risk within their leasehold. Importantly, we aim to develop a framework for semi-automated landslide monitoring of potentially unstable slopes around their geothermal energy and green hydrogen production facility on Mount Meager. The hope is that the results of this research can be applied more broadly on volcanoes and alpine regions throughout Western Canada.

Faculty Supervisor:

Glyn Williams-Jones;Sergio Sepulveda

Student:

Partner:

Meager Creek Development Corporation

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Mining

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: