GEOLOGY of the Red Deer Region . . .
rich black soil . . . oil and gas . . . spectacular lakes and rivers . . . aspen parkland . . . fossil beds . . .

 
Geology of the Red Deer Region

At one time, millions of years ago, the Red Deer region had a tropical and subtropical climate. Forms of animal and plant life, now extinct, flourished, leaving a legacy of rich petroleum and gas deposits, coal fields and fossil beds. Ancient seas and deltas laid down a bedrock of shale and sandstone. Great glaciers covered Western Canada at least four times.

Approximately ten thousand years ago, the last of the ice ages receded, scarring and scouring the landscape with ice sheets as thick as five thousand feet. As the ice melted, vast quantities of debris in the form of rocks, gravels, clays, sands and silts were left behind. Tremendous amounts of water were released forming great streams and lakes which further shaped and altered the terrain.

A large lake developed in the newly formed Red Deer River valley. As the lake drained, the river cut a new dramatic channel that created spectacular canyons and, in some areas, exposed its geologic history.

A broad vegetation zone, known as aspen parkland developed, marked by bluffs of aspen poplar, spruce and willow interspersed with thick grasslands. Moist black soil and a gentle undulating countryside became characteristic of a transition between the forests of the north, the western foothills and the southern and eastern prairie grasslands.

The geology of the region contributed significantly in the area becoming a magnet for hunters, explorers, fur traders, farmers, settlers, miners, oilmen, railways, historians, naturalists, sports enthusiasts, tourists and entrepreneurs.

 
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