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GEOLOGY of the Red Deer Region
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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.
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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The
Region |
Communities of the
Region |
News
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History
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Regional Map |
Published
by
Central Alberta Websites |
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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 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.
