Field Excursions
Geologic Column [Gadd 2008, p.50-88], sediments 30km thick
- glaciation
- tectonics
- Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous - accreting terranes, birth of Canadian Cordillera
- Late Triassic - western Canada became an active margin (subduction zone, volcanism)
- young clastic (Mesozoic/Cenozoic, 251-5 Ma) - Banff/Jasper and E
- sandstone, shale, conglomerate, coal
- includes Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway
- middle carbonate (Paleozoic, 513-251 Ma) - Banff/Jasper
- limestone, dolostone, shale
- old clastic (Cyrogenian, 740-513 Ma) - W of Banff/Jasper, mostly
- slate, gritstone, quartzite
- ancient sediments (Early/Middle Proterozoic, 1700-1400 Ma) - N & S of Banff/Jasper
- argillite, mudstone, limestone
- basement (mostly Archean, 3300-728 Ma) - W of Banff/Jasper, small exposures
References
- A Traveller's Guide to Geological Wonders in Alberta / 1998 / Ron Mussieux and Marilyn Nelson / Provincial Museum of Alberta & Federation of Alberta Naturalists — see also Amazon [GRI library: QE186.M87]
- Canada Rocks: The Geologic Journey / October 2007 / Nick Eyles and Andrew Miall / Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside — see also Amazon [GRI library: QE185.E97]
- Geological Highway Map of Alberta / May 2010 / Mark Cooper, editor / Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists
- Handbook of the Canadian Rockies, 2nd ed. / May 1996 / Ben Gadd / Jasper, Alberta: Corax Press — see also Amazon [GRI library: F1090.G33]
CALGARY to JASPER - road log (using Gadd 2008) with distances not field-checked ... scenery, geology
- 0.0 — TC1 (p.103) = 0.0km (0mi) - Calgary, Jct Hwy 1 & Bowfort Road
- 17.3 — TC3 (p.105) = 27.8km (17.3mi) - thrust fault
- 28.6 — TC6 (p.107) = 46.0km (28.6mi) - drumlin
- 40.3 — TC7 (p.108) = 64.9km (40.3mi) - McConnell Thrust ... exit 114 ... {Coffen-1}
- 43.6 — TC9 (p.109) = 70.2km (43.6mi) - reef rock ... Cairn Fm, late Devonian ... Alberta's conventional oil comes from this
- 46.0 — TC10 (p.110) = 74.1km (46.0mi) - Lac des Arcs Thrust ... {Coffen-2}
- 55.9 — TC14 (p.114,118) = 89.9km (55.9mi)=0.0 - Canmore, (City Centre exit) Rundle Thrust ... to Econolodge; Devonian reef in Grassi Lakes area
- 60.0 — TC15 (p.118) = 6.7km (4.1mi) - Banff National Park entrance
- 65.0 — TC16 (p.120) = 14.7km (9.1mi) - hoodoos
- 67.1 — TC17 (p.122) = 18.0km (11.2mi) - roadcut in coal-bearing Kootenay sandstone
- 67.5 — TC18 (p.123) = 18.7km (11.6mi) - roadcut in shale of Fernie Fm ... Jurassic turbidites
- 67.8 — TC19 (p.124) = 19.2km (11.9mi) - Banff east interchange ... watch for Tunnel Mtn (roche moutonnée)
- 71.1 — TC20 (p.127) = 24.5km (15.2mi) - Mt. Rundle
- 73.1 — TC21 (p.128) = 27.7km (17.2mi) - Sulphur Mtn siltstone
- 77.2 — TC23 (p.129) = 34.2km (21.3mi) -
- 83.6 — TC24 (p.130) = 44.6km (27.7mi) - Castle Mtn Thrust
- 89.1 — TC26 (p.134) = 53.5km (33.2mi) - Jct Hwy 1 & Hwy 93 (to Radium)
- 104.8 — TC30 (p.137,144) = 78.7km (48.9mi)=0 - Lake Louise, Jct Hwy 1 & Hwy 1A
- 106.4 — TC31, IP1 (p.144,290) = 2.6km (1.6mi)=0 - Jct Hwy 1 & Hwy 93 (Icefields Parkway)
- 115.3 — IP4 (p.292) = 14.4km (8.9mi)
- 126.2 — IP7 (p.296) = 31.8km (19.8mi) - diabase dike ... Crowfoot Dyke
- 126.8 — IP8 (p.297) = 32.8km (20.4mi) - Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint
- 128.8 — IP9 (p.298) = 36.1km (22.4mi) - approaching Bow Pass, Peyto Lake
- 135.9 — IP10 (p.302) = 47.4km (29.5mi) - Snowbird Glacier
- 142.3 — IP12 (p.306) = 57.8km (35.9mi) - Mt Chephren ... glacial horn peak
- 148.7 — IP14 (p.309) = 68.2km (42.3mi) - dolostone
- 152.7 — IP15 (p.312) = 74.5km (46.3mi) - tephra layers from Mt Mazama (Crater Lake, OR)
- 153.6 — IP16 (p.313,315) = 76.0km (47.2mi)=0 - Saskatchewan River Crossing, Jct Hwy 93 & Hwy 11
- 153.7 — IP17 (p.315) = 0.2km (0.1mi) - Saskatchewan River Crossing service center ... two cycles of deposition .... graben ... landslide
- 159.1 — IP18 (p.319) = 8.9km (5.5mi) - dolomite/limestone erosion
- 171.3 — IP22 (p.324) = 28.5km (17.7mi) - Palliser Fm ... fossiliferous
- 174.2 — IP23 (p.327) = 33.1km (20.6mi) - fossil corals ... reef rock ... oil producer ... roche moutonnée
- 175.7 — IP24 (p.328) = 35.5km (22.1mi) - Cirrus Mtn ... Mount Coleman Fault
- 177.9 — IP25 (p.330) = 39.1km (24.3mi) - limestone 'exfoliation'
- 178.9 — IP26 (p.332) = 40.7km (25.3mi) - Parker Ridge Viewpoint
- 184.3 — IP28 (p.335,343) = 49.4km (30.7mi)=0 - Icefield Centre ... glacial features: striations, moraines, erratics
- 216.9 — IP37,YP25 (p.360,432) = 101.9km (63.3mi)=0 - Jasper, Jct Hwy 93 & Hwy 16
- 217.3 — YP26 (p.434) = 0.6km (0.4mi) - Proterozoic turbidites ... gritstone and slate beds of the McKale Fm
THURSDAY: Drumheller – Tyrrell Museum, dinosaurs
Tyrrell Museum - room displays
- Cretaceous Alberta
- Science Hall
- Alberta Unearthed & Preparation Lab
- Lords of the Land
- "I think..." (Charles Darwin, 1837)
- Burgess Shale
- Devonian Reef
- Terrestrial Palaeozoic
- Cretaceous Garden
- Triassic Giant
- Dinosaur Hall
- "
- "
- Age of Mammals
- Ice Age
- gift store
Museum interpretive trail
- bentonite clay
- badlands
- eroded channel
- (fossils), cross-bedding
- climate change
- geo layers
- erratics, metamorphic
- petrified wood
- hoodoos
- remains in badlands ... bentonite and coal
- view of "benches"
- plants, sagebrush
MONDAY: Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale UNESCO World Heritage Site contains abundant, well-preserved fossils of the Cambrian explosion. We will be hiking to the Walcott Quarry.
- Dates:
- August 1 (Monday) – up to 36 people in three groups with 12 hikers/group: 2 groups with the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation and 1 group with Parks Canada
- August 2 (Tuesday) – if more than 36 people sign up, as many as 12 additional hikers can go in a group with Parks Canada
- Distance – 20-22km (13mi) round trip
- Elevation gain – 760-800m (2500ft)
- Time – approximately 10hrs, starting at 7:30am
- Starting point – Takakkaw Falls
- The quarry – 60-90 minutes time at the quarry; good fossils from a locked bunker for pictures or rubbings; a chance to hunt in the scree slope, for "touch, not take" fossils
- To bring – lunch, snacks, water; good hiking boots, waterproof jacket with hood, long pants, gloves, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen; hand lens; signed waiver
Hike
- Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation (Randle Robertson) – Walcott Quarry hike
- 2 groups containing 12 people each (August 1) – led by scientists; they give no refunds; our arranged rates listed below are less than the new $120/adult and $65/student listed on their website
- $100/adult
- $50/student
- $25/child (under 12)
- Parks Canada (Adele Laramee) – promotional video
- 1 group containing 12 people (August 1) – not led by a paleontologist; a special hike arranged for our group, so it is not listed on their fact-sheet; we must have 12 in the group for this group rate of 10% off
- $63/adult (17-64)
- $53.55/senior (65 and over)
- $31.50/youth (6-16)
- 1 group containing up to 12 people (August 2) – general hike, not especially for our group
- $70/adult
- $59.50/senior
- $35/youth
References
- A Geoscience Guide to The Burgess Shale / 2000 / Murray Coppold and Wayne Powell / The Yoho-Burgess Shale Foundation — see also Amazon [GRI library: QE770.P68]
- Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History / September 1990 / Stephen Jay Gould / W. W. Norton — see Amazon, Google books, and Wikipedia [GRI library: QE770.G67]
- Truly A Wonderful Life / March 11, 1997 / Kurt P. Wise / Access Research Network, v.13, n.1 — review of Wonderful Life
- The Evolution of Life on Earth / October 1994 / Stephen Jay Gould / Scientific American — The history of life is not necessarily progressive; it is certainly not predictable. The earth's creatures have evolved through a series of contingent and fortuitous events
- A giant Ordovician anomalocaridid / 26 May 2011 / Peter Van Roy and Derek E. G. Briggs / Nature, v.473, p.510-513 — symbolize the unfamiliar morphologies displayed by stem organisms in faunas of the Burgess Shale type
- A new Burgess Shale-type assemblage from the 'thin' Stephen Formation of the southern Canadian Rockies / September 2010 / Jean-Bernard Caron, Robert R. Gaines, M. Gabriela Mángano, Michael Streng, and Allison C. Daley / Geology, v.38, n.9, p.811-814
- History of the Burgess Shale / Wikipedia
TUESDAY: Icefields Parkway – glaciation, turbidites, thrust faulting, reefs, coal ... beautiful scenery
- Parks Canada – entrance fee: $19.60/car, $9.80/person ... or possible group rate ??
- References
- purchase→ Canadian Rockies Geology Road Tours / January 2008 / Ben Gadd / Jasper, Alberta: Corax Press — see also associated website and Amazon [GRI library: QE185.G24]
- Parkways of the Canadian Rockies / 1975 / Brian Patton / Banff, Alberta: Summerthought — [GRI library: F1090.P33]
- Devonian reef at Grassi Lakes, Canmore
- Classic Field Trips of Western Canada, v.1 / 2000 / Rory C. Hankel, editor / Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists — [GRI library: QE185.C53] see: "The Lower Fairholme Reef Complex at White Man Gap, Canmore" by G. R. Bloy (Husky Oil) and S. R. Legget (Home Oil) ... September 11, 1993
- Devonian (Frasnian) Cyclostratigraphy at Grassi Lakes Trail: Implications for Subsurface Reservoir Prediction / 2000 / Stacy C. Atchley and Mark G. McMurray / Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists — includes measured section and road log