CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Boydell, A.N.
Date : 1979
Title : Relationship of Late-Wisconsin Rocky Mountain and Laurentide Ice in the vicintiy of Sundre, Alberta
Publication : Unpublished M.Sc. thesis. University of Calgary, Calgary
Issue :
Page(s) : 140 pp
Abstract
This thesis is a study of the glacial geomorphology of a zone along the Red Deer river in the vicinity of Sundre, Alberta, where evidence can be found for the former presence ofRocky Mountain and Laurentide ice. Only one major advance of each ice mass can be established. Associated with the Laurentide advance and subsequent deglaciation are lake deposits and a series of spillways. Glacial deposits occur on valley sides and in valley bottoms, and post-glaciaI stream development has cut down into these deposits. All accessible sections in road cuts, gravel pits and along streams were examined and described. Fabric studies were carried out in the field and samples collected for the laboratory program which consisted of mechanical, lithological and heavy mineral analyses. From these analyses, maps were drawn to illustrate and supplement the following sequence of events. The onset of the Wisconsinan in the study area was marked by an advance of the Rocky Mountain ice which spread over the lower land in the Sundre area, probably as a piedmont lobe. As this Rocky Mountain ice retreated, the Laurentide ice was approaching from the northeast, the meltwater from both ice masses forming a lake in the Red Deer valley. As far as can be ascertained, the two ice masses did not meet in the study area, The Laurentide ice advanced, at its maximum, some twenty miles above Sundre, causing the lake area to contract and forming at least one small spillway.It is thought that the Laurentide advance also brought the Erratics Train into the area. Characteristic Arkosic erratics were found in situ in the Laurentide till and it is suggested hat they were transported by the Laurentide ice.During the Laurentide deglaciation,the level of Lake Sundre dropped, this being controlled by successively lower spillways along its southern margin. When the post-glacial Red Deer river became established, it deposited large quantities of gravels as valley fill. The modern river has now cut down some ten feet into these deposits.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology