CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : David, P.P.
Date : 1964
Title : Surficial geology and ground water resources of the Prelate area (72K), Saskatchewan
Publication : Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, McGill University, Montreal
Issue :
Page(s) : 329 pp
Abstract
The Prelate area comprises 6,000 square miles in southwestern Saskatchewan adjoining the Alberta boundary north of latitude 50 . Glacial drift which is as thick as 450 feet in two north trending preglacial valleys, overlies shale, sandstone, sands, conglomerates and gravel formations ranging from Late Cretaceous to Early Pleistocene age. Borings and exposures along South Saskatchewan River reveal five till sheets separated by stratified deposits: three till sheets correlate with end moraines within the area. Deposits of several glacial lakes cover much of the area and overlap each other; these lakes discharged successively through spillways to the south, east and north. Dune sand and loess were laid down mainly in post-glacial time. A radiocarbon date on humus from the Prelate Ferry paleosol formed on a lower till indicates that the last ice sheet advanced into the area about 20,000 years ago. Fossil gastropod shells from the surface of the upper till date the retreat of the last ice sheetat about 10,250 years ago. Ground water occurs in sand and gravel aquifers in the drift and in the Cypress Hills, Bearpaw, and Belly River formations. The Belly River aquifer is artesian and is used in the northern part of the area, The ground water contains from 340 to 5,500 parts per million of dissolved solids. Water from the drift ranges from sulphate to sulphate-bicarbonate in type; the Belly River aquifer yields sulphate water.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology