EUB/AGS Surficial Geology of the Peace River Area (NTS 84C), Alberta

Flat topography typical of glacial Lake Peace.  Note the former shorelines that cross the field from lower left to upper right.  Photo by R.C. Paulen, 2002

  1. MAP 289 Surficial Geology of the Southwest Buffalo Head Hills Area (NTS84C/NE) 1:100 000 scale
  2. MAP 290 Surficial Geology of the Cadotte Lake Area (NTS84C/SE) 1:100 000 scale
  3. MAP 291 Surficial Geology of the Grimshaw Area (NTS84C/SW) 1:100 000 scale
  4. MAP 292 Surficial Geology of the Manning Area (NTS84C/NW) 1:100 000 scale

Background

As part of a multi-year initiative, the Alberta Geological Survey (AGS) continued its surficial mapping program in the Peace River map area. The Peace River District of Alberta has been subjected to several geological studies in past years with their focus mainly directed toward the numerous bedrock exposures in the Peace River Valley, the large gravel resource and aquifer that underlies the town of Grimshaw, and most notable, the long history of landslides that affect the region (Tokarsky 1971; Churcher and Wilson 1979; Pawlowicz et al. 1996; Leslie and Fenton 2001). Quaternary studies in the Peace River region provide crucial information on the surface stratigraphy and deposit characteristics that have direct implications for exploration of diamonds using drift prospecting, aggregate exploration and landslide processes. Fieldwork was conducted during July and September 2002 and provided continuity with last year's mapping program in the Peerless Lake (NTS 84B) map area to the east (Paulen et al. 2003a; Fenton et al. 2003a). Particular attention was paid to surface stratigraphy, ice flow indicators and the highly variable nature of the surface sediments. Reconnaissance-level till sampling for diamond indicator minerals and geochemistry was completed. Extensive progress was made in unravelling the glacial and post-glacial history of the region.

The physiography of the region is dominated by the Peace River Valley. This impressive and scenic feature was formed during post-glacial times as the Peace River and its tributaries, such as the Smoky and Heart Rivers, incised through the Quaternary sediments and into the underlying bedrock. The Peace River separates the Buffalo Head Hills to the east and the Whitemud Hills to the west. The Peace River District is part of a large geological feature that makes up most of the fertile farmland in the region. The flat topography and stone-free grain fields immediately adjacent to the Peace River reflect the former lake bottom of Glacial Lake Peace (Mathews 1980), which inundated most of the region below 610 m (above current sea level). During early deglaciation, the continental ice sheet (Laurentide Ice Sheet) retreated northward and down-drainage, essentially blocking drainage and ponding the glacial meltwaters at the ice margin. Glacial Lake Peace was one of the larger glacial lakes that submerged the plains of Alberta; it extended far into British Columbia to the west and reached as far north as High Level prior to its final drainage.

The Peace River region of Alberta is historically characterized by stratigraphy in which only one Laurentide glacial event, the Lostwood Glaciation (Fenton 1984), affected west-central Alberta (cf. Bayrock 1969; Liverman et al. 1989). However, older ice-proximal glaciofluvial sediments and older tills were documented recently by Fenton et al. (2003b), and the recent discovery of older oxidized till in the southwest Buffalo Head Hills to the east indicates that early Wisconsin ice of the Burke Lake Glaciation (Fenton 1984) advanced to the Peace River Valley. Approximate stratigraphic correlations with previous research conducted by Bobrowsky et al. (1991) in the Peace River District of British Columbia has been suggested by Miller and Cruden (2002).

The Quaternary stratigraphy in the region is complex. Scientific highlights from this summer’s fieldwork provide new information to augment the existing published stratigraphic record. From oldest to youngest the main surficial deposits comprise:

  1. Large expanses of preglacial sand and gravel occur in the vicinity of the town of Grimshaw. Aggregate operations have been mining this valuable resource for years and continue to provide the region with an abundant supply of sand and gravel. This unit is extensive west of the town of Peace River and as far north as the Whitemud Hills (Edwards and Scafe 1996).
  2. A newly discovered and potentially older glacial till was discovered on the southwestern flank of the Buffalo Head Hills. This sandy non-calcareous till underlies and contrasts sharply with the ubiquitous clayey, calcareous grey till that occurs at surface throughout the region. Although absolute dates cannot be determined, it is believed this older till marks the most westerly known site of Early Wisconsin continental glaciation in west-central Alberta.
  3. A complete Late Wisconsin glacial sequence is preserved in the Peace River Valley. As the ice sheets advanced southward (up-drainage) into the region, ice-dammed drainage caused proglacial lakes to form and fill in the lower part of the valley. This lacustrine sediment coarsened upward into sands and gravels as the ice margin advanced. During glacial maximum, ice overrode the previously deposited lacustrine sediments and deposited till over the entire region. Till thickness varies, but is notably thinner on the west side of the Peace River. Deglaciation of the region resulted in minor localized ice surges and, of course, Glacial Lake Peace. The exact lifespan of the lake is unknown, but it was stable at certain surface elevations long enough to develop shorelines and deposit over 20 metres of silt and clay in its former basin, currently occupied by the modern Peace River. Eskers and meltwater channels are rare in the region, except at higher elevations on the flanks of the Buffalo Head Hills where the ice sheet had stagnated and melted more slowly.
Glacial Lake Peace drained in the early Holocene and the Peace River immediately began downcutting through the Quaternary sediments. There are several terrace levels that record the rapid rate of incision. These older terraces are now excellent sources of aggregate in the region. Landslides also occurred throughout the Holocene and continue to affect the region today.

Northern Alberta (north of latitude 55°N, or approximately Lesser Slave Lake) is covered by approximately 15 1:250 000-scale map areas that are either unmapped or inadequately mapped with respect to surficial geology, Quaternary stratigraphy, bedrock topography and drift thickness. AGS is currently conducting a multi-year initiative to complete the surficial mapping coverage of northern Alberta. The purpose of this program is to provide the minerals industry with baseline geological information in support of mineral exploration in northern Alberta. Multi-year objectives are to complete the Quaternary geology investigations of northern Alberta, including surficial geology mapping, and stratigraphic and thematic studies. Additional objectives are to provide data and interpretations for northern Alberta, including maps, reports and information sets in electronic and, when required, hard copy.

Study Area

This CD contains information from the AGS mapping program that focused on the Peace River map-area (NTS 84C); included are maps of the surficial geology. Interim results have been released through presentations and posters at the 2003 Calgary Mineral Exploration Group's Calgary Mining Forum & Alberta Geological Survey Minerals Section Open House (Paulen et al. 2003b), Geological Association of Canada (GAC) annual meeting in 2003 (Paulen et al. 2003c), Geological Society of America (GSA) annual meeting in 2002 (Paulen et al. 2002), 3rd Canadian Conference on Geotechnique and Natural Hazards (Paulen et al. 2003d) and XVI International Quaternary Association (INQUA) Congress, Reno, Nevada (Paulen et al. 2003e). Subsequent products will contain information on bedrock topography, drift thickness and files with information on the surface site samples, geochemical analyses and holes drilled.

Field notes were collected in 2002  using Palm hardware and Pendragon software. This allowed notes to be transferred to an Access database that was linked to ArcView. 

Initial preliminary maps were compiled using 1:60 000 scale air photographs flown in 1986, supplemented by LandSat 7 satellite data. After field checking, the revised surficial maps were digitized into ArcInfo. Following review and editing, the final map products were prepared.

Navigation of Files

This compact disc constitutes release of maps 289, 290, 291 and 292 prepared for the Alberta Energy Utilities Board/Alberta Geological Survey (EUB/AGS) by R.C. Paulen,  M.M. Fenton and J.G. Pawlowicz. The intent is to make the maps available in a variety of common digital formats to meet the needs of two groups of users: GIS operators and those requiring an exact version of the published map in a readily printable format. GIS files are available in ArcInfo Export (.e00) and shapefile formats. The printer-ready files are in Postscript (.eps) format and also in Adobe's Portable Document Format (.PDF).

A brief description follows of each of the formats and how they may be used.

PDF

Adobe® Acrobat PDF documents of the published version of the maps allows viewing on any computer capable of running a suitable version of Adobe® Acrobat Reader®.

A freeware version of Adobe® Acrobat Reader® for Microsoft® Windows® is included on the CD-ROM. Adobe® Acrobat Reader® for other platforms are available from Adobe's Web site at www.adobe.com.

To install the software, double-click the "acrobat.exe" file and follow the instructions for installation.

Postscript

Postscript files of the published version of the maps can be either imported into a graphics software package or plotted directly from the Windows Explorer window:

Table 1. PDF and Postscript description

File

PDF (.pdf)

Postscript (.eps)

Map Number

Title

Scale

NTS84C_NE

yes

yes

MAP 289

Surficial Geology of the Southwest Buffalo Head Hills Area, (NTS84C/NE)

1:100 000

NTS84C_SE

yes

yes

MAP 290

Surficial Geology of the Cadotte Lake Area, (NTS84C/SE)

1:100 000

NTS84C_SW

yes

yes

MAP 291

Surficial Geology of the Grimshaw Area, (NTS84C/SW)

1:100 000

NTS84C_NW

yes

yes

MAP 292

Surficial Geology of the Manning Area, (NTS84C/NW)

1:100 000















ArcExport (.e00)

Export files were created from coverages in ArcInfo Version 8.1.2. See Table 2 for projection parameters and Table 3 for coverage descriptions.

ArcView (shapefiles)

Shapefiles provided were created in ArcView version 3.2a. See Table 2 for projection parameters and Table 3 for shapefile descriptions. Metadata for each shapefile contained in html files.

Table 2. Projection parameters for ArcExport and ArcView files

Coordinate system

Geographic

Units

Decimal degrees

Datum

NAD 83

Spheroid

GRS1980

Table 3. ArcExport and ArcView attribute description

FILE

ArcExport (.e00)

ArcView (shapefile)

 Description

Peace_line_features

ln84c_sw      ln84c_se    ln84c_nw        ln84c_ne

yes

yes

Contains all line features such as eskers and meltwater channels.

FIELD NAME

DESCRIPTION

Type

Numeric code assigned to each line feature. See Table 4 for line feature definitions relating to code. 

Peace_point_features

py84c_sw py84c_se py84c_nw py84c_ne

yes yes

Contains all point features such as bedrock outcrops.

FIELD NAME   DESCRIPTION  

Type

Numeric code assigned to each point feature. See Table 4 for line feature definitions relating to code. See legend on PDF or.eps for point feature symbols.

Peace_polys  

pt84c_sw       pt84c_se      pt84c_nw       pt84c_ne    

yes

yes

Contains all surficial geology polygon boundaries for 84C. 

FIELD NAME   DESCRIPTION  
Label  Symbolized terrain units according to legend description. 
Unit_symbol Provides a generalized text code used to colour code the polygon units.

Table 4. Line and point feature numeric code definitions (Peace_line&point_legend.xls)

TYPE FEATURE

90 

 Thermokarst depression

93

 Small landslide

84

 Large landslide

82

 Eolian dunes

70

 Beach or strandline

71

 Wave cut bench

72

 Escarpment

64

 Meltwater channel (minor)

63

 Meltwater channel (minor, flow indicated)

62

 Meltwater channel (major)

61

 Meltwater channel (major, flow indicated)

68

 Crevasse filling

65

 Ice contact slope

91

 Kettle

67

 Esker, unknown direction

66

 Esker, known direction

13

 Drumlinoid or streamlined landform

14

 Drumlinoid, down-ice flow indicated

80

 Buried drumlinoid or streamlined landform

95

 Major moraine ridge

74

 Minor moraine ridge

92 and 97

 Ice thrust ridge (straight and curved)

77

 Striation (direction unknown)

76

 Striation (direction known)

94

 Bedrock outcrop

95

 Gravel\sand pit

96  Section of stratigraphic interest
73  Major moraine ridge
69  Iceberg scour

Acknowledgements

Surficial mapping was completed in 2002 under the AGS Quaternary mapping initiative. Jill Weiss, Brandan Brown, Rod Sutton and Glen Prior provided assistance with fieldwork and compilation of the digital databases. Digital cartography and GIS was completed by Monica Price, Joan Waters, Natasha Blundon and Jill Weiss.

References

Bayrock, L.A. (1969): Incomplete continental glacial record of Alberta, Canada; in Quaternary Geology and Climate, H.E. Wright, Jr. (ed.), Volume 16 of the proceedings of the VII Congress of the International Association for Quaternary Research. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., p. 99-103.

Bobrowsky, P.T., Catto, N. and Levson, V. (1991): Reconnaissance Quaternary geological investigations in Peace River District, British Columbia (93P, 93A); in Geological Fieldwork 1990, B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Paper 1991-1, p. 345-358.

Churcher, C.S. and Wilson, M. (1979): Quaternary mammals from the eastern Peace River District, Alberta; Journal of Paleontology, v. 53, p. 71-76.

Edwards, W.A.D. and Scafe, D. (1996): Mapping and resource evaluation of the Tertiary and preglacial sand and gravel formations of Alberta; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, EUB/AGS Open File Report, 1994-06, 241 p.

Fenton, M.M. (1984): Quaternary stratigraphy, Canadian Prairies; in Quaternary Stratigraphy of Canada - A Canadian Contribution to IGCP Project 24, R.J. Fulton (ed.), Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 84-10, p. 57-68.

Fenton, M.M., Paulen, R.C. and Pawlowicz, J.G. (2003a): Surficial geology of the Lubicon Lake Area (NTS 84B/SW), scale 1:100 000; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, EUB/AGS Map 266. 

Fenton, M.M., Paulen, R.C. and Pawlowicz, J.G. (2003b): Evidence of pre-Late Wisconsin glacial deposits in central and northern Alberta; Program and Abstracts, CANQUA, Halifax, Canada, p. A28.

Leslie, L.E. and Fenton, M.M. (2001): Quaternary stratigraphy and surficial geology Peace River final report; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, EUB/AGS Special Report 10, 34 p.

Liverman, D.G.E., Catto, N.R. and Rutter, N.W. (1989): Laurentide glaciation in west-central Alberta: a single (Late Wisconsin) event; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 26, p. 266-274.

Mathews, W.H. (1980): Retreat of the last ice sheets in northeastern British Columbia and adjacent Alberta; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 331, 22 p.

Miller, B.G.N. and Cruden, D.M. (2002): The Eureka River landslide and dam, Peace River Lowlands, Alberta; Canadian Geotechnical Journal, v. 39, p. 863-878.

Paulen, R.C. and Fenton, M.M. (2002): The spectacular and enigmatic large-scale deformation structures of the Upper Glacial Lake Peace sediments, Northern Alberta, Canada; Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting (October 27-30, 2002) Denver, Colorado, Abstracts with Programs, p. 505.

Paulen, R.C., Campbell, J.E., Fenton, M.M. and Pawlowicz, J.G. (2003a): Surficial geology of the southeast Buffalo Head Hills Area (NTS 84B/NW), scale 1:100 000; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, EUB/AGS Map 265.

Paulen, R.C., Pawlowicz, J.G., Fenton, M.M., Weiss, J.A., Brown, B., Price, M. and Prior, G.J. (2003b): Quaternary geology and surficial stratigraphy of the Peace River area (NTS 84C); in "Meeting Future Challenges in the Mineral Industry" 2003, The 12th Annual Calgary Mining Forum & Alberta Geological Survey Minerals Section Open House, Calgary, Alberta, Program with Abstracts, p. 73.

Paulen, R.C., Fenton, M.M., Pawlowicz, J.G., Weiss, J.A. and Brown, B. (2003c): Surficial geology, Quaternary stratigraphy and Holocene landslides of the Peace River area (NTS 84C); in 2003 GAC-MAC-SEG, Vancouver, British Columbia, Program with Abstracts, v. 28 p.132.

Paulen, R.C., Weiss, J.A. and Davies, M.R. (2003d): Production of a digital landslide inventory map, Peace River area (NTS 84C); in 3rd Canadian Conference on Geotechnique and Natural Hazards, Edmonton, Alberta, Program with Abstracts, p. 377.

Paulen, R.C., Fenton, M.M. and Bobrowsky, P.T. (2003e): Spectacular, large-scale deformation structures in glaciolacustrine sediments, Peace River, Alberta, Canada; in XVI INQUA Congress, Reno, Nevada, Program with Abstracts, p. 64.

Pawlowicz, J.G., Jean, G.M. and Fenton, M.M. (1996): Preliminary stratigraphic tests to support mineral exploration: northern Alberta; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, EUB/AGS Open File Report 95-11, 34 p.

Tokarsky, O. (1971): Hydrogeology of the Grimshaw-Chinook Valley area, Alberta; Research Council of Alberta, Report 71-2, 19 p.

Disclaimer & Copyright

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta, 2004

The EUB/AGS and its employees and contractors make no warranty, guarantee or representation, express or implied, or assume any legal liability regarding the correctness, accuracy, completeness, or reliability of this publication. Any digital data and software supplied with this publication are subject to the license conditions (specified in 'Licence Agreement for Digital Products'). The data are supplied on the understanding that they are for the sole use of the licensee and will not be redistributed in any form, in whole or in part, to third parties. Any references to proprietary software in the documentation, and/or any use of proprietary data formats in this release, do not constitute endorsement by the EUB/AGS of any manufacturer's product.

Crediting Information Sources

When using information from this publication in other publications or presentations, acknowledgment must be given to the EUB/AGS. The following sample reference format is recommended:

Paulen, R.C., Fenton, M.M. and Pawlowicz, J.G. (2004): Surficial geology of the southwest Buffalo Head Hills (NTS 84C/NE), Alberta; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, EUB/AGS Map 289, scale 1:100 000. 

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