Canadian Rockies Transect
Gary L. Prost · 2020
This field guide provides an overview of the geology and structure of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and the Foothills, Front Ranges, Main Ranges, and Western Ranges of the Canadian Rockies between Drumheller, Alberta, and Golden, British Colombia. We examine World Heritage site fossil locations at Dinosaur Provincial Park and see some of the very best dinosaur remains at the Royal Tyrell Museum; we stop to see trilobites and soft-bodied Burgess Shale fauna at the Mount Stephen Quarry and at the Walcott Quarry. We travel deep into the heart of the Canadian Fold and Thrust Belt, ending at the Rocky Mountain Trench. We pass through magnificent glacially carved landscapes and examine how the thrust belt deformation changes depending on the lithology, thickness, and strength of the rocks being deformed. We discuss local history, oil and gas exploration in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and Foothills, and mining in the Rockies.