Dja. Evans et Ia. Campbell, QUATERNARY STRATIGRAPHY OF THE BURIED VALLEYS OF THE LOWER RED DEER RIVER, ALBERTA, CANADA, JQS. Journal of quaternary science, 10(2), 1995, pp. 123-148
The Quaternary fills of the buried valleys of southern Alberta and Sas
katchewan have provided a wealth of information for the reconstruction
of the glacial-interglacial record of the western plains of Canada, a
nd this paper reports on the previously unstudied stratigraphy of the
buried Calgary Valley and its former tributaries in the lower Red Deer
River area. We attempt to differentiate Empress Group sediments, whic
h potentially relate to pre-glacial, interglacial/interstadial and pos
t-glacial lake and river deposition, using sedimentology, stratigraphy
and palaeoecology. Twenty-nine stratigraphical logs indicate that Emp
ress Group sediments have infilled a considerably large area of badlan
ds and tributary coulees that once drained into the Calgary Valley, lo
cated 15 km to the north of Dinosaur Provincial Park. Radiocarbon date
s of 52.4 ka, 27.4 ka and > 42.4 ka and glacially modified quartz grai
ns suggest that at least some of the valley fills dale to interglacial
or interstadial periods and may be mid-Wisconsinan in age. However, o
utcrops of an older till overlying other valley fills suggest that the
buried valleys were only partially excavated during interglacials/int
erstadials and that older (even pre-glacial) sediments could have surv
ived. Subglacial channels, recognisable on air photographs, largely co
incide with buried valley positions due to the preferential excavation
of the Quaternary sediment by meltwater and are filled with post-glac
ial lake sediment from which a radiocarbon date of 16 ka BP was obtain
ed. Pre-glacial and glacial/post-glacial Empress Group sediments are l
ithologically indistinct but cover a large time span in southern Alber
ta.