Digital Data 2021-0004
Author(s) | Date | 2021-04-12 |
The Alberta Geological Survey defined 10 hydrogeological regions in Alberta: the Mountains and Foothills, Western Plains and Benchlands, Central Plains, Eastern Plains and Buried Valleys, Province-Wide Buried Valleys, Regional Uplands, McMurray Lowlands, Northwestern Lowlands, Northeastern Lowlands, and Canadian Shield and Athabasca Basin. Each region has a unique hydrogeological setting based on the regional geology, physiography, and climate.
These hydrogeological settings play a significant role in groundwater movement, availability, yield, quality, and response to changes from human use or climate change. This work integrates many different provincial-scale datasets to build the hydrogeological setting of each region, including surface elevation, bedrock physiography, sediment thickness, bedrock geology, climate moisture index, surficial geology, surface morphology, and water well targets (sediments or bedrock). Previous regional hydrogeology studies were also used to develop the setting of each area.
The Hydrogeological Regions of Alberta provides a multi-disciplinary overview to better inform policy development for building water security, sustainability and resilience for the future, as well as a systematic framework to initiate more localized groundwater studies.
More information on the hydrogeological regions of Alberta can be found in the associated ArcGIS StoryMaps collection.
NTS Keywords
Alberta Geological Survey (2021): Hydrogeological regions of Alberta (GIS data, polygon features); Alberta Energy Regulator / Alberta Geological Survey, AER/AGS Digital Data 2021-0004.