Glacial geology of Sedgewick district, Alberta

The western portion of the Sedgewick district of east-central Alberta lies in the Torlea flats, which is north-south belt of relatively featureless ground moraine in east-central Alberta. A curvilinear band of outwash and ice-contact deposits is found north, northwest and northeast of Sedgewick. This outwash lies in a broad, shallow valley which probably marks the location of a preglacial or interglacial stream course. Wind action on the outwash south and east of Sedgewick has produced faint dune development. Local kames, crevasse fillings and stream-trenches are found on the till plain.

The eastern and northern part of the area is made up primarily of an area of hummocky dead-ice moraine. One of the more spectacular features found in the region is a southeasterly trending system of debris-filled stream-trenches found within the dead-ice moraine. The meltwater which issued from the stream-trenches flooded the south-eastern part of the district and left broad tracts of outwash which cross the valley of the Battle river. Southeast of the Battle river wind action on the outwash has produced longitudinal and U-shaped dunes, some of which are still active.

Flutings found north and east of Sedgewick demonstrate that the ice moved in a southeasterly direction following the course of a preglacial trough. A few miles south of Jarrow, lineations suggest a southwesterly ice-movement direction.