Geology and Mineral Resources, Northwest-Central Alberta (Hinton to Grande Prairie)

This report describes the geology and mineral resources of an area in west-central Alberta, extending from Highway 16 in the south to the Grande Prairie district in the north, and from Jasper National Park-British Columbia boundaries in the west to the Swan Hills region in the east. Special emphasis is given to the western part of this area, which is traversed by the route of the Alberta Resources Railway.

Information on the bedrock geology of the Foothills region is mainly from reports published by the Geological Survey of Canada (Greiner, 1955; Irish, 1965) and from unpublished maps supplied by oil companies. Most of the bedrock geology and coal resources data for the Plains area were obtained from helicopter surveys conducted by the Research Council's Geology Division in 1969 and 1970. This material is supplemented by information in reports by Allan and Carr (1946) and Govett (1961), and by unpublished data on gypsum and coal resources in Research Council files.

Information on oil and gas fields is compiled from maps and other material published by the Energy Resources Conservation Board in Calgary.