Glacial Geology of Coronation District, Alberta

The intent of this report is to present preliminary results of the mapping of glacial deposits in the Coronation District of Alberta. Three districts of similar size, which lie to the west, northwest and north of the Coronation District, will be mapped in the next two field seasons, and when this mapping has been completed a finalized report will be presented encompassing the entire area.

Much of the Coronation district lies in the Torlea flats, which is a north-south belt of relatively featureless ground moraine in east-central Alberta. Gently dipping Upper Cretaceous bedrock is found quite close to the surface in the Torlea flats and is exposed in the valleys of most of the easterly flowing streams.

The eastern side of the Torlea flats is bounded by the Viking moraine. This broad recessional moraine is made up of a series of segments which trend in a north-south direction north of the Coronation district. Just south of the Coronation district the Viking moraine swings to the east and crosses the Saskatchewan-Alberta border at approximately 52 degrees of latitude.

A large part of this report is devoted to the conditions of retreat of the last ice in this section of Alberta.

From the nature of the regional topography and the form of glacial deposits, it is reasoned that the last retreat was marked by large-scale stagnation which proceeded in a down slope direction.