GEOLOGY OF THE EARTH AND EDMONTON

Subduction

Plates Collision

Animation of the erosional evolution of the badlands - with no soil, clay or vegetation to protect the underlying stone, weathering by wind, frost and rain quickly carves out the distinctive land form shapes particular to the Badlands of Alberta - with its hoodoos, etc.

The picture above (mine) shows a geological profile of the Edmonton area.  In Drumhellar the  glacial clay and soil layer that covers the first 60 to 200 feet of Edmonton's surface is missing so the frost wind and rain quickly carve into the sandstone and shale and create distinctive "dinosaur landscape" that has made the Red Deer River Valley quite famous.  The Grand Canyon is a dramatic lesson in erosion.  One is able to view millions of years of geological history by looking at the layers of rock reaching up 1 mile from the canyon's floor and seeing the fossils from different ages in the different rock layers.  If the North Saskatchewan River was able to dig down a valley that deep we would have a similar geological view here as well.  Drumhellar is only a beginning. 

More notes to come!