Today, we return to Banff National Park, to the outcrops next to the parking area for Bow River Falls… Zoomed-in closer to the thinner layers at left: These strata (shale and siltstone) were laid down in the quiet aftermath of the Permo-Triassic extinction, as terranes colliding with the edge of North America (far to the … Read more
Click through for a big version… That’s the Athabasca Glacier, crown jewel of the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. Its lateral moraines show well its retreat and “deflation” in recent years.
Yesterday I showed you salt casts; today I’ll share a different kind of cast: the infillings of small scorings in the sediment made by tumbling pebbles or sticks or other “tools,”tumbling down a current. These small gouges were later infilled from above by a younger deposit of sediment (frequently coarser in grain size). You’re looking … Read more
Callan and his students narrowly miss being stranded in Banff National Park when a rainstorm triggers a mudslide that closes the TransCanada highway.
Given that I’m leaving tomorrow for the Canadian Rockies, I’ve been inspired to look through some of my photos from last summer, and to realize how few of them I’ve blogged so far. So let me show you some folded things today that Lily and I saw the afternoon we arrived at Waterton Lakes National … Read more
I’m headed off Saturday to the Canadian Rockies for two weeks. My colleague Pete Berquist and I are leading a regional field geology course up there. It’s a new gig for both of us, and I’m sure the trip will be quite a learning experience. As I was preparing for the trip today, I drew … Read more
Callan and his wife hike Cory Pass in Banff National Park, Canada, and encounter some geology, some solitude, and a spectacular landscape.
You’re looking here at Mount Kidd, a peak in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies that displays a tight anticline/syncline duo superimposed on the strata of the Rundle Group. Located on the west side of Highway 40, the Kananaskis Trail, south of the trans-Canada Highway, this mountain shows us what happens with Carboniferous-aged carbonates … Read more