Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter One – Beginnings (Brian Hitchon)
Space and Time in the Universe
Birth of the Earth
Getting Down to Earth
Early Earth History
Continental Cotillion
The Alberta Perspective
Rocks and Minerals
Chapter Two – Alberta Through Time (Fred Clark and Brian Hitchon)
Historical Overview
The Precambrian – it’s a start
The Cambrian – hard times
Ordovician to Devonian – the Paleozoic plateau
Carboniferous to Permian – marking time
The Permian-Triassic Boundary – end of an era
The Mesozoic Era – more than dinosaurs
The Cenozoic Era – the age of mammals
Pleistocene to Recent – the deep freeze and beyond
Sculpting the Landscape (Bruce Rains and John Shaw)
Fossils
Chapter Three – Resources from the Rocks (Wylie Hamilton)
Rock or Mineral – which is which?
Minerals in the Geological Record
The Major Resource Minerals
Oil and Gas – Money to Burn (Brian Hitchon)
Coal – Buried Sunshine (Rick Richardson)
Sulphur – King of Chemicals
Salt – Pillar of Industry
Limestone – The Friendly Mineral
Sand and Gravel – Formable Stone (Dixon Edwards)
Groundwater – Water of Life (Don Currie)
The Secondary Resource Minerals
Formation Brines – Mineral Waters
Stone – The First Building Material
Silica – Quintessential Quartz
Placer Gold – Riverbed Riches (Dixon Edwards)
Gemstones – Stones of Endearment
Clay and Shale – Earthstone Essentials
Bentonite – A Swell Kind of Clay
Peat Moss – The Vegetal Mineral
Marl and Tufa
Sodium Sulphate
Prospective Resource Minerals
Diamond – Gem of Eternity (Dixon Edwards)
Other Industrial Minerals
Metallic Minerals
Chapter Four – Urban Geology (John D. Godfrey)
Edmonton (John D. Godfrey)
Fort McMurray (Neil O’Donnell)
Peace River (John D. Godfrey)
Grande Prairie (Desh Mittra)
Athabasca (Don R. Kvill)
Red Deer (Bruce Rains, John Shaw and Darren Sjogren)
Calgary (Gerald Osborn)
Lethbridge (René W. Barendregt)
Medicine Hat (A. MacS. Stalker)
Engineering Geology (David Devenny)
Glossary
Further Reading
Notes on Contributors
Index