June 2006 ISSUE
backgrounder
This Society’s Roots Go Way Back
The Palaeontological Society of the Peace owes its formation to the Cretaceous Period’s swampy world of deltas and dinosaurs — and the rich legacy of fossils it spawned.
BY KATALIN ORMAY
SHELDON GRABER, P.GEOL.
DR. BERT HUNT, P.ENG.
AND DR. DESH MITTRA
The Peace Country is incredibly rich in natural resources. Forestry, agriculture, oil and gas make the economy of this region one of the fastest growing in Canada.
There is, however, another natural resource that has recently shown great potential. This resource is our geological deposits rich in paleontological or fossil remains. After some local discoveries by Robert Cochrane in the 1940s and 1950s, and the major excavation in the Pipestone Creek Pachyrhinosaurus Bonebed in the late 1980s, world attention has focused on the dinosaur fossils of the Grande Prairie Area. They have significant scientific, as well as economic, potential for the Peace Region and Alberta as a whole.
A Youthful Landscape
The landscape of the Peace River Area is very young: it formed as the ice of
the last glacial period melted away 12,000 to 8,000 years ago. Before that, our
region, as the majority of North America, was covered with an ice sheet up to
three kilometres thick. The ice sheet scoured the land and upon melting deposited
sediments called glacial till up to 100 meters thick. The hills, rivers and valleys
are all the result of the glaciers sculpting the surface as the ice sheets grew
and ultimately receded.
Our region has little exposed rock except for the outcrops that have been incised by the rivers. Most of the rock exposures tend to be along river valleys. Using these outcrops and sub-surface drilling, the geology of the region is determined.
The rocks underlying the glacial sediments in the Peace River Area were formed in the Cretaceous period. The rocks exposed from the Kakwa River to Spirit River are predominately Late Cretaceous — 99 to 65 million years ago — non-marine rocks. These sedimentary rocks were a result of an enormous deltaic environment. Rivers flowed from the emerging Rocky Mountains in the west towards the east into an inland sea, which covered the interior of modern North America from the Gulf of Mexico to the Artic Ocean.
This Late Cretaceous non-marine rock, called the Wapiti Formation, is of deltaic origin and has been measured up to 1,500 metres thick in some places. Geologically speaking, the Wapiti Formation is described as a series of cyclical packages of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. There are three coal measures that define units within the Wapiti Formation: Red Willow, Cutbank and Kakwa. These sediments all indicate a delta-and-swamp environment.
Other clues that geologists use to help identify ancient environments are fossils. Plant fossils found in the Wapiti Formation, such as conifers, cycads and ferns, all indicate a warm climate and lush vegetation, much like those of the west coast of British Columbia today.
Dinosaur remains include trackways, bone fragments, articulated skeletons and a world-class bonebed. By correlating the rocks and fossils, a picture of this Cretaceous Period — about 75 to 70 million years ago— may be constructed.
The physiography of this large drainage basin was a low-lying, swampy plain with numerous lakes, and the area was heavily forested with conifers, cycads and ferns. It is probable that the rivers were braided near the rising mountains to the west and meandering in the east. These rivers were flowing into an inland sea called the Bearpaw Sea, which reached just north of present-day Edmonton.
Go North, Young Dinosaur
Terrestrial animals, dinosaurs and other mammals migrated northward to our Peace
Country to escape the rising sea. This gives added significance to our paleontological
finds, since while the southern part of Alberta was covered by the Bearpaw Sea,
the dinosaurs living in our area evolved into unique species that are indigenous
to northwest Alberta.
Currently, dinosaur finds at Pipestone Creek and Red Willow Creek support this theory. The Pachyrhinosaur Bonebed at Pipestone Creek suggests a completely unique dinosaur. The hadrosaur excavated in 2003 at the Red Willow Creek may suggest another unique species as well.
The rocks lying immediately below the Wapiti Formation are from the Lower Cretaceous period, from 145 to 99 million years ago. These layers are exposed on the surface only farther north of Grande Prairie, and offer a rich marine fossil assemblage. This is the time that the Elmworth Deep Gas Basin was formed.
This gas basin is considered the largest gas field in Canada. The environment was similar to the Upper Cretaceous except the rocks are marine sands, siltstones and shales. Oil and gas formed as a result of the marine shale, which is considered the source rock.
Fossils from these formations were known from the time of the early explorers. George Dawson of the Canadian Geological Survey observed and recorded fossils in the 1870s. As our region became more populated the finds multiplied, culminating in the discovery of the Pipestone Creek Bonebed.
Then in 2004
As a response to the growing interest in the geology and paleontological richness
of the Peace Country, our amateur “paleo” society was formed in the
spring of 2004 in Grande Prairie.
The Palaeontological Society of the Peace originated in the Earth Science/Geology
classroom of Dr. Desh Mittra, a professor teaching paleo-enthusiasts the basics
of dinosaur evolution as prescribed in the University of Alberta’s ES 207
course material. Besides regular college students, most of Grande Prairie’s
amateur dinosaur hunters and other interested professionals signed up for this
evening class.
A core group of six individuals from this course and two other, like-minded community
members decided to formally establish a paleo-club in the Peace with Dr. Mittra
as founding president.
These founding members were pleased when three people accepted honorary memberships — Al Lakusta, a local retired science teacher, who originally found the dinosaur bonebed along the Pipestone Creek; and Dr. Phil Currie and Darren Tanke, then both of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, and who have studied and researched the Peace Country dinosaurs the most.
Established in the summer of 2004, the society developed a working relationship with the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Paleontologists Dr. Currie and Dr. Eva Koppelhus, technician Darren Tanke and Dr. Greg Erickson from Florida State University spent part of the summer 2004 field season in the Peace, prospecting for new dinosaur sites and following up previous discoveries.
Members of our society were able to spend time with these experts and learn many valuable field techniques, such as recognizing promising outcrops, identifying dinosaur bones and other fossil remains, and collecting and screening matrix for microfossils. With these activities members gained valuable knowledge to apply to future field seasons in the Peace Country.
The society helped with the museum’s collections as well. We helped to locate and collect amber — fossilized tree sap — at a site on the Red Willow River. Numerous new bone sites were discovered, containing a tyrannosaur femur, ornithomimid bones, and numerous hadrosaur bones and footprints. A new ceratopsian footprint was discovered and collected.
Tips from community members are followed up, and we attempt to relocate old and lost quarries. Known sites are visited and reviewed annually to make new discoveries, as well as to ensure the security of these areas.
Big Mandate in a Big Area
The society is trying to oversee a huge geographic area, encompassing Grande
Cache, Peace River and Manning. Members can therefore look forward to many busy
field seasons.
The Palaeontological Society of the Peace tries to be a first contact for members of the community to come forward to when they make fossil discoveries in the area. Our society can ensure that fossil finds won’t go undocumented. We can determine the importance of the finds, and can make sure that — in accordance with the province’s Historical Resources Act — that the proper authorities are notified.
Donated fossils are properly catalogued and stored or exhibited at the Grande Prairie Regional College, Grande Prairie Museum, Centre 2000 or the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
The society also has an active educational program. The executive invited Royal Tyrrell paleontologists and other experts to give public lectures to the local community.
Highlights of the first year’s speaker series were Darren Tanke’s talk on the importance of relocating old, lost quarries in the Dinosaur Provincial Park area; Dr. Phil Currie’s presentation on the history of dinosaur hunting in western Canada; Dr. Eva Koppelhus’s talk on paleobotany; and Dr. Greg Erickson’s lecture on the bite of the T-rex. Later in the fall Rich MacRae and Lisa Buckley gave a talk on footprint and dinosaur bone discoveries in the Tumbler Ridge area.
All of these presentations were extremely well received, and the society is continuing the tradition. Our goal is to keep the public informed, educated and interested in the paleontology of the Peace. We are actively encouraging new memberships, and will continue to work with the scientists of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the Royal Alberta Museum and the University of Alberta.
With the continued dedication of the members, coupled with the support of the local and scientific communities, we will contribute to Grande Prairie becoming a world-class dinosaur tourist location among the many such attractions to be found in Alberta.
THE EXECUTIVE
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President
Dr. Desh Mittra -
Vice-President
Katalin Ormay -
Secretary
Scarlett Hunt -
Treasurer
Sheldon Graber, P.Geol. -
Program Coordinator
Dr. Bert Hunt, P.Eng. -
Members at Large
Sherry Samborski, P.Geol.
Walter Paszkowski
Roy Bickell
SOCIETY’S GOALS
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To promote the science of paleontology in the Peace Region through study and education
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To make contributions to the science of paleontology by discovery, collection, curation and display, preservation of material for study, and education of the general public
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To provide information and expertise to others with an interest in the science of paleontology
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To form a working bond with the professional community and to aid in the preservation of the heritage of Alberta by contribution to provincial collections.