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Geoscape Calgary Virtual tours - Geology Stop 1 - Elbow river escarpment
Elbow River escarpment |
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As the Elbow River winds its way through Calgary,
it cuts steep cliffs into the loose, fine-grained sediment provided by
glaciers and glacial lakes 10 000 to 25 000 years ago. Today,
because of their steep and unconsolidated nature, many of these slopes are
unstable and pose a risk to housing developments placed too close to them.
Some of Calgary's more significant landslides have been caused by human
activity, such as excessive lawn watering too close to the cliffs at the
top, or excavation of the 'toe' of the slope at the bottom.
Click on a dot to continue the tour:
Legend | Holocene | Present - 10,000 years ago | | Quaternary | 10,000 - 25,000 years ago | | Tertiary | 25,000 - 65 million years ago | | Mesozoic | 65 - 245 million years ago | | Paleozoic | 245 - 670 million years ago |
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