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Quaternary Stratigraphy and Glacial History of the Peace River Valley, Northeast British Columbia1

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Quaternary Stratigraphy and Glacial History of the Peace River Valley, Northeast British Columbia1 549 Quaternary stratigraphy and glacial history of the Peace River valley, northeast British Columbia1 Gregory M.D. Hartman and John J. Clague Abstract: Two Cordilleran and three Laurentide glacial advances are recorded in Quaternary sediments and landforms in the Peace River valley, northeast British Columbia. The advances are inferred from fluvial gravels, glaciolacustrine sedi- ments, and tills within nested paleovalleys excavated during three interglaciations and from the distribution of granitoid clasts derived from the Canadian Shield. Till of the last (Late Wisconsinan) Laurentide glaciation occurs at the surface, ex- cept where it is overlain by postglacial sediments. The advance that deposited this till was the most extensive in the study area, and the only advance definitively recognized in western Alberta south of the study area. Late Wisconsinan Cordil- leran till has not been found in the study area, but Cordilleran and Laurentide ice may have coalesced briefly during the last glaciation. Support for this supposition is provided by the inferred deflection of Laurentide flutings to the southeast by Cordilleran ice. The earliest Laurentide advance may have been the least extensive of the three Laurentide events recog- nized in the study area. Erratics attributed to this advance occur only east of the Halfway River – Beatton River drainage divide. Re´sume´ : Deux avance´es glaciaires de la Cordille`re et trois de l’Inlandsis laurentidien sont e´videntes dans les se´diments et la topographie du Quaternaire de la valle´e de la rivie`re de la Paix, dans le nord-est de la Colombie-Britannique. Les avance´es sont de´duites a` partir des graviers fluviatiles, des se´diments glacio-lacustres et des tills dans des pale´ovalle´es emboıˆte´es excave´es durant trois pe´riodes interglaciaires et a` partir de la distribution des clastes granitoı¨des provenant du Bouclier canadien. Un till de la dernie`re glaciation laurentidienne (Wisconsinien tardif) se retrouve a` la surface, sauf la` ou` il est recouvert de se´diments post-glaciaires. L’avance´e qui a de´pose´ ce till a e´te´ la plus extensive dans le secteur a` l’e´tude et c’est la seule avance´ede´finitivement reconnue dans l’ouest de l’Alberta, au sud du secteur a` l’e´tude. Aucun till de la Cordille`re datant du Wisconsinien n’a e´te´ trouve´ dans le secteur a` l’e´tude. Cependant, la glace de la Cordille`re et celle de l’Inlandsis laurentidien pourraient s’eˆtre unis durant une bre`ve pe´riode au cours de la dernie`re glaciation. Cette hypothe`se est soutenue par la de´flexion infe´re´e de rainures glaciaires laurentidiennes vers le sud-est par la glace de la Cordille`re. L’avance´e glaciaire laurentidienne la plus pre´coce pourrait eˆtre la moins e´tendue des trois e´ve´nements laurenti- diens reconnus dans le secteur a` l’e´tude. Les blocs erratiques attribue´sa` cette avance´e ne se retrouvent qu’a` l’est de la ligne de partage des eaux entre les rivie`res Halfway et Beatton. [Traduit par la Re´daction] Introduction and Laurentide glaciations of the area. Moreover, the Quater- nary history along the entire Canadian Rocky Mountain The Quaternary stratigraphy of Peace Valley was docu- front has, in recent years, been revised. Early researchers mented 30 years ago by Mathews (1978) but, since then, inferred up to four Laurentide glaciations of the Alberta some researchers working in northeast British Columbia and Plateau, but recent work has reduced this number, and northwest Alberta have come to conclusions incompatible some workers have suggested that only one advance with Mathews’ interpretation of the history of Cordilleran reached Edmonton, Simonette, and Watino (Fig. 1). The number of Cordilleran advances has also been reduced Received 30 March 2007. Accepted 30 October 2007. Published from that proposed by early workers. on the NRC Research Press Web site at cjes.nrc.ca on 25 June These revisions have been driven, in part, by improve- 2008. ments in describing and interpreting sediments, especially Paper handled by Associate Editor R. Gilbert. diamictons (Eyles et al. 1983). Equally important, Mac- Donald et al. (1987) demonstrated that radiocarbon ages on G.M. Hartman.2 Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, gyttja and some freshwater aquatic plants suffer an ‘‘old Canada; Present address: AMEC Earth and Environmental, 5681 carbon effect.’’ These and other developments led to the re- 70th Street, Edmonton, AB T6B 3P6, Canada. evaluation of interpretations based on incorrectly described J.J. Clague. Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser deposits or spurious radiocarbon ages. The work of early re- University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, searchers however, cannot be completely discounted. Canada. Henderson (1959), Tokarsky (1967), St-Onge (1972), and 1This article is one of a selection of papers published in this Mathews (1978) present evidence for multiple glaciations Special Issue on the theme Geology of northeastern British that is not dependent on lithofacies interpretations and radio- Columbia and northwestern Alberta: diamonds, shallow gas, carbon ages. gravel, and glaciers. Even recent researchers, however, do not agree on the ex- 2Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]). tent and times of Cordilleran advances and whether or not Can. J. Earth Sci. 45: 549–564 (2008) doi:10.1139/E07-069 # 2008 NRC Canada 550 Can. J. Earth Sci. Vol. 45, 2008 Fig. 1. Study area. The map at the upper left shows adjacent areas where Quaternary research has been completed. Cordilleran glaciers ever coalesced with the Laurentide ice Laurentide glaciers. It was affected by both the Cordilleran sheet. Jackson et al. (1997), Bednarski (1999, 2001), Dyke and Laurentide ice sheets, and Quaternary sediments are et al. (2002), and Bednarski and Smith (2007) have argued well exposed along Peace River and its tributaries. In addi- for extensive Late Wisconsinan Cordilleran glaciation, in- tion, interstadial and interglacial paleovalleys have been par- volving coalescence of Cordilleran and Laurentide ice over tially preserved, allowing an assessment of the stratigraphic a considerable distance of the Rocky Mountain front. relations between valley-fill sediments of different age. Bobrowsky (1989), Bobrowsky et al. (1991, 1992), Bobrow- sky and Rutter (1992), and Catto et al. (1996), on the other hand, concluded that the Late Wisconsinan Cordilleran ad- Study area vance was restricted, and they attributed the most extensive This study was conducted in the Charlie Lake map area Cordilleran advance to an earlier glaciation. (National Topographic System (NTS) 94A), which is located The Peace River valley in northeast British Columbia is within the Alberta Plateau subprovince of the northern ideally located for a study of interactions of Cordilleran and Interior Plains (Fig. 1). The area is a flat to gently rolling # 2008 NRC Canada Hartman and Clague 551 plateau deeply incised by the valleys of the Peace River and Fig. 2. Topographic provinces of the study area (modified from its tributaries. Mathews 1978; reproduced and adapted with the permission of the Mathews (1978) identified three distinct topographic Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2007 provinces in the study area (Fig. 2): (1) uplands with steep and courtesy of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of to gently rolling ridges and cuestas; (2) river valleys deeply Canada). incised into the uplands; and (3) benches with little relief adjacent to incised valleys. Uplands are areas of low to moderate relief where near-surface bedrock controls the topography. River valleys are incised into the upland topo- graphic province. They range from broad, flat-floored fea- tures to V-shaped and canyon-like forms. Benches adjacent to incised river valleys are nearly flat and are thus morpho- logically distinct from the uplands. Depths to bedrock be- neath the benches range from about 15 to 180 m. Gently northeast-dipping Cretaceous sedimentary rocks underlie the study area (Stott 1982). The rocks include marine shale and siltstone of the Smokey Group, sandstone and conglomerate of the Dunvegan Formation, and marine shale and minor sandstone of the Fort St. John Group. The Clear Hills and Chinchaga Hills are gravel-capped surfaces that lie 300–600 m above the level of the surrounding Interior Plain and dip gently to the northeast (Fig. 1). Math- ews (1978) inferred that the hills are erosional remnants of a peneplain that once extended across the study area. Methods Exposures of Quaternary sediments were visited and de- scribed during the summers of 2002 and 2003 (Fig. 3). This task entailed locating intact exposures, defining and describ- face was interpolated over known and estimated bedrock ing sedimentary units, measuring elevations of unit contacts, surface points using inverse distance weighting. and collecting samples. Sediments were described and grouped using the litho- Paleovalleys, planation surfaces, and deep facies analysis method (Eyles et al. 1983). Characteristics bedrock basins and features that were noted include grain size, sorting, sedi- mentary structures, colour, clast lithology, compaction, Three relict fluvial drainage systems are graded to differ- jointing, weathering, sliding planes, rupture surfaces, and ent base levels, providing a framework for understanding the the angle of the exposure face. Basal and upper contacts of Quaternary stratigraphy and history of the study area. Post- units were also described, and fossils, erratics, striated sur- glacial Peace River has incised almost 50 m deeper into faces, fabric, and deformation features, if present, were bedrock than any of its precursors; the river today flows noted. over bedrock through most of the study area. Two incised The colours of moist sediment samples were determined bedrock straths at different elevations, and thus different using the Geological Society of America Rock Color Chart ages, are exposed in the valley walls of Peace River and its (Goddard et al.
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