Geology

There are four divisions of geological deposits in the Calgary area: Tertiary (Paleocene) bedrock, shales and sandstones, Tertiary preglacial gravels, and Quaternary glacial and Quaternary postglacial deposits.




The core of Nose Hill consists of Paleocene sandstones and shales of the Porcupine Hills formation.

The ancestral Bow River, which flowed eastward out of the mountains, deposited later Tertiary gravels on top of this bedrock.

In the Quaternary period, advancing glacial ice sheets eroded both bedrock and gravels. As the ice retreated, sediments were deposited from Glacial Lake Calgary on the flanks of the Hill along with glacial till on the top.

As the modern Bow River developed, it eroded these sediments and sculpted the southern flanks of the Hill. Post glacial deposits form a thin covering of sediment. There is a series of silt dominated alluvial fans and some wind blown sands.

An occasional erratic boulder, left by the ice sheets, can be found on the Hill.

For a more extended description, read 'NOSE HILL a Popular Guide', published by the Calgary Field Naturalists in 1988.