Qu'Appelle Valley Geolog Stop 7 - Katepwa Fluting Field
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Picture of Sign at Stop 7

Geology

Stop 7 does not look like much from the ground, but photographs taken from the air show a different story. The Katepwa Fluting Field is composed of a series of parallel, curved ridges and grooves that were cut into the upper till of the Floral formation during the last ice age.

In the last ice age, as ice and water melted and flowed south, glaciers pushed along the field, leaving in their wake deep grooves that at some points measured 4 -5 metres deep. Since glaciation, about 3 metres of alluvium has been deposited in the grooves. Also, this area has been developed for farming and constant cultivation has changed the landscape, making the fluting less visible than it once was.

The plant species listed here were found near the Stop and from the roadside leading into the Qu'Appelle Valley, south of Stop 7.

 

Picture of Fluting Plains at groundlevel

Plant species found at stop 7:

Alfalfa Long-headed coneflower Spreading dogbane
Awned northern wheatgrass Low goldenrod Stiff goldenrod
Blue grama Low prairie rose Stinkweed
Blue lettuce Manitoba maple Trembling aspen
Bull thistle Many-flowered aster 2-rowed barley
Canada thistle Northern awnless brome Water-parsnip
Common pepper-grass Northern bedstraw Western shining willlow
Crested wheatgrass Northern wheatgrass Western snowberry
Dandelion Pasture sage White sweet-clover
Flixweed Pineappleweed Wild bergamot
4-rowed barley Prairie sage Wild licorice
Foxtail barley Purple prairie-clover Wolfwillow or Silverberry
Graceful (Canada) goldenrod Saskatoon Wood's rose
Great-flowered gaillardia Scarlet mallow Yarrow
Gumweed Silverleaf psoralea Yellow goat's-beard
Hairy golden-aster Smooth aster Yellow sweet-clover
Harebell Smooth brome  
Lewis wild flax Smooth fleabane  

 

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Page last updated on 2004-10-08
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