Structural deformation along the Red Deer River Valley, Drumheller, Alberta

Structurally deformed strata of the Upper Cretaceous Edmonton Group are present along the Red Deer River Valley, southeastern Alberta, approximately 130 kilometres east of the Cordilleran fold and thrust belt. The five locations studied are in and near the town of Drumheller, Alberta. The folds are on a scale of decimetres to tens of metres and are generally asymmetric. The faults include low angle thrust faults and steep reverse faults with displacements of a few metres.; Four mechanisms are proposed for the origin of these structures: overriding ice sheets; salt mobility; soft sediment deformation; and Laramide/basin tectonics. Based on the observed geometry and orientations of structures at each site, three of the five structures are consistent with the glaciotectonic hypothesis, all the structures may fit the soft sediment deformation hypothesis, none of the structures fit the salt dissolution/basin flexure hypothesis, and four of the five structures are consistent with the Laramide tectonic hypothesis.