Article Database - A Traveler's Guide to Geological Wonders in Alberta

Mussieux, Ron and Marilyn Nelson. A Traveller’s Guide to Geological Wonders in Alberta Edmonton: The Provincial Museum of Alberta, Federation of Alberta Naturalists, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, 1998. Illustrations, drawings, maps, glossary, index. 252 pp.

As Dr. Bruce McGillivray acknowledges in the introduction to this guide book, "Museum displays cannot do justice to geological sites." Although the Provincial Museum of Alberta has an interesting geological gallery, and Ron Mussieux, Curator of Geology, continues to develop and improve it, it does seem necessary to get people outside the four walls of a museum to experience the true scale and nature of Alberta’s "geological wonders." This seems to be inspiration for the second field guide recently co-published by the Provincial Museum of Alberta and the Federation of Alberta Naturalists.

The roots of this particular book go back several years. Ron Mussieux has been Curator of Geology at the PMA for over 25 years, and very active in geological education through the Edmonton EdGeo Workshops for over a decade. These workshops are co-ordinated through geological societies such as the Edmonton Geological Society. The societies have a professional focus, but share a commitment to "educational outreach" into the community. As Ron Mussieux taught Alberta teachers in the EdGeo workshops, he was struck by "the lack of readily available popular Alberta geological information." He noted that most geological guidebooks seemed to be written for geologists, oil people, or others in similar fields.

He wished to produce a book for the average "traveller" throughout the province. In other words, not another textbook. It also had to cover the whole of Alberta, an area about as big as western Europe. At first he tried to select sites fairly easily accessible to the public, but this impulse broke down in the vast northern districts of the province, where many important sites would be overlooked if this criterion were adhered to.

Ron Mussieux co-operated with Marilyn Nelson in preparing the book. Ms. Nelson, a career geologist, worked for over 15 years on geology projects through the PMA. Her father, Dr. Samuel Nelson, produced the pioneering Face of Time (1970) for the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, through the University of Calgary. She has long had a deep interest in palaeontology. She also recently completed a study on Evaluation of Geological Sites. This valuable resource grew out of the need to name geological sites of provincial significance under provisions of the Alberta Historical Resources Act (1975).

This conjunction of Ron Mussieux, "one of the most knowledgeable field geologists in Alberta," in the words of Bruce McGillivray, and Marilyn Nelson, who has the most current and comprehensive overview of provincial geological sites of public interest, has produced a valuable resource for the interested traveller in Alberta. Mr. Mussieux observes that the book was "fun to produce." There is no doubt that his enthusiasm stems from the strong team support, support from the geological societies, and his natural pleasure in communicating the geological knowledge which he has gathered over the years.

Wendy Johnson’s outstanding location maps add greatly to the usefulness of the text, as do the excellent illustrations produced by Dan Magee, through the co-operation of the Alberta Geological Survey.

The guidebook is clearly directed at the general public, and as such might benefit from a somewhat more extensive bibliographical note for those whose interest in a particular subject or site is aroused by the book. As the book is organized according to Alberta Tourist Zones, some sites are forced within non-geological criteria. Sites were selected on the basis of fieldwork, significance, interest and accessibility. The somewhat startling disclaimer at the beginning of the book reminds the reader that some of the sites are located in areas where proper preparation and safety concerns should be considered. An obvious example is the section dealing with the Grand Rapids.

The geological sites have been selected within a broad context. One of its strengths is that they range from the familiar, such as the famous "Big Rock" erratic near Okotoks, to sites with historical and commercial significance, such as the quarries located in the Paskapoo Formation west of Edmonton, or the old industrial chimney at Marlboro.

Both of these books provide good examples of what has come to be called the "outreach" mandate of

public institutions. Both will remain helpful to Albertans and "travellers" in our province for years.

Ken Tingley is an historical resource consultant living in Edmonton. He is Senior Researcher at the Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum. His latest book is For King and Country: Alberta in the Second World War.