Okotoks Erratic Big Rock

Point Of Interest

Contact

Highway 7, Black Diamond, Alberta

alberta.ca/okotoks-erratic-big-rock.aspx

Description

This prominent southern Alberta geological landmark is a historical site of great spiritual significance to the Blackfoot peoples. Visible from considerable distance across the relatively flat terrain of the prairie landscape, Big Rock is an enormous glacial erratic. The 16,500-tonne (18,200-ton) boulder transported far from its mountainous place of origin by a rockslide then by a glacial sheet of ice between 10,000 to 30,000 years ago to its present-day location just west of the Town of Okotoks. Big Rock was originally part of a mountain formation in what is now Jasper National Park. During the last ice age - about 30,000 years ago - a large rockslide crashed debris onto the surface of a glacier that occupied the present day Athabasca River valley, and this debris, including Big Rock, was carried out of the mountains on the glacial surface. As the ice melted and the glacier retreated to the mountains, the rocky debris, including this huge erratic, were deposited across the prairies.

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Features

Location

Lat: 50.703097 Lng: -114.077127