Coal Creek Heritage Trail June 2026 | Page 5

Ice and Water Sculpted the Elk Valley

Ancient Exposed Sedimentary Rocks

WHY COAL APPEARS ONLY on the EAST SIDE of the ELK VALLEY

After mountain building eased 60 million years ago, the valley dropped between north / south ridges. Over the past 2 million years, glaciers advanced and retreated here at least four times, covering all but the highest peaks. These moving rivers of ice carved U-shaped valleys and sharpened the landscape and exposed hidden layers of sedimentary rock. Standing today in the Elk Valley, imagine it filled with ice, then a dammed glacial lake so deep in the Elk Valley that it flowed east over the Crowsnest Pass. On the eastern side of the Elk Valley, the Mist Mountain Formation revealed seams of coal, ancient plant life transformed over millions of years. Near Coal Creek, these dark bands became visible, while on the west side they remain buried deep underground.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRENCH

WEST

Credit: Dave McRitchie, 2003

SAND CREEK

HOSMER THRUST

BOURGEAU THRUST

MT. HOSMER 2500m

Thick-bedded limestone

Rocky Mountains were much higher as layers have now eroded

ELK RIVER

KOOTENAY GROUP

FERNIE

Limestone- Marine corals and plankton rained down in the warm shallow seas to be cemented by limey mud.

Coal- Ten feet of plant material compressed, heated and transformed to make one foot of coal. This amount of vegetation is a testament to the vast swamplands that existed up Coal Creek, where some of the coal seams are up to 30 feet thick!

Sandstone- Remnants of sandy shoreline are exposed above the Coal Creek townsite on the north side. Dinosaurs once strolled down these beaches.

Shale- Muddy dark silt settled out of still water and were compressed to form coal mine roofs. Miners commonly found imprinted ferns and prehistoric plants in fossils underground.

Conglomerate – Rushing rivers carried gravels tumbling into still water seas. Miners always recognized these rocks as stable mine roofs.

MORRISSEY AND HOSMER RIDGES iStock photos

Elk Valley Geological Cross Section Looking North

MOOSE

ELK

MIST MOUNTAIN

Soft, dark marine shale, easily eroded forming u-shaped valleys

Contains the economically important coal seams.

Conglomerate sandstone

Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, conglomerate, sometimes coal seams

Coarse grained sandstone forming cliffs

Resistent pebble conglomerate

EAST

- 2000- 1800- 1600- 1400- 1200- 1000- 800- 600- 400- 200 0

Dark shale and clay-rich limestone Thick grey-bedded limestone Fossil-rich limestone

Palliser Formation Banff Formation Rundle Formation

Moose Mountain Member

Mist Mountain Formation

Rocky Mountain Group Formation

Fernie Formation

Elk Formation Cadomin Formation Blairmore Group

Gaze at the mountains of the Lizard Range( SW), Morrissey Ridge( S), Mount Fernie( NW), and Hosmer Ridge( N). Notice the bands of grey and black, the shifting textures, and stacked layers, each a page from a long-ago time. Before mountains formed around Fernie this place was flat covered by warm seas, muddy gravelled riverbeds, sandy shores and swamp lands. For millions of years, sediment built up in rock layers nearly five kilometres thick. About 125 million years ago, powerful forces pushed the Pacific Plate beneath the North American Plate, and layered beds of rock crumpled, folded, and rose skyward. You’ re not just seeing mountains- you’ re seeing ancient marine environments turned to stone and uplifted.

“ This area is destined to be one of the most productive coal fields in Canada.”

- Dr. Selwyn, Geological Survey of Canada late 1800s while studying coal deposits along Coal, Morrissey and Michel Creeks.

AQUATIC CENTRE

FERNIE

MONTANE TRAILHEAD

approx. 1 km

COAL CREEK RD

RIVER RD- Closed to motorized vehicles

P

Coal Creek Heritage Trail Coal Creek Heritage Trail- Phase 2 Other Trail Road

Sign Locations

Road- Closed Points of Interest

Life Returns

Thousands of years ago, the ice retreated and Glacial Lake Elk drained, revealing a raw landscape of bare rock and gravels. Life quickly returned from unglaciated areas. Wind, water, and animals carried spores and seeds. Lichens and mosses took hold, soils formed, then plants, animals, and eventually people followed.

Over millions of years, the Southern Canadian Rockies have been worn down by erosion, exposing layers beneath. On the eastern side, glaciers and erosion revealed coal seams. On the western side, those same layers remain buried under massive limestone peaks.

What you see today is a landscape once scraped clean by ice, rebuilt by life, and still changing.

RIFLE RANGE

YOU ARE HERE 5.1 km

AMMONITE TRAIL

MATHESON FALLS TRAIL