Geography of Alberta

Grain farm on prairie northwest of Edmonton, Alberta.

Alberta's landscape is marked by the impact of the Wisconsin Glaciation, about 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, when the entire future province was covered in ice. As the ice sheet receded, the landscape was changed, and large amounts of glacial till were left behind.

The southern portion consists chiefly of plains that are almost entirely treeless. As the slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the west are reached, more trees are found until in the foothills of the mountains, bodies of forest timber occur. Trees also become more numerous in the northern part of the province, until in the region north of the North Saskatchewan River continuous forests are met with again. From the southern boundary line for 2.5° north the prairie is dry, but of good soil, which grows excellent crops when irrigated. North of this region, the surface of the province is of the most fertile soil, with ordinary rainfall sufficing for agriculture. Alberta also has large oil reserves, especially in the Athabasca oil sands in the north of the province.

The appearance of the prairie section of the province is that of undulating grasslands, with rounded sloping ridges covered with shorter grasses, which serve for the support of large herds of beef cattle. The wooded portions of the terrain are dotted with clumps and belts of trees of moderate size, giving them a park-like appearance. In winter it is generally very cold, but this is occasionally reduced by a warm wind from the west, known as the Chinook.

In 1986, Agriculture Canada published a map listing the following physiographic regions to be present at least partially within Alberta:[4]

• Canadian Shield
  • Kazan Upland
  • Athabasca Plain
• Interior Plains
  • Northern Plains
  • Saskatchewan Plains
  • Northern Alberta Lowlands
  • Eastern Alberta Plains
  • Western Alberta Plains
  • Northern Alberta Uplands
  • Southern Alberta Uplands
• Cordilleran Region
  • Rocky Mountain Foothills
  • Rocky Mountains

Mount Columbia and King Edward in background

From a distance of about 100 km (62 mi) the mountains are constantly in view in clear weather. They appear as a line of snowy peaks along the western horizon. This continues for hundreds of kilometres northwestward. The Canadian Rockies are ascended by a gradual approach from the east, but are exceedingly abrupt on their transalpine slope in British Columbia. The peaks of these mountains are majestic, many of them reaching a height of more than 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above the sea. Among the more notable of these are:

1. Mount Columbia - 3,747 m (12,293 ft)
2. Twin Peaks massif - 3,684 m (12,087 ft)
3. Mount Alberta - 3,619 m (11,873 ft)
4. Mount Forbes - 3,612 m (11,850 ft)
5. Mount Temple - 3,543 m (11,624 ft)
6. Mount Brazeau - 3,525 m (11,565 ft)
7. Snow Dome - 3,520 m (11,550 ft)
8. Mount Lyell - 3,504 m (11,496 ft)
9. Mount Kitchener - 3,505 m (11,499 ft)
10. Mount Hungabee - 3,492 m (11,457 ft)

Historical travelling through these mountains was difficult, and alpine passes became very important. The most noted of the Alberta passes are:

• The Crowsnest Pass, near the southern boundary line, through which a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway runs.
• The Kicking Horse Pass, through which the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway was built; 130 km (80 mi) from the eastern end of this pass is the gate of Banff National Park, with the famous touristic town of Banff as its centre.
• The Yellowhead Pass, running west from the Athabasca River; this pass was discovered by John Palliser (1858), was crossed by the first tourists, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton and Walter Butler Cheadle, in 1861, and by Sandford Fleming (1871–1872) in the Ocean to Ocean expedition;

The Caribou Mountains are not part of the Canadian Rockies, but are located in the northern Alberta, constituting an elevated plateau in the northern plains. They reach an altitude of 1,030 m (3,380 ft), almost 700 m (2,300 ft) higher than the surrounding area.

While not considered mountains, the Cypress Hills, located in southern Alberta, on the Saskatchewan border, constitutes the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and Labrador. They reach a maximum elevation of 1,468 m (4,816 ft), 600 m (2,000 ft) above the surrounding prairie.

Hydrographic network of Alberta

With the exception of the southern section, the province of Alberta is well watered. Rising from numerous valleys on the Alberta declivity of the Rocky Mountains between the international boundary line and 52° north are streams which unite to form the Oldman River, and farther north the Bow River. Running eastward these two rivers unite about 112° west, and flow on under the name of the South Saskatchewan River. North of 52° north many small streams unite to form the Red Deer River, which flowing southeastward joins the South Saskatchewan near 110° west. Between 52° and 53° north rises the great river, the North Saskatchewan River. It receives a southern tributary, the Battle River, which joins it about 108° west. Pursuing their courses eastward the North and South Saskatchewan rivers unite in the Saskatchewan River (Cree: kisiskāciwani-sīpiy, "swift flowing river"), which finds its way to Lake Winnipeg, and thence by way of Nelson River to Hudson Bay. It is one of the mightiest rivers of the continent.

At Mount Athabasca, there is an unusual occurrence where the water flows either to the Pacific Ocean on the western slope, the Arctic Ocean on the northeast, and Hudson Bay on the southeast.

In the northern part of the province, between 53° and 54° north, all the waters of Alberta flow toward the Arctic Ocean. Starting at Mount Athabasca, the Athabasca River runs north and empties into Lake Athabasca near 58° north. North of 56° north flows through and from the Rocky Mountains as the Peace River. After descending northeastward to within a few miles of Lake Athabasca, it is met by a stream emerging from that lake. The united river carrying down the waters of the Athabasca slope is called the Slave River, which, passing through Great Slave Lake, emerges as the great Mackenzie River, which flows into the Arctic Ocean. Alberta thus gives rise to the two great rivers, the Saskatchewan and the Mackenzie.

While a number of fresh water, or in some cases brackish, lakes each less than 260 km² (100 sq mi) in extent are situated in Alberta, two of more considerable size are found. These are Lake Athabasca, 7,898 km² (3,049 sq mi) in extent, of which the greater part is in Saskatchewan, and the other Lesser Slave Lake 1,168 km² (451 sq mi) in area.

Köppen climate types in Alberta

Map of Palliser's Triangle.

As Alberta extends for approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) from north to south, it is natural that the climate should vary considerably between parallels of 49° and 60° north and also between approximately 110° and 120° west. It is also further influenced by the different altitudes found in the province.

In general, Alberta's climate is dry, due to the rain shadow effect of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast Ranges to the west, and continental, due to its distance from any large body of water. The contrast between warming, dry winds descending from the Rockies and proximate cold air in Yukon, however, gives Alberta (and the adjacent Mackenzie Basin) during the winter the highest variability in monthly temperatures anywhere in the world.[5] Exceptionally warm winter months in the province can be as warm as oceanic climates at similar latitudes – for instance Edmonton averaged 1.1 °C (34.0 °F) in February 1977 – whereas the coldest winter months like January 1950 when Edmonton averaged −27.8 °C (−18.0 °F) are comparably cold to such Siberian localities as Aldan, Sakha.

• Geography of Canada
• Glacial Lake Bassano

• Government of Alberta: Climate and Geography
• Alberta Parks Natural Regions and Subregions of Alberta