A MINERALOGICAL STUDY OF SOME CORE SAMPLES FROM THE BEARPAW FORMATION
A mineralogical study was made of some drill cores of Bearpaw shales from the site of the proposed power and irrigation dam on the South Saskatchewan River. Mechanically, the samples fell into three distinct groups, viz., Group 1: low sand, high silt, and high clay; Group 2: high sand, moderate silt, and high clay; Group 3: high sand, low silt, and very high clay. A sample which showed lesser shear strength when compared with the others fell into Group 3 which differed, mineralogically, from the other groups by the presence of biotite in the sand and more illite in the silt and clay fractions. Otherwise all samples were quite similar in mineral composition, with montmorillonite the predominant clay mineral.The source of some of the soils of Southern Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta has generally been attributed to the Bearpaw formation. This view is supported by the present study.