This report completes a reconnaissance mapping program covering some 160 000square km of terrain mostly within the Precambrian Shield of north-centralManitoba. Field work, begun in 1971 and completed in 1973, was conducted bya three man, helicopter supported mapping party. It entailed ground andaerial observations in selected localities within various map unitsdelineated on the basis of airphoto interpretation.

The report and accompanying map describe and interpret the terrain conditions across 48,000 km2 of the coast and hinterland of Hudson Bay. The surface mapping of materials was combined with a study of river exposures in order to reconstruct the preglacial and glacial evolution of the landscape, and postglacial changes in permafrost, climate, and sea level. The geological interpretation was used to locate anomalously high concentrations of minerals of economic value, including gold and uranium, assess aggregate sources, identify areas of sensitive permafrost terrain, and to predict future environmental change.

This book is an accessible guide to the geology of the prairies in Canada's three western provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. It explores the geological history of the region, its rocks and formations, and the impact of geology on the landscape and the people who live there. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This is a discount Black and white version. Some images may be unclear, please see BCCampus website for the digital version.This book was born out of a 2014 meeting of earth science educators representing most of the universities and colleges in British Columbia, and nurtured by a widely shared frustration that many students are not thriving in courses because textbooks have become too expensive for them to buy. But the real inspiration comes from a fascination for the spectacular geology of western Canada and the many decades that the author spent exploring this region along with colleagues, students, family, and friends. My goal has been to provide an accessible and comprehensive guide to the important topics of geology, richly illustrated with examples from western Canada. Although this text is intended to complement a typical first-year course in physical geology, its contents could be applied to numerous other related courses.