Rocks, minerals

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Rocks, minerals fossils in downtown Edmonton A
Virtual Rock Walk
W. A. Dixon Edwards Alberta Geological
Survey Alberta Energy and Utilities Board
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Edmonton, Sept. 2001
Building stone Igneous rocks Sedimentary
rocks Metamorphic rocks Fossils Minerals
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10089 Jasper Ave.
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10117 Jasper Ave.
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10080 Jasper Ave.
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10081 Jasper Ave.
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10051 Jasper Ave.
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10004 Jasper Ave.
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10065 100 St.
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1 Thornton Court
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10089 Jasper Ave.
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9700 Jasper Ave.
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9797 Jasper Ave.
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9797 Jasper Ave.
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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 10102 Jasper
Avenue
Tyndall Limestone has been used since 1832 (Fort
Garry). It is quarried 30 km northeast of
Winnipeg at Garson, Manitoba. Behind this teacher
and his Science 20 class you see the
characteristic branching pattern of Tyndall
Stone. Next time you see a politician interviewed
on T.V. in the interior of the Federal Parliament
Buildings look at the background and youll often
see the same pattern it is also made of Tyndall
Stone.
The branching pattern was formed as worms or
shrimp burrowed through the mud on the ocean
floor. The rock is composed of calcite (light
colour) and dolomite (darker colour). It contains
numerous fossils and is 450 million years old
(Upper Ordovician).
This is one of Edmontons last and best examples
of the traditional, classical style of
architecture (Edwardian Classical Revival Style )
used for banks. It implies stability, security
and permanence. It has a symmetrical design and
the detail of the stonework diminishes towards
the top of the building. Classical elements, such
as columns, entablature, balconets at the fourth
floor windows and antefixae on the edge of the
roof complete the impressive design (Reference
Historical Walking Tours of Downtown Edmonton,
April 1995).
The Cephalopod (right photo) is like a modern
squid or nautilus and these fossils are commonly
seen in the Tyndall Stone. The ones with a
straight shell are Orthocone cephalopods and ones
with a curved shell are Winnipegoceras.
The horn coral (right photo) is a solitary
coral (Grewingka). In the rock the fossil has a
pattern of lines radiating out to form an oval
(top view) or a horn- like pattern (side view).
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Empire Building 10080 Jasper Avenue
On the site of the Empire Building in 1905 were
the first offices of the Government of Alberta.
The Empire Building was dedicated in 1962 to the
memory of Alexander McDougal and Richard Secord,
pioneer citizens of Edmonton who erected the
original building.
This very coarse-grained, pink granite comes from
Minnesota and is 1.8 million years old. The large
pink crystals are feldspar. The entire building
is clad in this beautiful rock.
Much finer grained granite is used on the
entrance on the east end of the building. The
letters below are carved into this black granite.
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Bank of Montreal (originally) 10089 Jasper Avenue
The beautiful dimension stone used in this
building is also one of the oldest. It is named
Morton Gneiss and comes from Minnesota. The rock
is believed to be 3.6 Billion years old.
Dimension stone slabs are cut from a large block
of rock. Each slab is usually less than an inch
thick. In this building adjacent slabs were
turned to create a matching pattern on the side
of the building. The photo above shows where four
slabs come together note how the patterns in the
gneiss were matched to provide a continuous
effect.
This is a rock with character, click this button
to see it
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Royal Bank 10117 Jasper Avenue
This building was constructed in 1964 and
upgraded in 1990. The lobby of the building
appears to be spectacular Blue Norwegian
moonstone or Blue Pearl (trade names) for a rock
called larvikite. The entry the bank and the bank
interior is walled in beige to white travertine.
The travertine is interesting as it is largely
natural (not plugged or filled with epoxy).
The exterior is a medium grained granite is that
is brown, blue or pink coloured depending on the
light. The quartz crystals look like blue eyes
in the rock.
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Palladium Club 10081 Jasper Avenue
The outside facing and the entry way is a soft
travertine (spring deposit), probably from Bari,
Italy. In front of the box office is another red
rock with a crest. This rock is red granite.
The travertine is about 100 million years old. It
forms when algae grow in nutrient-rich pools and
trap calcite crystals to form layers. As the
layers are buried the algae suffocates, dies and
decomposes, forming gas bubbles that are
preserved as the holes you see between the
layers. Gastropods (snails) are commonly found in
the same environment browsing on the algae (Ref.
The Building Stones of Calgary GeoSciEd IV,
Calgary 2003).
The holes in this travertine are plugged with
epoxy to make the rock more resistant to
weathering. Occasionally you see rock with the
holes left open.
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Union Bank 10053 Jasper Avenue
The Union Bank is the only pre-World War I bank
remaining in downtown Edmonton. Typically banks
were constructed in a classical style with
Ancient Greek or Roman architecture serving as a
pattern. The inspiration for the design of the
Union bank was the Italian Renaissance. The
facade of local pressed brick and Indiana
limestone concealed a modern, fireproof, steel
and brick structure. The Union Bank was designed
by Edmonton architect Roland Lines and built in
1910 at a cost of 60,000. (Ref Historical
Walking Tours of Downtown Edmonton, April 1995)
You have to look closely at this rock. It has a
rough surface and at first glance appears to be
mortar or stucco (manmade) but is actually
composed of small fossils.
The rock is made of the mineral calcite it is
quite soft (your knife could easily scratch it,
BUT DONT DO THAT). Although the rock is soft it
is tough, easy to saw and makes a great building
stone. It is found in many of Edmontons early
buildings.
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Toronto Dominion Bank Building 10004 Jasper Avenue
This marble is a mosaic of calcite crystals 0.1
to 0.3 mm in size. It contains 97 calcite, with
minor feldspar and mica.
This building is made of marble. Carrarra Marble
is one of the worlds most common building
stones. It comes from the Carrara region in
northwest Italy. Marbles of commerce (rocks with
the trade name of marble) include true
(geological) metamorphic marble, polishable
serpentine rocks (Verd Antique) and certain
crystalline limestones.
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Imperial Bank of Commerce (formerly) 9990 Jasper
Avenue

• The Imperial Bank of Canada first opened its
  doors on this site in 1891. The current, larger
  building was constructed in 1952. The Edmonton
  firm of Rule, Wynn and Rule designed this modern
  style bank, along with company architect, Col.
  A.J. Everett. Of interest to us are the relief
  panels, which show trains and planes carved in
  Indiana Limestone. (Ref Historical Walking Tours
  of Downtown Edmonton, April 1995)

The exterior of the building uses fossiliferous,
Indiana Limestone and blue-black diorite
(approx. 5 quartz, 5 K-feldspar, 80
plagioclase and 10 mafics) that may be Volga
Blue building stone.
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Macdonald Hotel 10065 100 Street
The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald is no long one of
Edmontons tallest buildings, but its prominent
site on the edge of the river valley and its
unique French Renaissance architectural design
make the Mac one of Edmontons best-known
landmarks.

• The Montreal firm of Ross and MacFarlane, who
  also designed the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg
  (1911-1913) and the Chateau Laurier (1912), were
  contracted to design the Macdonald Hotel.
  Conceived in the best tradition of Canadas
  railway hotels, the Macdonald was built between
  1912 and 1915 at a cost of 2.25 million dollars
  for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Steel and
  reinforced concrete form the skeleton of the
  hotel, which is hidden beneath an elegant skin of
  Indiana Limestone and sheet copper roofing.
  Elements of the French Renaissance architecture
  can be seen in the hotel. Turrets with
  high-pitched roofs and finials are among its most
  distinctive features, and the mix of arcades and
  corbelled balconies complete the image. Long
  known as Edmontons most popular hotel, the
  Macdonald was returned to its former glory by
  renovations and restorations, which were
  completed in 1991. The hotel was designated as a
  Municipal Historical resource by the City of
  Edmonton in 1985. (Ref Historical Walking Tours
  of Downtown Edmonton, April 1995)

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SEE Mac ROCKS
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Macdonald Hotel 10065 100 Street
The exterior of the building is made from Indiana
Limestone and grandiorite (probably from the B.
C. Lower manland area). The limestone is used for
the mass of the building and is also ornately
carved. The granidiorite is used for steps and
high traffic areas.
Different types of polished rock is visible in
the interior public areas and the building
displays all three rock types (igneous,
sedimentary, metamorphic) are present. Some of
the rocks used in the interior are shown below
conglomerate, white and grey marble (Carrarra
Marble), syenite or larvikite (Blue Pearl) and
gneiss.
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Thornton Court Hotel 1 Thornton Court

• APEGGA (Association of Professional Engineers,
  Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta) was
  once housed in this building before moving to a
  place with more rock (Scotia Place).

A flat, slaty rock is used as decorative rock on
an outer wall and on the floor. The rock
naturally breaks along the surface you see
exposed. Note this surface closely, it is NOT
exceptionally flat, a true slate would have an
extremely flat surface.
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Canada Place 9700 Jasper Avenue

• I like to start a Rock Walk at Canada Place. It
  uses a very attractive, polished pink granite,
  trade name Rosa Sardo. This stop is a good place
  to see large distinctive quartz and feldspar
  minerals. It is also a great place to see and
  feel the difference between rock prepared with a
  fired finish and rock with a polished finish.

The polished granite is used for the fountains,
benches and columns in the building and fired
rock for interior and exterior entrance ways and
parts of the floor. If you run your hand over the
granite used on a column, wall or bench it feels
very smooth this is the polished rock. If you
run your hand along the floor it feels much
rougher and doesnt have the same glossy surface
this is the fired finish. The polished rock is
glossy and pretty the fired rock is safer (not
as slippery).
The granite is composed of quartz (light grey)
25, large pink or flesh coloured feldspars 40,
plagioclase (white) feldspar 25 and mafic
(black) minerals 10.
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Shaw Conference Centre 9797 Jasper Avenue

• The Convention Centre was opened in June 1983.
  The building has gt50,000 yards of concrete and is
  bolted directly into the bedrock after all, this
  is the western edge of the 1901 Grierson Hill
  landslide.

The bench below the blue slab and the waterfall
is made of a polished black diorite with 40 each
of dark plagioclase and mafic minerals.
The centrepiece of the building is a large,
blue, tabular slab of syenite, a kind of no
quartz granite. The blue mineral is sodalite.
This rock also contains large blebs of magnetite
(metallic grey) that will grab your magnet!
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Shaw Conference Centre 9797 Jasper Avenue
The east end of the grounds is home to an Inuksuk
made from greenstone. The stone came Yellowknife
where it formed the country rock at a gold mine
(Giant Mine).
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Thanks for the Walk Bye
W. A. Dixon Edwards Alberta Geological
Survey Alberta Energy and Utilities Board