St. Mary Reservoir
| St. Mary Reservoir | |
|---|---|
| Location | Cardston County, Alberta |
| Coordinates | 49°19′15″N 113°12′42″W / 49.32083°N 113.21167°WCoordinates: 49°19′15″N 113°12′42″W / 49.32083°N 113.21167°W |
| Basin countries |
 Canada
|
| Max. length | 7.9 km (4.9 mi) |
| Max. width | 9.9 km (6.2 mi) |
| Surface area | 37.5 km2 (14.5 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 10.4 m (34 ft) |
| Max. depth | 56.4 m (185 ft) |
| Surface elevation | 1,100 m (3,600 ft) |
| References | St. Mary Reservoir |
St. Mary Reservoir is a reservoir in southwestern Alberta, Canada. It was created for irrigation purposes by the damming of the St. Mary River, which was completed in 1951. The Kainai Nation's Blood 148 Indian reserve borders its northwest side. There are camping and picnic areas at the reservoir, and it is a popular site for power boating, water skiing, windsurfing, swimming and fishing.
In 1998 St. Mary Reservoir became an important site for late to early Holocene paleontology and archaeology when it was partially drained for the construction of a new spillway. Flooding of the reservoir had killed the vegetation and when the water level dropped, wind erosion removed layers of unprotected sand and silt, exposing trackways and bones of extinct mammals, as well as stone tools used by Paleoindian hunters.
Based on radiocarbon dating of faunal remains, the assemblage preserved at St. Mary Reservoir were dated from about 11 000 years ago (11 to 11.35 kiloanna (ka) before present (B.P.)). This placed it in latest Pleistocene to earliest Holocene time. Re-examined in 2015, the dating for the camel, horse, and muskox bones subsequently changed this figure to 13.1 - 13.3 ka B.P.
Eleven thousand years ago the Laurentide ice sheet had recently retreated from the area and the site was a windswept, semi-arid plain covered with grasses and low shrubby vegetation, similar to the mammoth steppes of Europe and Asia. The rich open grassland and the reliable supply of water at the river supported herds of large, late Pleistocene mammals and other animals.
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