Quaternary mammals from the eastern Peace River District, Alberta

Abstract

Six genera and ten species of mammals have been obtained from post-glacial gravels of the eastern Peace River District, Alberta. The gravels are exposed in borrow pits or river bluffs and comprise a post-glacial high mantling sheet north and west of Peace River-and three or four terraces in the valleys of the Smoky and Peace rivers. Gravels older than mid-Wisconsin are recognised at Watino on the Smoky River. Extinct post-glacial taxa are Mammuthus primigenius, Equus cf. E. conversidens, E. cf. E. niobrarensis, Bison priscus, B. b. occidentalis, a camelid, possibly Hem- iauchenia or Camelops; extant taxa are Cervus canadensis, Bison b. athabascae, B. b. bison, and Ovibos cf. 0. moschatus. Remains of four genera and five species have been obtained from Sangamon or earlier deposits at Watino on the Smoky River. These represent Spermophilus sp., a proboscidean, Equus sp. small, E. cf. E. niobrarensis, and Bison sp. Both these faunas may have existed in either a predominantly plains environment or in a aspen-poplar parkland, but not in continuous boreal forest.