Okotoks' very own Big Rock, also known as the Okotoks Erratic, was recently featured among several other Alberta landmarks in a list showcasing the province's "must-sees."

It placed number five on Alberta's Top 10 Geoscience Marvels You Need to See this Summer by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA.)

APEGA is a geoscience and engineering regulator that has been operating in the province for over 100 years.

Chief professional sustainability officer Nancy Biamonte says theirs is the kind of work you encounter on a day-to-day basis but may not necessarily get noticed.

"In plotting out how to start a bridge project, there's always going to be a geoscience angle into making sure it's a safe and viable project from weight-bearing, placing footholds, and all the requirements, to making sure it's a safe project. That's part of our role as a regulator, as well as making sure we have really clear and modern standards for safety and quality."

It's no surprise then that many of the entries on the list are manmade feats of engineering, including Calgary's Peace Bridge, and the Lethbridge/High Level Bridge.

The Big Rock is a little different.

While you don't need to be a geoscientist to appreciate the colossal glacial erratic, the story behind it is what earned it a place on the list.

"It's a bit of an anomaly with it being a glacial erratic. It's a 16,000-tonne boulder of quartzite that's sitting in the middle of this foothills environment. It's certainly going to get noticed as something of an anomaly. I think anybody with that geoscience background is going to recognize what makes it an outstanding geoscience marvel... For a geoscientist to be able to explain how that actually came to be and the whole glacial environment and setting that made that anomaly possible, I think that's really where that story comes to the forefront." says Biamonte.

The list is part of APEGA's "How of Wow" campaign, which aims to explain the history and science behind geoscience marvels in Alberta and around the world.

 

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