Born in the Sea

The landscape of Red Rock Coulee is dominated by these very large sandstone boulders strewn all

along a little badlands coulee in the prairie. These boulders are sandstone concretions formed in

prehistoric seas as layers of sand, calcite and iron oxide collected around a nucleus formed by shells,

leaves or bones. This area in Southern Alberta has some of the largest examples of these concretions

in the world, some as large as eight feet across. Sometimes they break in half as this one did and you

can see the growth rings that formed eons ago as this boulder grew at the bottom of the sea. Cool!

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Red Rock Coulee, Southern Alberta, July 20th, 2012