He is known for his pioneering work on unraveling the stratigraphy of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, and his inspired use of biostratigraphy as an exploration tool for finding petroleum and natural gas fields.
[1] Charlie Stelck was born in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up hunting and fishing with his father and learning wilderness survival skills.
[1][2][3][4] During World War II Dr. Stelck worked on the Canol project and for Imperial Oil, mapping the geology of the Rocky Mountain foothills from Jasper, Alberta to the Canadian Arctic by horseback, canoe, and dogsled.
[1] After the war Dr. Stelck began a long career as a professor at the University of Alberta, during which time he was a teacher and mentor to generations of students.
During his career he had published more than 100 peer reviewed scientific papers, the last one in the year of his death, as well as writing dozens of works on the geology of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia for various text books.