Chapter III: Epilogue

The Great Plains, as we have seen, is many things. It contains thick layers of rock that formed in oceans, and younger layers of rocks deposited by streams. These rocks have been affected by earth movements and injected by hot molten rock, some of which reached the surface as volcanic rock. The rocks have been carved by streams, dissolved by ground water, partly covered by glaciers, and blown by winds. All of these agents have played important roles in determining the landscape and the landforms of the Great Plains. But the streams were the master agent. They formed the great depositional plain that was to become the Great Plains, and then began to destroy it—leaving only the High Plains to remind us of what it was. Those long miles we travel across the High Plains are a journey through history—geologic history.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This narrative history of geologic and biologic events in the Great Plains had its origin in a study intended to identify potential National Natural Landmarks in the Great Plains, commissioned by the National Park Service. William A. Cobban, G. Edward Lewis, and Reuben J. Ross of the U. S. Geological Survey were collaborators in that study, and some of their contributions to the history of life on the Great Plains have been incorporated into this narrative, which was undertaken at the urging of Wallace R. Hansen.

The photographic illustrations, other than those obtained from the film library of the U. S. Geological Survey, were provided by the interest and effort of my friends and colleagues of the Geological Survey—including C. R. Dunrud, V. L. Freeman, C. D. Miller, R. D. Miller, F. W. Osterwald, R. L. Parker, W. H. Raymond, III, Kenneth Shaver, and R. B. Taylor—and by Eugene Shearer, Intrasearch, Inc., Denver, Colo. Without their help this publication would not have been possible.

SOME SOURCE REFERENCES

Alden, W. C., 1932, Physiography and glacial geology of eastern Montana
and adjacent areas: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 174,
133 p.

Bluemle, J. P., 1977, The face of North Dakota—the geologic story: North
Dakota Geological Survey Education Series 11, 73 p.

Colton, R. B., Lemke, R. W., and Lindvall, R. M., 1961, Glacial map of
Montana east of the Rocky Mountains: U. S. Geological Survey
Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-327.

Colton, R. B., Lemke, R. W., and Lindvall, R. M., 1963, Preliminary
glacial map of North Dakota: U. S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous
Geologic Investigations Map I-331.

Curtis, B. F., ed., 1975, Cenozoic history of the southern Rocky
Mountains—Papers deriving from a symposium presented at the Rocky
Mountain Section meeting of the Geological Society of America,
Boulder, Colorado, 1973: Geological Society of America Memoir 144,
279 p.

Darton, N. H., 1905, Preliminary report on the geology and underground
water resources of the central Great Plains: U. S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 32, 433 p.

Flint, R. F., 1955, Pleistocene geology of eastern South Dakota: U. S.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 262, 173 p.

Frye, J. C., and Leonard, A. B., 1965, Quaternary of the southern Great
Plains, _in_ Wright, H. E., Jr., and Frey, D. G., eds., The
Quaternary of the United States—A review volume for the 7th Congress
of the International Association for Quaternary Research: Princeton
University Press, p. 203-216.

Howard, A. D., 1958, Drainage evolution in northeastern Montana and
northwestern North Dakota: Geological Society of America Bulletin,
v. 69, no. 5, p. 575-588.

Johnson, R. B., 1961, Patterns and origin of radial dike swarms
associated with West Spanish Peak and Dike Mountain, south-central
Colorado: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 72, no. 4, p.
579-590.

Judson, S. S., Jr., 1950, Depressions of the northern portion of the
southern High Plains of eastern New Mexico: Geological Society of
America Bulletin, v. 61, no. 3, p. 253-274.

Keech, C. F., and Bentall, Ray, 1971, Dunes on the plains—The Sand Hills
region of Nebraska: Nebraska University Conservation and Survey
Division Resources Report 4, 18 p.

Lemke, R. W., Laird, W. M., Tipton, M. J., and Lindvall, R. M., 1965,
Quaternary geology of northern Great Plains, _in_ Wright, H. E.,
Jr., and Frey, D. G., eds., The Quaternary of the United States—A
review volume for the 7th Congress of the International Association
for Quaternary Research: Princeton University Press, p. 15-27.

Mansfield, G. R., 1907, Glaciation in the Crazy Mountains of Montana:
Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 19, p. 558-567.

Pettyjohn, W. A., 1966, Eocene paleosol in the northern Great Plains,
_in_ Geological Survey research 1966: U. S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 550-C, p. C61-C65.

Robinson, C. S., 1956, Geology of Devils Tower National Monument,
Wyoming: U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1021-I, p. 289-302.

Smith, H. T. U., 1965, Dune morphology and chronology in central and
western Nebraska: Journal of Geology, v. 73, no. 4, p. 557-578.

Stormer, J. C., Jr., 1972, Ages and nature of volcanic activity on the
southern High Plains, New Mexico and Colorado: Geological Society of
America Bulletin, v. 83, no. 8, p. 2443-2448.

Strahler, A. N., and Strahler, A. H., 1978, Modern physical geography:
New York, John Wiley & Sons, 502 p.

Thornbury, W. D., 1965, Regional geomorphology of the United States: New
York, John Wiley, 609 p.

Wright, H. E., Jr., 1970, Vegetational history of the Central Plains,
_in_ Pleistocene and recent environments of the central Great
Plains: Kansas University Department of Geology Special Publication
3, p. 157-172.

INDEX

[Italic page numbers indicate major references]

A
Page
Acknowledgments 49
Agriculture 30
Alaska 11
Anadarko basin 11, 16
Arikaree Formation 18
Arkansas River 2, 7, 23, 25, 29, 30, 42, 43, 44, 48
Artesia, N. Mex. 46
Austin, Tex. 47

B
Bad River 39
Badland development 39
Badlands National Monument 39
Balcones fault zone 23, 46
Basalt flows 20, 24
Bearpaw Mountains 33, 36
Belle Fourche River 39
Bents Fort, Colo. 2
Big Basin, Kans. 48
Big Belt Mountains 36
Big Snowy Mountains 36
Bison 1
Black Hills 7, 11, 18, 19, 20, 37
Border Hills 46
Bottomless Lakes, N. Mex. 45
Brazos River 23
Burnet, Tex. 23