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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1985 Quaternary geology of the Five Springs area, northeastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming Richard Underwood Birdseye Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Geology Commons Recommended Citation Birdseye, Richard Underwood, "Quaternary geology of the Five Springs area, northeastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming " (1985). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 12045. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/12045 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8524635 Birdseye, Richard Underwood QUATERNARY GEOLOGY OF THE FIVE SPRINGS AREA, NORTHEASTERN BIGHORN BASIN, WYOMING Iowa State University PH.D. 1985 University Microfilms IntGrnSltiOnd.! 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml48106 PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V . 1. Glossy photographs or pages 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print 3. Photographs with dark background 4. Illustrations are poor copy 5. Pages with black marks, not original copy 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of page 7. Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages 8. Print exceeds margin requirements 9. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine _____ 10. Computer printout pages with indistinct print -, 11. Page(s) lacking when material received, and not available from school or author. 12. Page(s) seem to be missing in numbering only as text follows. 13. Two pages numbered _. Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled pages 15. Dissertation contains pages vyith print at a slant, filmed as received 16. Other . • :. • - University Microfilms International Quaternary geology of the Five Springs area, northeastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming by Richard Underwood Birdseye  Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department: Earth Sciences Major; Geology Approved; Signature was redacted for privacy. Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. For the "jaayor Department Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Âmes, Iowa 1985 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 General Statement and Purpose 1 Location and Access 2 Physiography 2 Bighorn Basin and Bighorn Mountains 2 Study area 7 Regional Climate 8 Vegetation 9 Culture and Resources 11 Methods of Investigation 12 REGIONAL GEOLOGIC SETTING 13 STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE 21 Introduction 21 Exposed Formations 24 Permian 24 Phosphoria Forniation 24 Triassic 24 Dinwoody Formation 24 Chugwater Group/Red Peak Formation 25 Jurassic 26 Gypsum Spring Formation 26 Sundance Formation 26 Morrison Formation 27 Early Cretaceous 28 Cloverly Formation 28 Sykes Mountain Formation 29 Thermopolis Shale 29 Muddy Sandstone 30 Shell Creek Shale 30 Mowry Shale 31 Late Cretaceous 32 Frontier Formation 32 ill Page SURFICIAL GEOLOGY 34 Introduction 34 Review of Pertinent Literature and Discussion of the Geomorphic Evolution of the Bighorn Basin 34 Topographic Features 40 North Kane Ash 40 Streams, Floodplains, and Holocene Alluvium 46 Bighorn River 49 Local creeks 51 Cottonwood Creek 53 Five Springs Creek 53 Willow Creek 58 Alluvial Fans 58 Introduction 58 Morphology of fans 60 Fan processes and deposits 65 Fan entrenchment 72 Hypotlieses related to floods 72 Hypotheses related to tectonic activity 73 Hypotheses related to climatic changes 74 Estimated ages of alluvial fans 75 Terraces 77 Introduction 77 Bighorn River terraces 78 Red Flat Terrace 78 Water Tank Terrace 79 Cottonwood Terrace 82 Local creek terraces 83 Cottonwood Creek terraces 83 Five Springs Creek terraces 83 Origin and classification of terraces 85 » Pediments 88 Landslides 89 Causes of landslides 90 iv Page Types and morphology of landslides 91 Rockfalls 92 Rockslides and slumps 96 Debris flows 97 Landslides and time 98 Eolian Deposits 99 Factors in clay dune formation 100 Saline environments 100 Water 100 Desiccation and deflation 101 Composition 101 Vegetation 103 Eolian processes today 103 Mantled Bedrock 104 QUATERNARY CHRONOLOGY 105 CONCLUSIONS 117 BIBLIOGRAPHY 120 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 129 APPENDIX: CLAST COUNTS AND DIMENSIONS 130 Procedure 130 Data on Representative Quaternary Deposits 130 1 INTRODUCTION General Statement and Purpose During the Quaternary, environments everywhere underwent repeated changes. The purpose of this study was to determine the Quaternary geology of the Five Springs area in the northeastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. The Bighorn Basin is considered by many geologists to be an excellent example of the late Cenozoic development of intermontane basins in the Middle Rocky Mountains (Scott, 1965). Five Springs is important and different from many other portions of the Bighorn Basin in its abundance of well-preserved Quaternary surfaces. A study of the extensive pediments, alluvial fans, terraces, and landslides, along with pyroclastic and eolian deposits, served as the basis for reconstructing the climatic and geologic history of the Five Springs area in the past two million years. Both absolute and relative ages for events and materials will be presented, although it is recognized that the relative dates are approximations based upon the best available data. This dissertation deals with the geology of a very small portion of the Earth's surface during a minute fraction of geologic time. Observing the Earth in this perspective is advantageous because the region in ques­ tion may be studied in great detail. This contributes to our understanding of the past: its environments, materials, and processes. The results of this study are useful because they may be applied to similar environments of Quaternary age elsewhere in the Bighorn Basin. 2 Location and Access The study area is located in northeastern Bighorn County, Wyoming, on the west side of the Bighorn Mountains (Figs. 1 and 2). The area is covered by portions of the-U.S. Geological Survey Cottonwood Canyon and Kane 7 1/2-minute topographic maps. The Bighorn River bounds the area on the west; the Montana state line lies 14 km to the north. Access to the area from the east or west is by U.S. Highway 14A, a relocated segment of which opened in 1983 in the Bighorn Mountains. The area can be reached from the south by a county road running north from U.S. Highway 14. Numerous unimproved roads span the ranch land in the region. No communities are located in the study area. Lovell, the nearest town, lies 16 km to the west. Physiography Bighorn Basin and Bighorn Mountains The Bighorn Basin is the major topographic depression in northwestern Wyoming (Fig. 1). It is bounded to the east by the Bighorn Mountains and to the south by the Owl Creek Mountains, which peak at elevations in excess of 4000 m and 2700 m, respectively. The Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains rise to altitudes between 3600 m and 3900 m to the west and northwest, and the Pryor Mountains (maximum elevation 2660 m) lie to the north. A low saddle between the Beartooth and Pryor Mountains, known as Pryor Gap, is the only nonmountainous area bordering the Bighorn Basin. Elevations in most of the basin range from less than 1200 m along the Bighorn River to more than 1800 m on benches. Tatman Mountain, located in the central Fig. 1. Physiographic map of the Bighorn Basin and location of the study area (Modified after Van Houten, 1944, Kozimko, 1977) PRYOR «MOUNTAINS OVELL WYOMING LOCATION OF BIGHORN BASIN CODY GREYBLHL PHYSIOGRAPHIC MAP OF BIGHORN BASIN RLANO SCAiE 0 10 20 MILES fIVE SPRINGS AREA THERMOPOLIS PHYSIOGRAPHIC OUTLINE OF BIGHORN BASIN OWL CREEK MOUNTAINS V Fig.

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