GLACIER NATIONAL PARK GUIDE
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Glacier National Park Guide
Geological History

Glacier National park geological history. This guide will help you learn the history of Glacier Park. Plan your visit to all of Glacier National Park hotels, motels, lodges, camping and much more.

Heaven's Peak from the Highline Trail

Geologically, you cannot afford to miss the Lewis Over thrust, considered one of the world's classic geologic structures since it was discovered by a geologist in 1901. About 170 million years ago, Earth's plates began forming the ancestral Rocky Mountains (which then eroded away and reformed millions of years later). At that time, a major fracture formed, through which tectonic forces shoved a huge rock wedge upward and eastward, cracking large masses of softer, older overlaying sedimentary rocks and sending them cascading down the east side of the wedge. The Lewis thrust fault line itself is longer than Colorado is wide, and is remarkable because it is one of the few places on the planet where the overlaying rocks are significantly older (1.4 billion years old) than those underneath (170 million years old). The folding is ubiquitously visible on nearby mountains. Mount Clements, at left, is a perfect example of a glacial horn, a high rocky pyramidal mountain peak carved by glacier. In the winter, the best way to traverse Glacier National Park is via cross-country skis or snowshoes. Whatever you do, don't forget to take a close-up view of some of the outcrops as you hike or ski along the trails. Glacier National Park's sedimentary rocks are some of the oldest in the world that still show characteristics of the original deposition, such as ripple marks, mud cracks and raindrop impressions. And then of course, there are the textbook examples of a glacially carved landscape — horns, cirques, arêtes, hanging valleys and moraines — all that remain of several million years of glacial formation and retreat. Reynolds Mountain is a good example of a horn, a high rocky pyramidal mountain peak often formed when glaciers carve out three sides of a mountain. Nearby Mount Clements, another horn, has a big pile of glacial debris at its foot, called a moraine. A good example of an arête, a thin ridge formed when glaciers carve out two sides of a mountain, can be found a bit to the north at Garden Wall. Today's glaciers are a bit harder to find, but one that you can hike to is Grinnell Glacier. The Grinnell Glacier Trail leads you high up a mountain past beautiful milky blue glacial lakes to the shore of Upper Lake Grinnell, from which you can see the retreating Grinnell Glacier. Garden Wall, at left, is an example of an arête, a long, thin ridge formed when glaciers carve out two parallel sides of a mountain.

Apgar Village Lodge and Visitors Center	Red Bus Tours of Glacier Park	History of Glacier National Park
Animal in Glacier National Park		Hiking in Glacier National Park
Wildflowers in Glacier		Biking In The Park

	New Transit bus System In Glacier National Park

		Fishing in Glacier Park

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GLACIER NATIONAL PARK GUIDE

Glacier National Park Guide Geological History

Glacier National park geological history. This guide will help you learn the history of Glacier Park. Plan your visit to all of Glacier National Park hotels, motels, lodges, camping and much more.

Glacier National Park Guide
Geological History