The
United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1955 (revised in 1972) Ashton
topographic map (Ashton map) with a 1:250,000 scale and a 200-foot (about
60-meter) contour interval covers almost all of Yellowstone National Park and some adjacent regions to the south and west.
In spite of numerous publications discussing Yellowstone region geologic
history the drainage system and erosional landform evidence on the Ashton map
appears to have been ignored. Drainage divides identifiable on the
Ashton map separate the north-oriented Yellowstone, Gallatin, Madison, and
Jefferson River drainage basins (which are located to the north and east of the
continental divide with their water flowing to the Missouri River and
ultimately the Gulf of Mexico) from the south-oriented Snake River drainage
basin (with its water eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean). The Ashton map
shows water-eroded passes and through valleys which link diverging and
converging valleys which drain in opposite directions from the continental
divide. These diverging and converging valleys suggest large volumes of
south-oriented water once flowed across the Yellowstone region continental
divide and some other Ashton map drainage divides. The accepted geology and
glacial history paradigm (accepted paradigm) cannot satisfactorily explain the
Ashton map drainage system and erosional landform evidence, which may be why
geomorphologists have never addressed the map evidence. A new and fundamentally
different geology and glacial history paradigm requiring the Yellowstone region
to be located on the rim of a continental ice sheet created and occupied deep
“hole” (which was uplifted as immense meltwater floods flowed across it)
explains Ashton map drainage system and erosional landform evidence, but raises
questions about previously published Yellowstone region geologic histories.
References
[1]
United States Geological Survey (1955) Ashton, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming Topographic Map. Map Scale 1: 250,000 and Contour Interval 200 Feet. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=9088e3c31141f255ee6d870d35716832
[2]
United States Geological Survey (1886) Canyon, Wyoming Topographic Map. Map Scale 1: 125,000 and Contour Interval 100 Feet. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=54ea249d696f7262a6f2baf3727b1c1a
[3]
United States Geological Survey (1885) Gallatin, Wyoming Topographic map. Map Scale 1: 125,000 and Contour Interval 100 Feet. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=bf26c56e802eecc66d3c5d56449d9584
[4]
United States Geological Survey (1885) Lake, Wyoming Topographic Map. Map Scale 1: 125,000 and Contour Interval 100 Feet. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=5d6b874504a84703d7f54fabce9ee24a
[5]
United States Geological Survey (1886) Shoshone, Wyoming Topographic Map. Map Scale 1: 125,000 and Contour Interval 100 Feet. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=8aa20140c22c3c355ef3c49d39c4197d
[6]
United States Geological Survey (1896) Yellowstone National Park Folio, Wyoming. Geologic United States Geological Survey Atlas of the United States. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/gf30
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Clausen, E. (2023) The Topographic Map Mystery: Geology’s Unrecognized Paradigm Problem. Xlibris US, Bloomington.
[8]
Kuhn, T. (1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd Edition, University of Chicago, Chicago.
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Hague, A. (1899) Descriptive Geology of Huckleberry Mountain and Big Game Ridge. In: Hague, A., Ed., Geology of the Yellowstone National Park, Wentworth Press, Lancaster, 194.
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Pierce, K.L., Despain, D.G., Morgan, L.A. and Good, J.M. (2007) The Yellowstone Hotspot, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and Human Geography. USGS Publications Warehouse, Denver. https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1717A
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Pierce, K.L. (1979) History and Dynamics of Glaciation in the Northern Yellowstone Park Area. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 729-F. https://doi.org/10.3133/pp729F
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Sturchio, N.C., Pierce, K.L., Morrell, M.T. and Sorey, M.L. (1994) Uranium-Series Ages of Travertines and Timing of the Glaciation in the Northern Yellowstone Area, Wyoming-Montana. Quaternary Research, 41, 265-277. https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1994.1030
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Goode, J.P. (1899) The Piracy of the Yellowstone. Journal of Geology, 7, 261-271. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.1086/608356 https://doi.org/10.1086/608356
[15]
Howard, A.D. (1937) History of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Geological Society of America Special Paper 6. https://doi.org/10.1130/SPE6-p1
[16]
Fenneman, N.M. (1931) Physiography of the Western United States. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.
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Hamilton, W. (1960) Late Cenozoic Tectonics and Volcanism of the Yellowstone Region, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Billings Geological Society: Eleventh Annual Field Conference: West Yellowstone-Earthquake Area, 7-10 September 1960, 92-105.
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Shapiro, N.M. and Koulakov, I. (2015) Probing the Underbelly of a Supervolcano: Seismic Imaging of Yellowstone Provides a Better Understanding of Large Volcanic Systems. Science, 348, 758-759. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1828
[19]
Pierce, K.L. and Morgan, L.A. (1992) The Track of the Yellowstone Hot Spot: Volcanism, Faulting, and Uplift. In: Link, P.K., Kintz, M.A. and Platt, I.B., Eds., Regional Geology of Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming, Geological Society of Amer, Colorado, 1-52. https://doi.org/10.1130/MEM179-p1
[20]
Christiansen, R.L. (1984) Explosive Volcanism: Inception, Evolution, and Hazards. National Academy Press, Washington DC, 84-95. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/18602/chapter/3
[21]
Sears, J.W. (2013) Late Oligocene-early Miocene Grand Canyon—A Canadian Connection? GSA Today, 23, 4-10. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG178A.1
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Sears, J.W. and Beranek, L.P. (2022) The Great Preglacial “Bell River” of North America: Detrital Zircon Evidence for Oligocene-Miocene Fluvial Connection between the Colorado Plateau and Labrador Sea. Geoscience Canada, 49, 29-42. https://doi.org/10.12789/geocanj.2022.49.184
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Staisch, L.M., O’Connor, J.E., Cannon, C.H., Holm-Denoma, C., Link, P.K., Lashre, J. and Alexander, J.A. (2022) Major Reorganization of the Snake River Modulated by Passage of the Yellowstone Hotspot. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 134, 1834-1844. https://doi.org/10.1130/B36174.1
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Clausen, E. (2017) Origin of Mountain Passes across the Continental Divide Segments Surrounding the Southwest Montana Big Hole and Beaverhead River Drainage Basins, USA. Open Journal of Geology, 7, 1362-1385. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2017.79091
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Clausen, E. (2017) Analysis of Mountain Passes along the East-West Continental Divide and Other Drainage Divides Surrounding the Boulder River Drainage Basin, Jefferson County, Montana, USA. Open Journal of Geology, 7, 1603-1624. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2017.711108
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