Accession Number PB2012-113133
Title Scotts Bluff National Monument. Geologic Resources Inventory Report.
Publication Date Jun 2009
Media Count 41p
Personal Author N/A
Abstract Scotts Bluff National Monument is located in the panhandle region of western Nebraska. The impressive 244 m (800 ft) high promontory of Scotts Bluff was an important landmark for emigrants and frontiersmen along the Emigrant Trails. The historical importance of Scotts Bluff National Monument was recognized by presidential proclamation in 1919. The proclamation not only established the Monument but also recognized the unusual geologic features of the bluff and surrounding terrain. These features include steep bluffs, ridges extending from the bluffs, rock formations, and areas of badlands topography. The two most important geologic issues facing resource management at Scotts Bluff National Monument are rockslides and fossil preservation. Steep cliffs border the road and hiking trails to the summit of Scotts Bluff. Numerous rockslides, which pose a safety hazard to visitors, occur along both the road and trails. The Monuments roads and primary trails are historic resources from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)- era. Historic preservation laws and policies mandate their protection and preservation. Paleontological resources are found in the badlands area of the Monument in the Oligocene Brule Formation. Oligocene age strata contain a wide variety of vertebrate fossils including horses, oreodonts (extinct, sheep-sized, four-toed mammals), prairie dogs, foxes, turtles, rodents, beaver, and cats. Deformation structures in the strata and cylindrical, tubelike features record tracks and burrows of Oligocene animals. Some of the fossils serve as type, or indicator, fossils for the Oligocene Epoch of the Cenozoic Era.
Keywords Badlands
Bluffs
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Fossil preservation
Geologic resource
Historic preservation
National Parks
Resource management
Ridges
Rock formations
Rockslides
Scotts Bluff National Monument (Nebraska)


 
Source Agency National Park Service
NTIS Subject Category 48B - Natural Resource Management
48A - Mineral Industries
91L - Recreation
Corporate Author National Park Service, Denver, CO. Geologic Resources Div.
Document Type Technical report
Title Note N/A
NTIS Issue Number 1222
Contract Number N/A

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