Geology 107L – Lecture 4

Glacial Deposits and Landforms of

Eastern North Dakota
Ammonites in the Pierre shale and
Niobrara formation: An index fossil
Coiled ammonites are
the main index fossils in
rocks we will see
The zones correspond to
time periods only a few
100,000 years long

How can we know the ages

of the ammonite zones?
A chain of volcanoes stretched from western Montana to southern Utah
• Crystals contain Potassium (K).
• 0.01167% of K atoms are radioactive
• K decays to Argon (Ar), which is trapped in crystals
• Heat crystals and Ar is released
• Measure amount released relative to K
• Calculate an age with errors as low as 0.1%
Ash rains out like snow, collects on the seafloor in thin beds
Over time the ash weathers to a yellow clay called bentonite

bentonite

Pierre Shale
Ammonites in the Pierre shale and
Niobrara formation: An index fossil

Ash (now clay) Each species is found

within a specific layer
Ash (now clay)
of the Pierre shale
A layer defined by an
ammonite fossil = an
Ammonite Zone
Dated bentonite beds
place ages on these
zones
SUMMARY
Williston Basin – thick accumulation of sedimentary rocks
During 90-60 Myr ago time it floods – Rockies load crust, high sea level
Williston Basin and regions to N and S flood, seaway extends N-S
What happened after 60 Myr ago?

• Williston Basin continues to fill with sediment from rivers

• Eastern ND was an upland  no sediment accumulation
• Global cooling begins at 50 Myr ago
• Antarctic Ice Sheet appears 35 Myr ago
• Permanent Ice Sheets in northern hemisphere by 7 Myr ago
• First North American ice ages at 2.6 Myr ago
– Ice sheets advance and decay repeatedly thereafter
– Period of ice growth  glaciation
– Period of ice decay  interglaciation
Eastern North Dakota just 15,000 years ago
Glacial Sediments Two main types

1. Till: Deposited directly from

the ice; little to no re-transport
in meltwater

2. Outwash: sediment
from the ice but has
been re-transport in
meltwater streams
1. Till: Deposited
directly by ice; little
to no re-transport in
meltwater

Fine-grained matrix
of ground rock – a
mixture of sand, silt
and clay sizes

Coarse fraction of
gravel- to boulder-
sized clasts
Glacial clasts
Many of the rocks transported
by ice show signs of abrasion

These scratches are called

STRIATIONS
2. Outwash: sediment
from the ice but has
been re-transported in
melt-water streams

Outwash can be
deposited adjacent to
the ice (proximal)

Or it can be deposited in
lakes or rivers far from
the ice edge (distal)
Well-sorted cross-bedded sand exposed in Valley City ND
Current direction can be determined from cross-bedding

Current direction
Most glacial rivers are choked
with sediment
This gives them a characteristic
form: A braided river

This is the MacKenzie River

in the Northwest Territories

This is what the Sheyenne

would have looked like
during the last glaciation
10’s to 100’s of time larger
than today
Carrying a huge load of
glacial sediment
Glacial Landforms
Moraines
Piles of sediment formed
at the edge of a glacier

1. Ice transports material

2. Ice melts along its edge
3. Material is released
 Digital elevation
model of the Red
River Valley

Moraines formed
at the ice edge
Glacial Landforms

Kames and kettles

Kames are hills
composed of glacial
sediment

Kettles are
depressions in the
landscape, usually
hold ponds

Both form where

debris-rich ice melts
Kame: a mound of sediment that forms within or
beneath melting ice
1. Where
sediments filled
in a depression
at the ice
surface

2. Where a river drained downward

through the ice to the glacier bed

The vertical channel where a river falls

through the ice is a moulin
Moulin on the Greenland Ice Sheet
Kettles near the edge of Bearing Glacier Alaska
Buried ice blocks melt away leaving a depression
Glacial Landforms

Eskers
Esker: a ridge of glacial outwash
This is the Dahlen Esker about
4 miles west of Dahlen ND

Deposited in an ice-walled river (usually a in

subglacial tunnel)
An ice tunnel within a
stagnant glacier.

The stream flowing in the

bottom sorts the
sediments.

Once ice is gone this sand

and gravel are left where
the tunnel was
History of the last glaciation in North Dakota…
The Upper Midwest about 20,000 years ago
Ice reaches maximum
extent 20,000 years
ago, extends to near
the modern location
of Des Moines, Iowa

About 14,000 years

ago climate change
forces the ice margin
back into the Red
River and James
+ Fargo-Moorhead
River lowlands

Large moraine
complex is built
Ice edge at 14,000
years ago

Fargo
The Upper Midwest about 14,000 years ago
14,000 – 10,000 ice retreats

As ice front retreats

northward, but
pauses at times

Moraines deposited
during each pause
+ Fargo-Moorhead
Between 14,000 and
10,000 years ago large
meltwater lakes form
along the southern edge
of the retreating ice.

Water rests in the

depression in Earth’s crust
created by the massive ice
sheet
The lake follows the
margin as retreat and
rebound take place
Fargo ND 12,000 BP
The Red River Valley was
submerged beneath
Glacial Lake Agassiz 12,500
to 9,500 years ago
The lake never occupied all of this area at any one time

Note that these are 14C years

Changing position of the ice margin and different outlets

opening/closing constantly change size and shape of the lake
Lake levels are
named based on
beach ridges
Most are named for
towns along Rt 9

Each beach ridge formed

at a specific lake level

They form because

waves erode the water
edge
Beach forming along the
lake edge 12,000 years ago
near Wheatland ND
Landforms of the
last glaciation in the
Red River Valley

Beach ridges

Moraine along which the

Sheyenne was cut. Still forces
river to flow southward

Sheyenne delta
Sheyenne river

Lake outlet 12,500

to 10,700 yrs ago
Be here by 7:30 am on Saturday
Pass out hammers and guidebooks
Vans depart at 7:45