Date of Award
1964
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Geology
First Advisor
J.R. Reid
Abstract
During late Pleistocene time two ice advances affected parts of eastern Sheridan County, North Dakota. The first advance deposited the Burnstad, Streeter and Grace City drifts, and covered the whole county. The second advance deposited the Martin drift and occupied only the northern quarter of the county.
The Streeter drift, characterize by dead-ice landforms and nonintegrated drainage, is separated from the Burnstad drift by a large partly collapsed outwash plain on the distal side of a pronounced ground moraine and poorly integrated drainage, is separated from the Streeter drift by the Lincoln Valley and moraine and the Missouri Coteau escarpment.
Total ablation of the Grace City ice in this area must have occurred before formation of the Martin end moraine because large portions of outwash from an uncollapsed outwash plain were incorporated into the Martin end moraine north of Lincoln Valley. The Martin drift is characterized by high relief ground moraine, nonintegrated drainage and a slightly sandier lithology than that of the Streeter and Grace City drifts. North of the Martin end moraine several “shear” moraines and small area of dead-ice moraines are present. The ice retreated from Sheridan County less than 18,000 years ago.
Several large potential sources of ground water are present in eastern Sheridan County, four large outwash plains each contain large quantities of shallow ground water. The buried channel of the ancient Knife River may also contain large amounts of ground water.
Future economic growth of this are will depend partly of effective development of its large ground water resources and to a lesser degree on development of its abundant sand and gravel deposits.
Recommended Citation
Gustavson, Thomas C., "The glacial geology of eastern Sheridan County, North Dakota" (1964). Theses and Dissertations. 113.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/113