Natural Resources, School of
Title
Lewis and Clark and the Geology of Nebraska and Parts of Adjacent States
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
December 2003
Abstract
Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark undertook their journey with the
Corps of Discovery in 1804–1806 in
order to explore the area that the United
States had purchased from France in
1803. Then known as Louisiana, this
region included almost everything west
of the Mississippi to the continental
divide (illustrated below).
In order to find the best route
across the continent, President Thomas
Jefferson charged Lewis to follow the
Missouri River to its headwaters and
then locate rivers flowing down the west
side of the Rocky Mountains to the
Columbia River and into the Pacific
Ocean. Jefferson's written instructions
further specified that the members of the
expedition collect and describe plants
and animals new to science; enter the latitude
and longitude of the rivers, mountains,
and other features; and note the
land's potential for farming, as well as
the climate, timber, and wildlife. They
were also to record the occurrences of
volcanic features and minerals of all
kinds, but especially metals, limestone,
coal, and saline and mineral waters.
Their journals, notebooks, and maps
indicate that the explorers took this
charge seriously because they collected a
great deal of information on these topics.
CONTENTS
General Introduction
Treeless plains (site 1)
Peoria Loess Upper Pleistocene Series; bluff (site 2)
Sandstone in the White Cloud Shale
Upper Pennsylvanian System; bluff (site 3)
Landslide (site 4)
The Loess Hills (site 5)
Plattsmouth Limestone Member Oread Formation
Upper Pennsylvanian System; fossiliferous limestone (site 6)
The mouth of the Platte River (site 7)
River terrace and terrace fill (site 8)
Relief map of Missouri River sites
Bank cutting and landslides (site 9)
Cut off meander and oxbow lake (site 10)
Dakota Group Cretaceous System; bluff (site 11)
Peoria Loess Upper Pleistocene Series; bluff (site 12)
Greenhorn Limestone underlain by Graneros Shale
Upper Cretaceous System; bluff (site 13)
Blowing sand and silt from an exposed sand bar (site 14)
Carlile Shale Upper Cretaceous System; bluffs (site 15)
Erosional remnant (site 16)
Niobrara Formation over Carlile Shale
Upper Cretaceous System; bluffs (site 17)
Niobrara Formation Upper Cretaceous System; bluffs (site 18)
Lower part of Pierre Shale Upper Cretaceous System; bluff (site 19)
Sand bars at the mouth of the Niobrara River (site 20)
Erosional remnant (site 21)
References Cited Appendixes
A. For Further Reading
B. US Geological Survey Topographic Maps
Glossary
Download
Comments
Educational Circular No. 18. December 2003.
Published by Conservation and Survey Division/School of Natural Resources, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources/College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Copyright (c) 2003 Robert F. Diffendal & Anne P. Diffendal.