Further Comments on the Nature and Developmental History of Quaternary Pumpkin Creek, Banner, and Morrill Counties, Nebraska

Authors

Robert F. Diffendal Jr., University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

4-14-1984

Citation

Published in Proceedings of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, including the GNATS and TER-QUA Divisions and Eight Affiliated Societies, 94th Annual Meeting, April 13–14, 1984, p. 44.

Comments

Copyright © 1984, Robert F. Diffendal, Jr.

Abstract

The occurrence of Quaternary anorthosite-rich sand and gravel deposits in south-central Morrill County, Nebraska, supports the idea that Pumpkin Creek formerly flowed farther east than it does today. This eastern extension of the creek was abandoned when another headward cutting tributary of the North Platte River cut through the divide between Pumpkin Creek and the North Platte just east of Jail and Courthouse rocks and captured Pumpkin Creek.

Unusual clast types found in Quaternary deposits along Pumpkin Creek in Banner County may be used to determine some characteristics of the streams that carried them. For example, armored mud balls and friable sand megaclasts occur in exposures of a complex sand and gravel alluvial fill which caps a strath terrace in southwestern Morrill County, Nebraska. The mud balls are limited to a tributary arroyo. The sand megaclasts occur in sediments deposited along a trunk stream. Size and sphericity of mudballs and coherency of the sand megaclasts may be used to determine distance of transport of the clasts and velocity of the streams which transported them.