Field Trip: Beartooth Pass Roadside Geology

Beartooth Pass Highway is unique for the rich span of geologic history exposed along the traverse from Red Lodge to Beartooth Lake, perhaps the finest span of geologic ages found in one location worldwide!

Among the features to be discussed on this field trip are:

• Amoco’s 1986-1987 deep drilling testing the Beartooth front Laramide basement overthrust;

• Archean shelf-sequence rocks metamorphosed to granulite facies, including quartzites dated at 3.4 billion years old;

• Historic chrome mining;

• Outstanding alpine glacial topography and landforms;

• Archean granodiorite/tonalite magmatism, dated at 2.9 billion years old;

• Paleozoic stratigraphy at Beartooth Lake;

• Absaroka volcanism and Heart Mountain mega-landslide, dated at 49 million years ago.

For more information, please download the trip PDF here.

Members – Please RSVP below or by emailing montanageologicalsociety@gmail.com.

Non-members – You can either RSVP below or by emailing montanageologicalsociety@gmail.com, but will also need to submit the $25 trip fee (unless you sign up as a member! Visit our membership page to sign up now!)