Mt. Moran
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 43° 48.206 W 110° 38.494
12T E 528831 N 4850103
Geologic history sign about the Mt. Moran, located at the Mt. Moran Turnout.
Waymark Code: WME37R
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2012
Views: 10
Distinctive features on Mt. Moran tell of the powerful forces that created and shaped the Teton Range.
The Sandstone Cap
Nine million years ago, the earth’s crust broke into two rectangular blocks along the Teton fault, a 40-mile-lone zone of weakness. Through sporadic movements, the western block hinged skyward to become the Teton Range, while the eastern block tilted downward to form the valley called Jackson Hole. The sandstone remnant atop Mt. Moran, 6,000 feet above the valley, once connected to a layer of the same sandstone now an estimated 24,000 feet below the valley floor, indicating that the valley dropped four times more than the mountains rose.
The Black Dike
Long before the rise of the Teton Range, the black dike formed when magma was forced upward into a large crack. This molten rock solidified, becoming the dark igneous rock, diabase. Erosion of the surrounding rock makes this vertical, 150-foot-thick dike clearly visible
Today’s Glaciers
Mt. Moran supports five of the doze glaciers in the Teton Range. These glaciers flow from cavities carved by larger Ice Age mountain glaciers. Named for the chunks of ice that break off its snout, Falling Ice Glacier lies just below the black dike.
Marker Name: Mt. Moran
Marker Type: Rural Roadside
Group Responsible for Placement: National Park Service
Addtional Information: Not listed
Date Dedicated: Not listed
Marker Number: Not listed
Web link(s) for additional information: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Wyoming history please include that in your log.