Wyoming: Good highways (Cody, Jackson, Rawlins: calculation, living, floor)

[pw72]

I just spent the weekend doing somewhat of a circle tour of Wyoming...down 189 from ID, over through I-80 to Rawlins, up 239 to Lander and then up through the Rockies into Jackson.

Impressed. Good signage, mostly good roads, excellent passing lanes at regular intervals, generally good drivers. Saw lots of wildlife on the roads, but if you are alert (as the signs do a good job of warning), it isn't too much of hazard. Wyoming seems to take their highway system quite seriously, and another item noted is almost every town is identified by population and elevation, despite its size. Not sure if the relatively small population has anything to do with this detail, but it should be a model for other states.

[ElkHunter]

Thank you. We're kinda proud of our state for lots of reasons.

I am so glad you had such a great trip. You need to get deeper into the state next time. Big Horn mountains is a great start. Devels Tower is another one.

[pw72]

Thanks ElkHunter. I had limited time and a few business connections to make on my route, so didn't have much extra time. Devils Tower is impressive, no doubt. Big Horn is a great area. My take-away is Wyoming is such a great, under-rated state with so few in the U.S. who really understand the geography and beauty of the state. Besides Alaska, Wyoming is probably the least understood and (hate to say) least visitied state in the U.S. (excluding Yellowstone). If you want wildlife, wide open spaces, beautiful vistas, and a complete lack of people, Wyoming is a great choice.

Wyoming is probably the last unspoiled lower 48 state, even with the oil/gas exploration, (which seems unintrusive for the most part). My understanding is the economic climate is decent, and there is little danger of the state being over-developed. Just wanted to send out props to the Cowboy state.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

And something else that's great: signs along major roads indicating geological strata and other interesting rock info! Very impressive! We love to do roadtrips in WY! (Hi pw72! )

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

And something else that's great: signs along major roads indicating geological strata and other interesting rock info! Very impressive! We love to do roadtrips in WY! (Hi pw72! )

hahahaha My Brother-in-law was the Wyoming State Geologist for a while. He taught me some things that after years of living here, I didn't understand until he smacked me up long side of the head.

Did you know? Heart Mountain is UPSIDE DOWN.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

hahahaha My Brother-in-law was the Wyoming State Geologist for a while. He taught me some things that after years of living here, I didn't understand until he smacked me up long side of the head.

Did you know? Heart Mountain is UPSIDE DOWN.

So it starts small, on its tip, and then gets really really big? Gotta see that! Tell you what, after seeing the rocks in the canyon going from Yellowstone to Cody, nothing would surprise me...

[Ann the Artist]

Oh m'gosh, Elk Hunter. That is fascinating info about Heart Mountain!

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

So it starts small, on its tip, and then gets really really big? Gotta see that! Tell you what, after seeing the rocks in the canyon going from Yellowstone to Cody, nothing would surprise me...

Looks normal enough, but the oldest rock is on the top.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

Looks normal enough, but the oldest rock is on the top.

Yeah, that's what I figured. I just liked the image of an upside-down mountain. But I also like cool geology!

[CptnRn]

Heart Mountain may also be the fastest mountain on earth!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Mountain_(Wyoming)

Heart Mountain is an 8,123-foot (2,476 m) peak just north of Cody in the U.S. state of Wyoming, sticking up from the floor of the Bighorn Basin. The mountain is composed of limestone and dolomite of Ordovician through Mississippian age (about 500 to 350 million years old), but it rests on the Willwood Formation, rocks that are only about 55 million years old—rock on the summit of Heart Mountain is thus almost 300 million years older than the rocks at the base. For over one hundred years geologists have tried to understand how these older rocks came to rest on much younger strata.

Between 50 and 48 million years ago a giant sheet of rock about 500 square miles (1,300 square kilometers) in area detached from the plateau south of the Beartooths and slid tens of kilometers to the southeast and south into the Bighorn and Absaroka Basins. This sheet, consisting of Ordovican through Mississippian carbonate rocks and overlying Absaroka volcanic rocks, was probably originally about 4-5 kilometers thick. Despite the slope being less than 2 degrees, the front of the landslide traveled at least 25 miles (40*km) and the slide mass ended up covering over 1,300 square miles (>3,400*km²). This is by far the largest rockslide known on land on the surface of the earth and is comparable in scale to some of the largest known submarine landslides.

Many models have been proposed to explain what caused this huge slab of rocks to start sliding and what allowed it to slide so far on such a low slope, fragmenting, thinning and extending as it went. Most geologists who have worked in the area agree that Absaroka volcanism played a role in the sliding and many suggest that a major volcanic or steam explosion initiated movement. Another model involves injection of numerous igneous dikes with the resulting heating of water within pores in rocks causing an increase in pressure which initiated sliding. Some geologists have suggested that hot pressurized water (hydrothermal fluids), derived from a volcano which sat north of Cooke City, Montana, effectively lubricated the sliding surface. Another possibility is that the once the slide was moving, friction heated the limestone along the sliding surface sufficiently to cause it to break down to calcium oxide and carbon dioxide gas (or supercritical fluid). The gas supported the slide in the way that air pressure supports a hovercraft, allowing the slide to move easily down the very low slope. When the rockslide stopped, the carbon dioxide cooled and recombined with calcium oxide to form the cement-like carbonate rock now found in the fault zone. The consensus favors catastrophic sliding and calculations suggest that the front of the sliding mass may have advanced at a speed of over 100 miles/hour (160*km/h).

Another site about it: Land Speed Record: Mountain Moves 62 Miles in 30 Minutes
Land Speed Record: Mountain Moves 62 Miles in 30 Minutes | LiveScience