"Madison River Canyon Earthquake - One of the Largest in US History." National Museum of Forest Service History (Virtual Exhibit). Describe how this phenomenon affected the waters of Hegben Lake. (5) CHALLENGE: Define a Seiche and explain its origin. (3) What is a Fault Scarp and how is it related to a Fault Plane? (2) Define, and illustrate using a cross-section, a Normal Fault. The landslide created 100 mph winds as the loosened material plowed through the air burying 19 campers. About 40 million cubic meters (75 million metric tons) of earth was moved downslope blocking the Madison River creating Quake Lake. The earthquake caused a landslide in Madison River Canyon about 5 miles to the west of the epicenter. Tilting of the Earth’s crust towards the north created a seiche within Hegben Lake that sloshed back and forth for half a day reaching vertical displacements of up to 8 ft destroying cabins and property along the lake’s edge and killing 9. Displacement along fault scarps was about 20 ft. The earthquake occurred mainly along a couple of normal faults located near the north end of Hegben Lake. GEOLOGIC FEATURES: Landslides (Mass Wasting) Epicenter Normal Fault Fault Scarp SeicheĭESCRIPTION: On August 17, 1959, the 7.5 Hegben Lake Earthquake occurred in southwestern Montana, just west of Yellowstone N.P. The Madison River Canyon slide is found about 5 miles west of the epicenter. ![]() LOCATION: The epicenter of the quake is about 20 miles northwest of West Yellowstone. HEGBEN LAKE EARTHQUAKE & MADISON RIVER CANYON LANDSLIDEįIELD TRIP STOPS – THE 1959 HEGBEN LAKE EARTHQUAKE AND THE RESULTING MADISON CANYON LANDSLIDE. ![]() Hebgen Lake EQ & Madison Riber Canyon Sl.Granton Sill Intrusion into Sedimentary.Outside, visitors can take a road tour of the site, marveling at the enormity of some of the boulders hurled about by the slide – one of which is adorned with a plaque memorializing those who died in the incident – and catching glimpses of the ghost village mostly submerged by the rising waters. The Quake Lake Visitor Center features overlooks of the slide area and the six-mile long, 190-foot-deep lake it created, as well as educational displays about earthquakes, native wildlife, and other information about the region. In addition to the geology lesson, 38,000-acre Quake Lake offers good rainbow and brown trout fishing, boating and canoeing, and, as with most places in this part of the state of Montana, scenic beauty. Note the Visitor Center will be closing in July 2012 for the season due to renovations. ![]() The visitor's center is open from Memorial Day through mid-September from 10am to 5pm. Just north of the Montana-Idaho border, Quake Lake is about 24 miles from West Yellowstone, Montana, on Highway 287. The jumble of rocks that slid from the mountain, the scars the slide left, and the trunks of trees killed by the rising flood waters tell their own story. The Quake Lake Visitors Center, about one hour south of Big Sky, tells the dramatic story of the temblor and its aftermath. Quake Lake serves as a six-mile-long reminder of the forces of nature that lurk beneath the region. When the dust settled, a new geologic wonder lay ready to be explored and studied by generations of geologists and tourists. Thirty-three people died in the slide and subsequent flooding. Shifting faults caused 80 million tons of earth and rock to slide down Sheep Mountain at 100 miles and hour to block the Madison River below. on August 17, 1959, the largest earthquake in Montana’s recorded history – a 7.6 on the Richter scale – shattered the quiet of West Yellowstone, Montana.
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