The rocks of the Beartooth Mountains of Montana and Wyoming span 4 billion years of earth history. The geologic features range from the more recent spectacular glaciation of the Beartooth Plateau and the volcanism and thermal activity of the Yellowstone area (south of the Beartooth Mountains) to the ancient crust containing constituents that are over 4 billion years old.

Most of my recent research has concentrated on the well-exposed metamorphosed supracrustal rocks that are part of a large tectonic mélange caught up in the areally extensive, 2.8 billion year old granitoid plutons of the eastern Beartooth Mountains. One reason that these rocks are particularly significant is that some of the detrital zircons in the quartzites are 4 billion years old. The metamorphosed supracrustal rocks have at least two high grade metamorphic events superimposed on them: (1) an initial granulite facies event accompanied by deformation that was probably no older than 3.2 billion years old and (2) a second upper amphibolite/granulite facies overprint with no deformation that was associated with the thermal effects of the massive granitoid intrusions at 2.8 billion years.  These rocks are part of one of oldest pieces of crust in North America and provide many insights into early crustal formation on the Earth.
 

Beartooth Mtn. research at LSU

Beartooth Mtn. resources

Metamorphic petrology studies of the eastern Beartooth Mountains

Cathodoluminescence of sillimanite peraluminous migmatites

Bibliography of Beartooth publications from Darrell Henry
 

Geologic overview of the eastern Beartooth Mountains

Lower Quad Creek locality

Driving on the Beartooth Highway

 

Darrell Henry is the Campanile Charities Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University whose research specialty is metamorphic petrology. Further details of his professional background are included in an accompanying vita or faculty profile.

To contact Darrell Henry call (225)-578-2693, fax (225)-578-2302 or e-mail dhenry@geol.lsu.edu . Address: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.

This page was last updated on 04/17/06.

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