History Rocks at the University of Montana
How has the landscape of this valley shaped your experience at UM? The Belt Supergroup, a series of sedimentary rock formations that give the mountains in and near Glacier National Park their iconic peaks formed 1.4 billion years ago. Upper Belt sediments in the Missoula area metamorphosed into quartzites, siltites, and argillites. Ancient fossils embedded in the landscape are a testament to the long history and evolution of this place.
Some 15,000 years ago, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet dammed the Upper Clark Fork River. This blockage formed Glacial Lake Missoula. Crashing waves on the fluctuating shoreline resulted in horizontal strand lines on Mount Sentinel that are still visible today. The dam burst and refilled many times, and water gushed across the land, depositing rippled glacial erratics – the giant stones still visible on campus – across Western Montana.
If these rocks could talk, what would they say? They might tell us how adversarial events were overcome despite challenges. Faults provide an opportunity to rise. The landscape surrounding UM is a physical reminder of constant change. The valley that now holds campus has been a learning place since time immemorial. Where do you see change on campus? From your perspective, what does it mean to inhabit a “learning place?”
Some 15,000 years ago, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet dammed the Upper Clark Fork River. This blockage formed Glacial Lake Missoula. Crashing waves on the fluctuating shoreline resulted in horizontal strand lines on Mount Sentinel that are still visible today. The dam burst and refilled many times, and water gushed across the land, depositing rippled glacial erratics – the giant stones still visible on campus – across Western Montana.
If these rocks could talk, what would they say? They might tell us how adversarial events were overcome despite challenges. Faults provide an opportunity to rise. The landscape surrounding UM is a physical reminder of constant change. The valley that now holds campus has been a learning place since time immemorial. Where do you see change on campus? From your perspective, what does it mean to inhabit a “learning place?”