The Geologic Story of Glacier National Park #395822

ILLUSTRATED

Until recently a geologist was visualized by most people as a queer sort of fellow who went around the countryside breaking rocks with a little hammer. Fortunately, the general public today has a much clearer picture of the geologist and his science, but there are still many among us who mistakenly feel that geology is something too remote for practical application.

Geology is the science of the Earth. It includes a history of our planet starting with its origin, and a history of the life which has lived upon it. From it we can determine the reason for every feature of the landscape and every rock structure underneath the surface, and we can further learn what processes gave rise to them.

Practically everything to be seen on the face of the Earth owes its origin directly or indirectly to geological processes. These may be grouped into two great categories: Internal forces or agents which raise, lower, bend, and break the Earth’s crust; and external, more familiar agents such as water, wind, and ice, which wear away the surface and carry the materials to another place—ultimately to the sea. Let us consider a few of the products of these geologic agents: (1) The soil covering most of the landscape and furnishing the plant products which serve as our food; (2) the solid rock, so conspicuous in all mountain ranges; (3) the hills, the valleys, and the mountains; (4) all the streams, ponds, lakes—even the sea. If you live in a place where man has covered up the rock and the soil evidence of geological processes is yielded by the buildings themselves, whether they be of stone quarried from the Earth’s crust, or of brick made from clay. The stone and brick are supported by a framework of steel originally taken from a mine in the form of iron ore. The concrete and asphalt of the roads came from rocks within the Earth, as did every drop of gasoline which plays so vital a part in world affairs today. Even those commonplaces of American life, the bottle and the “tin” can, are products of geology. As you read this you need look only at your watch or perhaps an item of jewelry which you wear to see something—gold, silver, platinum, a diamond or other gem stone—which is a part of geology.