Abstract

Large boulder deposits form prominent ridges (moraines) and boulder studded terraces along Garden Creek, emanating from the north slope of Casper Mountain. Shadeline glaciation and climatically related flooding are the processes and cause involved in distributing these deposits 1-5km from the closest Paleozoic and Precambrian bedrock sources. Rapid climate change from cold, water-accumulating, glacial stages to warm, melting, interglacial stages is the likely environmental shift juxtaposing these perplexing fluvial and glacial boulder deposits. The east-west orientation of Casper Mountain and a steep, asymmetrically folded and faulted north-facing slope are dominant factors in episodic accumulation and ablation of snowfields and shadeline glaciers by direct sunlight.

The mountain and foothill landscape south of Casper, in Natrona County, Wyoming has been casually observed by thousands of geologists that lived in central Wyoming over the past 100 years. Glaciation of Casper Mountain has never been reported by any previous geologist. However, recent research indicates the past presence of glaciation. This paper will discuss the location of Casper Mountain, the geological history of the mountain, observations leading to the glaciation hypothesis, the process used to analyze the observations and the evidence for glaciation. (Anderson & Sundell, 2005 a+b)