GoogleEarthSatellite: Provides Views Of Southern Half Of Montana (In Which Are Seen), Many Interesting Geological & Geographical Features.

…This page is a description of important features that can be seen in the above Satellite Image of Soutnern Montana. Many of these features relate to The Montana portion of US 12 = ZMM Route East.
…Henry Gurr First idea was show a Google Map of Montana, but soon realizes => Better to show a Google Earth Image, becaust annotations, such as Elevation AND Route Traces, Etc, could be addes to the photo showing light and dark green … for this just made up the above image.
…As you read the below, you may wish to have up in a separate “Browser Frame”, The Southrn Montana Google Earth View, which is the SECOND image here .

PART ONE: An Explanation Map Type Symbols On Henry Gurr’s Google Earth Sattelite A View Of Southern Half Of Montana. Also Given Are How To Identify Magor Road Involved.

THIS VIEW IS:
A) FROM Montana’s Own Rocky Mountains in the West TO Border of North Dakota (straight white line) in the East. AND
B) FROM the Border of Wyoming (straight white line) in the South TO Mid-Montana Dryland in the North.
THIE VIEW SHOWS:
C) The Mountainous Forests of Western Montana, Changing to Barren Lowland Valles Central Montana, Changing To Dry Flatlands in Eastern Montana. Also marked => Henry Gurr’s July & August 2019 Montana Travel Route => Portions of this route East of Forsyth MT, are where Henry was researching & photograp the US 12 ZMM Route.
D) The Magor Hot-Sp[ot Up-Lift Mountaionous Regions Inclusing ellowstone National Park.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
Please extemsovely study, to help train your viewers eyes, to better understand the ZMM Book Narrator's Descriptions.AT THE END OF THIS PAGE, IS ADDED
…PART TWO: Discussion of how chagese in elevation, can cause increase in rain fall & forestation along US 12 in Eastern Montana and relation to Nrrative of Robert Pirsig book <i>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</i>
Click To Jump-Down To Henry S Gurr’s Discussion Elevation, Rain, Forests & ZMM.
AT THE END OF THIS PAGE, IS ADDED
…PART THREE: An Explanation Of Montana’s Multi-Colored Layers Of Volcanic Dust & Mountain Rock, Giving Evidence Of Very Long History Of Eruptions, Likely Through Eons Of Time, From Yellowstone National Park, Massive Volcanic Eruptions.
Click To Jump-Down To Henry S Gurr’s Discussion Multi Colored Volcanic Dust and Mountain Rock.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THIS SATELLITE VIEW.
...Please Scan Around This View And Notice =>
1) Thin Lines (Yellow, White, Red-Blue), + Icons, such as US 14, US 12, I-90.
2) Small green triangles, marking highest mountain peaks.
3) Larger green triangles, marking National Forests.
4) Yellow Google Map PinPoint, Marking US 12, from Miles City MT to Powder River MT. Look close for US 12 as very faint yellow line, at right edge. .
5) From Henry Gurr’s GPS Data, imported into Google Earth APP, in his computer.
a) Tiny blue dots, marking GPS way-points.
b) Larger blue triangles, marking GPS, when Henry started a new day’s venture.
c) At above image left edge, yellow line going west is I-90 icon, and
d) From c), trending NE is I-15, to Helena, also marked by yellow line from US 12 icon at upper left image edge.
e) Much larger bold black line, marking Henry’s July & August 2019 Travel, from Bayes MT ( US 212 SE Montana), to Miles City MT, to I-94 West, which joins I-90 at Billings MT, then I-90 West to Three Forks MT, and there turn North of on US 287 > US 89 into NW Montana, and eventually Glacier National Park (GNP),).
f) Due to spurious loss of data, missing without a trace, is
(I) Henry’s travel (30 July 2019), from NW South Dakota, and in this view, entering Montana at lower right corner (Road is US 212).
(II) Also missing is Henry’s travel return to his SC home (11-12 Aug 2019), as he, retraced going generally East, back through Montana on US 12.

6) In above image view, Henry’s “travel back home retrace”, is faint yellow line from image left edge to Helena MT, continuing East and curving to SE parallel to Missouri River (here see a wide lake b/c of a dam), and in above view, seen as wide black line just above text “AC” and also beside blue triangle icon marking Winston MT, with text “ACTIVE LOG 6 AUG 2019”, which happens to be where Henry camped traveling both ways of US 12 (& US 278) here.
7) Although not shown on the image above => From Winston MT, Henry’s “travel back home”, continues following US 12 South to Townsend MT, where US 12 turns East, and travelling ~100 miles somewhat East, through semi-arid flatlands (then South East), to join I-94 at unmarked Forsyth MT The US 12 small towns experienced are > White Sulphur Springs > Checkerboard > Harlowton > Shawmut > Ryegate > Lavena > Roundup, Sumatra > Ingomar > Forsyth. ((There US 12 joins I-94 East to Miles City MT, there to join the ZMM Route, for a Familiar Trail East, to Minneapolis MN.
8) To see the road in image above => Look close just below text “ACTIVE LOG 6 AUG 2019, see faint yellow line going to and joining another faint yellow line US 89 North, for ~30 miles, but swing East to US 12 icon, and continuing, crosses US 191 (text “14:41”), and faint yellow line continues, and crosses US 97, and then US12 angles down to, and continues East with I-94 to Miles City Mt. Again looking close, US 12 leaves I-94 & continues East going by Yellow Google Map PinPoint, then just above text “ACTIVE LOG 31 JULY 2019”06:25”, US 12 continues to Powder River, near Eastern Montana Border.
9) CAUTION: The mentioned text(s) for “ACTIVE LOG”, are ONLY to help reader find faint yellow US 12, on above view, and mostly do not give the date of Henry’s travel on road segment discussed.
.

...Please Continue To Study This Image View And Learn To Identify Major Montana Features. =>
1) The Montana Eastern Border with North Dakota is (straight white line) at right edge of image
2) The Montana Southern Border with Wyoming is (straight white line) near the bottom of the image, where you see US 87 and I-90 icons.
3) Just to left of US 87 & I-90, there is a dark green area, mostly on Wyoming side of border, which is the Bighorn Mountains, now the Bighorn National Forest. To the NW is a smaller dark green, which must be part of the same geological formation, a part of which is named Big Pryor Mountain.
4) Further left, are network of narrow dark green, that must be forested stream valleys, the East end of which, maps show as a major N-S irrigation reservoir.
5) And now most important, further left is the major dark green mountainous area measuring some 120 miles in diameter: (This is a REALLY major Mountainous Region, lifted-up by volcanic/tectonic causes from “The Yellowstone Hot Spot deep within the earth. See 8) and 9) Below. )
….According to Wikipedia, this major dark green mountainous area, includes “The Absaroka Range, a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi (240 km) across the Montana-Wyoming border, and 75 miles at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Valley (Montana), and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains to the north and the Wind River Range to the south. The northern edge of the range rests along I-90 and Livingston, Montana. The highest peak in the range is Francs Peak, located in Wyoming at 13,153 ft (4,009 m). There are 46 other peaks over 12,000 ft (3,700 m).” The highest mountains of the above-mentioned major dark green mountainous area, is called the Beartooth Mountains, are where you see ` 9 green triangles dispersed among lighter patches, which are likely snow covered peaks.
6) Continuing to study NE of this same image area, you see a network of narrower dark green lines, which are tree lined streams. => These come out of the Beartooth Mountains, trending NE toward Laurel MT. Especially note The tree lined stream, having also a yellow line, which is Rock Creek (US 212 & ZMM Route ), going from Laurel MT, to Red lodge MT. The ZMM Route continues as a (hard to see) somewhat wavy yellow line just under the white border line, trending West to US 89 icon and then North to tiny blue dot at Livingston MT. Continue to study the terrane North of the US 89 icon, and you will see it is a valley, in which are the head-waters of the Yellowstone River, which flows with US 89 to Livingston MT, where the River goes East to Mile City MT & eventually flow into the Missouri River in NE Montana. Henry’s travel (Bold Black Line) has been following I-90, in opposite westward direction along this Yellowstone River, also thru Livingston MT, continuing West, over Bozeman Pass, to Bozeman MT, The DeWeese’s in Cottonwood Canyon, and eventually North to Helena MT and beyond heading to Glacier National Park.
7) Useful Montana Information From Wikipedia =>
…. Montana is a state in the Northwestern United States.
Montana has several nicknames, although none are official,[6] including "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently "The Last Best Place".[7]
….Montana is the fourth-largest in area, the 8th least populous, and the third-least densely populated of the 50 U.S. states. The western half of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller island ranges are found throughout the state. In all, 77 named ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains. The eastern half of Montana is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands.
….The economy is primarily based on agriculture, including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic resources include oil, gas, coal, hard rock mining, and lumber. The health care, service, and government sectors also are significant to the state's economy.
….The name Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña, which in turn comes from the Latin word montanea, meaning "mountain", or more broadly, "mountainous country" Montaña del Norte was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the entire mountainous region of the west.
8) The Yellowstone Hotspot, is a volcanic hotspot in the United States responsible for large scale volcanism in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming as the North American tectonic plate moved over it. It formed the eastern Snake River Plain through a succession of caldera-forming eruptions. The resulting calderas include the Island Park Caldera, the Henry's Fork Caldera, and the Bruneau-Jarbidge caldera. The hotspot currently lies under the Yellowstone Caldera.[1] The hotspot's most recent caldera-forming supereruption, known as the Lava Creek eruption, took place 640,000 years ago and created the Lava Creek Tuff, and the most recent Yellowstone Caldera.
9) The Eastern Snake River Plain, is a topographic depression that cuts across Basin and Range Mountain structures, more or less parallel to North American plate motion. Beneath more recent basalts are rhyolite lavas and ignimbrites that erupted as the lithosphere passed over the hotspot. Younger volcanoes that erupted after passing over the hotspot covered the plain with young basalt lava flows in places, including Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. ((Above 8) & 9) are excerpts from <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_hotspot ">.Wikipedia, which has great diagrams & maps. A DON’T MISS !! </a> ))
10) Another Important, But Not So Obvious Feature In This Image, is a Range of Mountains, called The Big Belt Mountain Range, which is a ridge of dark green, that runs to the North (then turns NW), of the several time mentioned, major dark green mountainous area: This is an important geological feature, because this range => a) Forces the waters of the Yellowstone River to Go East! AND b) AND forces to combine in Montana, all the waters of the Missouri River Watersheds (This includes all the of SW Montana and Mountainous parts of Idaho): Then forcing ALL these waters (in 3 different major rivers), of to join at Three Forks MT, and flow the nearly all the way North, to almost the USA Canadian Border!! .. In the above image indicates that => This Big Belt Mountain Range, is fairly prominent, because 1 It’s Southern End (just above text “AUG”), shows 2 lines of white, meaning snow!! And 2), further North Google Earth places a green triangle, meaning a fairly high mountain peak. … Just left of this green triangle is more evidence => You see a long dark area (just above text “AC”), which is a wide lake, b/c of a dam in Missouri River Valley. The point here being, that here as well as other places, this Big Belt Mountain Range, is preventing the Missouri River from a) Going East, and b) The major Mountainous Region, lifted-up by volcanic/tectonic “The Yellowstone Hot Spot, Missouri River Waters from going South, and c) The Rocky Mountains, from going West! Only NORTH is left!

#PARTTWO

PART TWO: As Relates To The ZMM Narrator’s Travel Descriptions In Last Half of Chapter 7: Here Are Some Eastern Edge Of Montana, Elevation & Vegetation Facts, To Keep In Mind:

….US 12 at Powder River (2392 Ft), is only 13 foot higher than Miles City MT (2369 Ft). This is because the Powder has cut down approximately to the level of Yellowstone River, some 45 miles down-stream (NE), from Miles City.! Contrast these elevations to Bozeman MT (4793 Ft), approaching a “mile high”!!
…As you read the below, you may wish to have up in a separate “Browser Frame”, [[href="http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/2019ZmmRouteResearch |.Five Segments Showing Satellite Views (with Elevations & ZMM Narrative.) => From The Powder Rivet to Top Of Mountain Pass 10 Miles East of Miles City MT.
…After this comes up => Please click on the lower right image image (Segment 5), since applies to the continued reading below. .]]

….It is an observed fact that => The increase in elevation 735 Ft, from Powder River >> TO>> US 12 at Main Ridge Road (3127 Ft.), is enough higher in elevation for extra rain, thus creating forested meadows, which the ZMM Narrator Delightfully Reports!! These are the darker areas, as you can see on Satellite View Segment 5:AND these darker green areas, can be used to discern relative landscape elevation: To see an example of this, in image above => You should especially look at the darker “patch” surrounding the Micro Wave Tower. This is the area that surrounds the two close markers with starting words “US 12 at .” .
….Especially notice how barren are the slopes to the West, of this “patch!! These West facing slopes down the Yellowstone Valley and Miles City MT, and are apparently barren from a combination of hot afternoon sun, and prevailing winds, mostly going East with rain happening, after “going over the ridge”.
….Another useful way to discern relative elevation, and a characteristic of interest in this Satellite View, are the darker rain water run-off channels, having lines darker trees,seen ABOVE the Two Text Lines with >>” US 12 At Side Road South 3159 Ft “ etc .

NOTE: Elevations by Free “Elevation Finder
This tool can be used to find an estimate for the elevation of a point on the earth. Click/tap the map or type the address in the text box. https://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm

#PARTTHREE

PART THREE: An Explanation Of Montana’s Multi-Colored Layers Of Volcanic Dust & Mountain Rock, Giving Evidence Of Very Long History Of Eruptions, Likely Through Eons Of Time, From Yellowstone National Park, Massive Volcanic Eruptions Some 314 Miles Away To Southwest Of (For Example), Miles City MT.

"Please magnify image with MAGNIFYING GLASS, and look close for multi colored layers, in ~ fife different places in center of image. " | Click here for Very Large size image. Send Email, if this does not work for you.

A) hese multi color volcanic dist layers, are calle “badlands”. :
You may have heard the term “badlands” used before, but not in reference to our park. That’s because in addition to being a geographic term, describing Badlands National Park in South Dakota, this word is also a geologic term! The lowercase version of badlands is used to describe most terrains that look like the formations in our park. They are typically characterized by soft sedimentary rocks that erode easily. .. There are badlands formations all over country in places like Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, Colorado, and Nebraska.More here =>
https://www.nps.gov/badl/learn/nature/geologic-formations.htm

B) You can learn more geology about these multi-colored layers at Badlands National Park in South Dakota,, and watch a good Video concerning the formations of badlands, which include volcanic dist.
https://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm

C) You can learn more geology about Eastern Montana multi-colored layers, and see a really great (expandable) panorama photo here: These layers are actually composed of multi-colored layers of volcanic dust, giving evidence of very long history of eruptions, likely through eons of time, from Yellowstone National Park, massive volcanic eruptions some 314 miles away to Southwest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoshika_State_Park .

D) To see more of these road cut “horizontal multi-colored layers of volcanic dust, & mountain rock => <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4262026,-105.7912625,3a,15y,165.18h,90.11t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sn_70oBEB2H-UAnvjofOiSA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i33 ">.After this GSV, comes up, turn GSV, 90 deg to view US 12 going East, up into the Mountain Pass. </a>

href="http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/album03/DSC_0266?full=1 ">. A close up of these same (above seen) Horizontal Layers of Volcanic Dust & Rock, is here, In Henry’s May 2002 (+2006 Photos), ZMM Route Research Photo Album . </a> ALSO <a href=" http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/album03/DSC_0351?full=1 ">. evidence of these “horizontal multi-colored layers of volcanic dust, & mountain rock” => can be discerned in road cuts along US 12, as far as Ten miles East of, Marmarth ND. </a>
<p><b>ATTENTION: After Linked Photo Comes Up => </b>
To read Title AND Description for this Album, Please Click (Once or Twice), On Upper Right >> “Blue Navigation Links:” This Will Take You “Up One or Two Level” In Gallery, where you will see This Album’s Title & Description. ((Due to unchangeable technical difficulties, please use this procedure for all Gallery Listings, For How To Find Needed Reading.)) </p>

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