The _cutting_through_the_plain_leaves_many_canyons">Snake_River_cutting_through_the_plain_leaves_many_canyons_and_Canyon#List_of_gorges.html" ;"title="canyons.html" ;"title="Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons">Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons and Canyon#List of gorges">gorges, such as this one near Twin Falls, Idaho
![Snake River Plain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Snake_River_Plain.png)
The Snake River Plain is a
geologic
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
feature located primarily within the U.S. state of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. It stretches about westward from northwest of the state of
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
to the Idaho-
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
border. The plain is a wide, flat bow-shaped depression and covers about a quarter of Idaho. Three major volcanic
butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...
s dot the plain east of
Arco
ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...
, the largest being
Big Southern Butte.
Most of Idaho's major cities are in the Snake River Plain, as is much of its agricultural land.
Geology
The
Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
Plain can be divided into three sections: western, central, and eastern. The western Snake River Plain is a large tectonic
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
or rift valley filled with several kilometers of lacustrine (lake) sediments; the sediments are underlain by
rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...
and
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
, and overlain by basalt. The western plain began to form around 11–12
Ma (million years ago) with the eruption of rhyolite lavas and
ignimbrite
Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surrou ...
s. The western plain is not parallel to
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...
motion and lies at a high angle to the central and eastern Snake River Plains. Its
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
is similar to other
volcanic plateau
A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity. There are two main types: lava plateaus and pyroclastic plateaus.
Lava plateau
Lava plateaus are formed by highly fluid basaltic lava during numerous successive eruptions throu ...
s such as the
Chilcotin Group
The Chilcotin Group, also called the Chilcotin Plateau Basalts, is a large area of basaltic lava that forms a volcanic plateau running parallel with the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in south-central British Columbia, Canada.
Predominantly, during Mioc ...
in south-central
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada.
The eastern Snake River Plain traces the path of the North American Plate over the
Yellowstone hotspot
The Yellowstone hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the United States responsible for large scale volcanism in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, formed as the North American tectonic plate moved over it. It formed the eastern Snake Ri ...
, now centered in
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
. The eastern plain is a topographic depression that cuts across
Basin and Range
Basin and range topography is characterized by alternating parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. The e ...
mountain structures, more or less parallel to North American Plate motion. It is underlain almost entirely by basalt erupted from large
shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...
es. Beneath the basalts are rhyolite lavas and ignimbrites that erupted as the
lithosphere
A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...
passed over the hotspot.
The central Snake River plain is similar to the eastern plain but differs by having thick sections of
interbedded
In geology, interbedding occurs when beds (layers of rock) of a particular lithology lie between or alternate with beds of a different lithology. For example, sedimentary rocks may be interbedded if there were sea level variations in their sedim ...
lacustrine (lake) and fluvial (stream) sediments, including the
Hagerman fossil beds.
Island Park and
Yellowstone Caldera
The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park in the Western United States. The caldera and most of the park are located in the northwest corn ...
s formed as the result of enormous rhyolite ignimbrite eruptions, with single eruptions producing up to of ash.
Henry's Fork Caldera
The Henry's Fork Caldera in eastern Idaho is a caldera located in an area known as Island Park, west of Yellowstone National Park. The caldera was formed by an eruption 1.3 million years ago of the Yellowstone hotspot. The eruption distributed a ...
, measuring by , may be the largest symmetrical
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
in the world. The caldera formed when a dome of magma built up and then drained away. The center of the dome collapsed, leaving a caldera. Henry's Fork Caldera lies within the older and larger
Island Park Caldera
The Island Park Caldera, in the U.S. states of Idaho and Wyoming, is one of the world's largest calderas, with approximate dimensions of 80 by 65 km. Its ashfall is the source of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff that is found from southern Califo ...
, which is by . 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
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along US 20 ( concurrent with US 93 and US 26), between the small towns of Arco and Carey, at a ...
.
Effects on climate
![2013-07-07 18 42 21 Natural vegetation on the Snake River Plain near Shoshone Falls in Idaho](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/2013-07-07_18_42_21_Natural_vegetation_on_the_Snake_River_Plain_near_Shoshone_Falls_in_Idaho.jpg)
The Snake River Plain has a significant effect on the climate of
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
and the adjacent areas to the south and west of Yellowstone. Over time, the Yellowstone hotspot left a wide channel through the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
. This channel is in line with the gap between the
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
and the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
. The result is a moisture channel extending from the Pacific Ocean to Yellowstone. Moisture from the Pacific Ocean streams onshore in the form of clouds and humid air. It passes through the gap between the Sierra and Cascades and into the Snake River Plain where it is channeled through most of the Rocky Mountains with no high plateaus or mountain ranges to impede its progress. It finally encounters upslope conditions at the head of the Snake River Valley at
Ashton, Idaho
Ashton is a city in Fremont County, Idaho, United States. The population was 1,127 at the 2010 census, and it is part of the Rexburg Micropolitan Statistical Area. The district is noted for seed potato production and bills itself as the world's ...
; at
Island Park, Idaho
Island Park is a city in Fremont County, Idaho, United States. The city's population was 286 at the 2010 census, up from 215 in 2000. The city was incorporated by owners of the many lodges and resorts along U.S. Route 20 in 1947, primarily to c ...
; at the
Teton Range
The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park and ...
east of
Driggs, Idaho
Driggs is a city in the western United States in eastern Idaho, and is the county seat of Teton County. Part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, it is located in Teton Valley, the headwaters of the Teton River. The populati ...
; and at the
Yellowstone Plateau
The Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field, also known as the Yellowstone Supervolcano or the Yellowstone Volcano, is a complex volcano, volcanic plateau and volcanic field located mostly in the western U.S. state of Wyoming but also stretches into I ...
of Yellowstone National Park where the channeled moisture precipitates out as rain and snow. The result is a localized climate on the eastern side of the Rockies that is akin to a climate on the west slope of the Cascades or the northern Sierra. The head of the Snake River Valley, the Tetons, and the
Yellowstone Plateau
The Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field, also known as the Yellowstone Supervolcano or the Yellowstone Volcano, is a complex volcano, volcanic plateau and volcanic field located mostly in the western U.S. state of Wyoming but also stretches into I ...
receive much more precipitation than other areas of the region, and the area is known for being wet, green, having many streams, and having abundant snow in winter.
Although the topography of the Plain has largely gone unchanged for several million years, this region's climate has not been so constant. Current climatic conditions began to characterize the region in the early Pleistocene (approximately 2.5 million years ago). However, the arid climate of today was born from the gradual dissipation of a climate defined by greater moisture and narrower ranges of annual temperatures.
See also
*
Lost streams of Idaho
There are two rivers in Idaho named "Lost", the Big Lost River and the Little Lost River. They are often considered separate streams, but both flow into the same depression and become subterranean, feeding the Snake River Aquifer. The rivers ar ...
*
Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
*
Snake River Plain (ecoregion)
The Snake River Plain ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Idaho and Oregon. It follows the Snake River across Idaho, stretching roughly from the Wyoming ...
*
Wilson Butte Cave
Wilson Butte Cave is located on the Snake River plain in Jerome County northeast of Twin Falls and southeast of Shoshone, Idaho. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an archeological site, it is maintained by the Bureau of La ...
References
External links
The Snake River Plainat Digital Atlas of Idaho
{{Authority control
Landforms of Idaho
Snake River
Plains of the United States
Rifts and grabens
Valleys of Idaho
Volcanism of Idaho
Holocene volcanism
Miocene volcanism
Pleistocene volcanism
Pliocene volcanism
Natural history of Idaho
Regions of the Western United States
Holocene North America
Miocene North America
Pliocene North America
Pleistocene United States
Neogene Idaho
Quaternary United States
Landforms of Bonneville County, Idaho
Landforms of Madison County, Idaho
Landforms of Power County, Idaho
Landforms of Twin Falls County, Idaho
Landforms of Ada County, Idaho
Landforms of Owyhee County, Idaho
Landforms of Nez Perce County, Idaho
Landforms of Bingham County, Idaho
Landforms of Fremont County, Idaho
Landforms of Elmore County, Idaho
Landforms of Payette County, Idaho
Landforms of Latah County, Idaho
Landforms of Gooding County, Idaho
Landforms of Canyon County, Idaho
Landforms of Washington County, Idaho
Landforms of Adams County, Idaho
Landforms of Idaho County, Idaho