ECOS Guide to the Ecology of the Northern Rockies

		ECOS Guide to the Ecology of the Northern Rockies

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Geology and Earth History

Montana's Absoraka Beartooth Mountains

Western Montana is defined by mountains. One cannot understand how life has come to adapt to the wide range of environments created by these mountains without understanding the history of how these mountains, valley, and rivers came to be. In this section of the guide, you can learn about how the extreme diversity of rocks and landscapes formed through time.

The Geology Guide is an online database of the most common rock types in western Montana. The guide includes a general history of the geologic evolution of western Montana, specific information regarding the Belt Supergroup and the Idaho Batholith, and brief descriptions regarding mineralogy, appearance, tectonic and depositional environments of formation, common uses, and geographical distributions.

For more information about Montana geology, see the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology and the University of Montana Geology Department.

General Geologic History of Western Montana	Western Montana Geological Highlights	North American Plate Movement
Montana Rock Descriptions/Distributions	Glossary of Geology Terms

The ECOS program is sponsored by the University of Montana's Division of Biological Sciences, and the College of Forestry and Conservation. Carol Brewer Program Director, Division of Biological Sciences. Paul Alaback Program Co-Director, College of Forestry and Conservation.

ECOS is supported by the GK-12 Program of the National Science Foundation.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.