Scotts Bluff, Chimney rock, and Wildcat hills, Nebraska

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay

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There's a surprising amount of nice scenery in Nebraska once you get off theInterstate. The Scotts Bluff area is interesting geologically and historically.

Chimney rock

	Chimney rock was a prominent landmark for travelers on the Oregon Trail. A visitor center tells the history of the rock.
	The rock is made of relatively soft sandstone and has eroded noticeably since it was first described. In another thousand years it will almost certainly be gone.
	The rock is an outlier of a much more extensive series of bluffs. Pioneers used to climb the rock and carve their names in it but access now is not permitted.
	Close up of the bluffs near Chimney rock.

Scotts Bluff

	Scotts Bluff was also a prominent landmark on the Oregon Trail and is preserved as a national monument.
	Scotts Bluff
	The Visitor Center
	Scotts Bluff. The Oligocene White River Group is overlain by the Miocene Arikaree Group.
	A short drive from the Visitor center leads behind Scotts Bluff through several tunnels to an overlook. As the picture shows, weather conditions were not optimal at the overlook.
	Sediments of the Arikaree Group
	Although the rocks are primarily sandstone, they have a calcareous component as shown by the weathering
	Chert lenses and nodules are also present.
	View of Scotts Bluff from the west
	View of Scotts Bluff from immediately southwest.
	Left and below: Scotts Bluff is only one of a large number of bluffs carved into outliers of the Tertiary rocks.
	Looking east from Scotts Bluff along the Platte River Valley.

Wildcat hills

	The rock units that form Scotts Bluff also form a long ridge to the south called the Wildcat hills
	Looking north from the Wildcat hillsalong Nebraska Route 71.
	Looking east along the south flank of the Wildcat hills

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Created 14 July 2003, Last Update 09 June 2020