Geology
Something else is unique and spectacular about this Valley. Vidette Lake is located exactly at the western edge of the Bonaparte Plateau also known as the North American Plate. Here the Bonaparte Plateau meets the eastern limit of the Pacific Plate. These 230 million year old geological formations have been crushing against each other with forces unimaginable to the human mind.
These forces were so enormous that a “crack” was forced upwards opening up the earth and allowing millions of tons of lava to spew over the surrounding landscape.
Today the surface layer southwest of Vidette is considered to be Miocene/Pliocene, believed to be five million years “old”. Northeast of Vidette Lake the land is Holocene/Pleistocene or 1.6 million years “young”. Yet the crack known today as Deadman Valley, with its lake-strung river is Jurassic/Triassic or more than 200 million years old!
Geology
 |
 |
 |
|