GEOLOGY AND GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF THE SALT CREEK BASIN William J.

Wayne The drainage basin now occupied by Salt Creek came into existence long before glaciers covered the area and changed many of the drainage lines of the region. Prior to the earliest advance of glaciers into the region about ! million years ago nearly all streams in the "reat Plains flowed toward the east. The "reat Plains is a huge alluvial slope that spreads eastward from the #ocky $ountains. %uilt up by stream deposits over more than &' million years this alluvial slope stretched from the foothills of the #ocky $ountains to eastern (ebraska. The rivers that flowed eastward from the mountains carried a load of pebbles sand and silt that they deposited as they shifted their courses across the aggrading plain )$orrison *++*,. The "reat Plains is a huge alluvial slope that spreads eastward from the #ocky $ountains. %uilt up by stream deposits over more than &' million years this alluvial slope stretched from the foothills of the #ocky $ountains to eastern (ebraska. These sediments of $iocene and Pliocene age buried all older rocks so that only the ancient river sediments are now exposed in western and central (ebraska along today-s streams that still drain eastward ).igure *,. These strata have yielded the many mammal fossils for which (ebraska is so well known. /lthough no record of them has been found as far east in (ebraska as the Salt Creek basin it is possible that the eastern end of the alluvial deposits some of the Pliocene 0gallala .ormation may once have reached it. Where the eastward1flowing rivers left the aggrading plain and passed through the region underlain by older rocks they eroded valleys and produced a fairly rugged topography which had more than !'' feet of relief. #ocks of marine origin chalk shales and limestones of

Cretaceous age deposited about 2' million years ago are present in a band that trends northeast to southwest

.igure *. Shaded map of (ebraska showing glacial boundaries and modern streams. across eastern (ebraska. $ost of these rocks lie west of 3ancaster County and the Salt Creek basin however. The outcrops of bedrock that we see along Salt Creek and its tributaries in eastern (ebraska are the tops of some of the hills that existed before they were buried beneath sediments deposited by the glacial ice. Sandstone of the Cretaceous 4akota .ormation which underlies the marine shales and chalk capped the hills. %eneath the 4akota on the preglacial landscape were shale and limestone of Pennsylvanian and Permian age. These rocks !5' to &'' million years old are not exposed in Wilderness Park but Permian limestone and shale can be seen farther south along Salt Creek near #oca. #ocks of Pennsylvanian age lie beneath Pleistocene sediments in the eastern part of the basin of Salt Creek. 0utcrops of Cretaceous 4akota sandstone which were once the tops of hills on the preglacial landscape surface can be found near the north end of Wilderness Park as well as along /ntelope Creek and near 6ankee !

7ill cemetery. 8t also crops out in northwestern 3ancaster County where it was once 9uarried for building stone and farther east along the Platte #iver. 4akota shale is used for brick at the 6ankee 7ill %rick Company.

.igure !. 4rainage lines of the Salt Creek %asin. &

The advances of glacier ice into eastern (ebraska though buried the former land surface beneath a thick accumulation of till gravelly sand and silt )%urchett and others *+2!,. 8t changed completely the appearance of the land and rerouted most of the streams. The forward margin of the ice sheet either dammed rivers that once flowed toward the east or shunted then around the ice margin. The Platte #iver which once drained northeastward )Stanley and Wayne *+2!, was moved into a route of what is now the %lue #iver then as the last of the glaciers that extended into eastern (ebraska melted followed its present course eastward. 3akes formed in every valley that was blocked by the ice dams. "lacial meltwater as well as runoff from the land and from the mountains to the west filled the lakes to overflowing. The overflow water in the lakes drained southeastward around the margin of the glacier eventually reaching the $ississippi #iver and flowing into the "ulf of $exico. .ine1 grained sediments11silt and clay11carried into the lakes by both the streams that drained into them and the sediment1laden glacial meltwater11 settled out in the 9uiet water of the deep ice1marginal lakes filling the lower parts of the valleys. The ice also expanded into the lakes leaving after it melted away a thick layer of till a massive sediment composed of sand silt and clay as well as boulders and cobbles interbedded with the lake muds. The Salt Creek basin was fairly close to the maximum extent of the ice sheets that reached the edge of the "reat Plains. 4rilling records show that the ice once reached as far west as 6ork (ebraska ).igure *,. The last glacier to enter the region reached Seward where it shunted the %ig %lue #iver into a route along its margin. $ost of the streams in eastern (ebraska came into existence as ice1marginal drainage lines during this final advance and meltback which took place about :'' ''' years ago )Wayne *+;5,. /lthough many of <

(ebraska-s streams particularly those north of the Platte #iver mark successive positions of the glacier margin during its disappearance a few including Salt Creek have a different orientation. Salt Creek downstream from 3incoln is one that returned more or less to a position it had occupied before the glaciations although many of its tributaries follow the alignment of the ice1 marginal streams. %ut its route from #oca to 3incoln and that of 0ak Creek a ma=or tributary from the north mark one of the marginal positions of the last glacier that extended into eastern (ebraska ).igures * and !,. .arther north the West .ork of $aple Creek was also established around the edge of the glacier at the same time. >xposed in the wall of the limestone 9uarry north of #oca ).igure &, is a record of two advances of ice into the Salt Creek basin. 3ying directly on the limestone of Permian age is a rubbly deposit left at the edge of the glacier. 8t was buried beneath a se9uence of ripple1marked

.igure &. 4iagram of the east wall of the Schwarck 9uarry north of #oca

silt beds that accumulated as a density flow in the lake that formed at the glacier margin )Stanley *+2<,. That the ice readvanced into the lake is recorded by a layer of till over the silt. /fter the ice sheet melted and the till was exposed the distinctive soil profile that formed on it shows that it became weathered before it was in turn buried beneath the loess deposited during the last or Wisconsinan glaciation. "laciers formed in Canada and expanded into the northeastern ?nited States several times after the ones that changed the land in eastern (ebraska more than a half1million years ago but none of the later ones reached far enough into (ebraska to touch the Salt Creek basin. (evertheless some record of their existence can be found in the sediments of the basin. /bout !& ''' years ago the edge of a glacier blocked the $issouri #iver briefly near 6ankton S4 and water flowed down the >lkhorn valley into the Platte raising the levels of both rivers and depositing a long alluvial cone at their =unction )Wayne *+;2,. This high flow of glacial meltwater and the accumulation of sediment along the ma=or rivers resulted in a rise in base level which controlled the level of water at the mouth of all tributaries of both streams and caused Salt Creek to deposit sediment along its valley. This alluvial accumulation is about !' feet thick at the location of the bron@e statue of the mammoth /rchie in front of the State $useum in 3incolnA it rests on a black soil that once was on the floodplain of Salt Creek there. / radiocarbon date of the top of the buried soil is !' ''' years. Similar black paleosols have been recovered at other places along the valley of Salt Creek. 0ne of the borings for a foundation at the /ventis plant near Waverly encountered the old floodplain surface at a depth of :& feetA a sample from it was dated by radiocarbon as !& ''' years old. /nother boring for the bicycle bridge over (. !2th Street recovered organic matter at a depth of :' feet that was dated as :

&2 <5' years old. .rom all of these buried floodplain soils pollen dominated by spruce suggests presence of a spruce forest in the Salt Creek basin at that time. Pollen samples from short cores of sediments recovered from borings along other streams in eastern (ebraska indicate that spruce treesBprobably an open spruce parklandBexisted until about ** 5'' years ago. The boreal forest changed rapidly to steppe then to prairie. %y *' ''' years ago the transition to prairie had become established )Cilinska *++5,. /fter the $issouri #iver ceased to flow into the >lkhorn and Platte Salt Creek and all other tributaries of these rivers began to erode their valleys deeper again leaving the sediment that had accumulated earlier standing as terraces along them. 8n 3incoln this terrace stands about **2' feet above sea level at $orrill 7allA at the /ventis pharmaceutical plant near Waverly it stands at **<' and to the south in Wilderness Park it is slightly higher than **+'. This gives it an average channel gradient of '.'''5 or about !.2 feet drop per mile. The present floodplain of Salt Creek has a gradient of '.'''+ through this reach a drop of about <.; feet per mile and the straightened channel has a gradient of about &.5 feet per mile or '.'''2 between $orrill 7all and the /ventis plant.

%y about :''' years ago Salt Creek had entrenched its channel about ! m deeper than the level of the present channel floor. %y 5''' years ago black mud had begun to accumulate on the sand in the channel and on the floodplain surface within the region of Wilderness Park. These sediments can be seen in the lower part of most of the cleanly swept banks on the outsides of

meanders ).igure <,. These dark1brown to black muds contain pollen dominated by grassesBthus recording the prairie of the uplandsBbut they also contain many fragments of charcoal evidence of prairie fires at that time )Cilinska *++5,. Silty alluvial sediments accreted diluting then burying the black organic mud. .loodplain sedimentation paused long enough for a dark brownish1gray soil profile to begin to develop across its surface. This soil was then buried beneath about one meter of additional flood sediments )clayey silt, before the surface stabili@ed and another soil profile developed. /t that time the depth of scour along Salt Creek through Wilderness Park was *.'1*.5 m higher than the present low water level in the stream as shown by sediment1filled old channels exposed along the banks of the present stream ).igure 5,. 0ne can see exposed in

cross sections along some of the cleanly swept banks on the outsides of meanders cut1and1fill se9uences that represent old channels and their filling as the creek migrated across its slowly aggrading floodplain ).igure 5,.

.igure <. ?ndercut bank of %eal Slough where it turns north =ust west of the edge of Wilderness Park. The top layer of sediments in this bank is sandy silt that was eroded from upland farms after the beginning of cultivation. 8t overlies the presettlement soil profile. With the beginning of farming on the upland of Salt Creek basin during the late decades of the (ineteenth Century increased upland runoff and the soil erosion from plowed fields that accompanied the runoff resulted in additional sedimentation along the Salt Creek floodplain. ).igure <,. Some of these coarser sediments filled ox1bow lakes that marked old meander cutoffs on the floodplain. 8n a few places fragments of turn1of1the1century pottery and bricks have been "enerally about one m thick these sediments are hori@ontally stratified layers of sand and silt found in them.

.igure 5. Cross section of oxbow lake sediments exposed in bank of %eal Slough between the location of figure < and its =unction with Salt Creek.

DChannel improvementE enlarging and straightening the channel a procedure generally called Dchanneli@ationE began in 3incoln about *+': as a techni9ue to reduce the fre9uency and intensity of floods in the city )/nonymous *+:5F,. .rom *+'+ until about *+5' the Salt Creek channel was enlarged and straightened eventually through /shland to the Platte #iver. This procedure of removing the meanders shortened the channel between 3incoln and The Platte from :+ miles to about &: miles. The shorter channel distance increased the gradient or slope of the channel and as a result the more rapidly flowing water scoured the channel floor and banks as the stream reestablished e9uilibriumBor DgradeE a relationship between stream velocity slope

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and sediment load. Within the reach in Wilderness Park the increased scour deepened the channel floor as much as ! to & m. 8n its course through Wilderness Park Salt Creek flows through a channel that meanders nearly as much as did the entire stream before it was extensively modified through 3incoln and downstream in efforts to reduce the damage to structures caused by flooding. %ecause it has been preserved from channeli@ation through most of the park today one can get a glimpse of the kind of stream that drained this region before that modification took place. /s a meandering stream that flows through fine grained sediments the current undercuts the outsides of the meander bends leaving the alluvial sediment standing in cleanly swept steep bluffs that tend to collapse. The lower part of the sediment accumulation is sandy and permeable so that during episodes of high flow water infiltrates the sediment. /s the flow subsides water that has infiltrated the sandy sediment drains back into the channel. Some of the sediment commonly flows with it further steepening the bank. %ank failure as a debris fall or a slump often follows ).igure :,. 8f the volume of material that collapsed into the channel is large enough it may change the position of the current and start channel migration. Throughout Wilderness Park the banks of Salt Creek exhibit many terrace1like benches where sediment has slumped into the channel. 8n addition to the channel modification a series of nine multipurpose reservoirs for flood control and recreation were built on Salt Creek and several of its ma=or tributaries during the *+:'Gs. .ive of these reservoirs are on tributaries that enter Salt Creek in 3incoln downstream from Wilderness ParkA one is on Cardwell %ranch which enters near the middle of the parkA and three are on tributaries that enter Salt Creek upstream from the park. 0ne ma=or tributary that is **

not controlled by a reservoir =oins Salt Creek within Wilderness ParkA %eal Slough enters the park boundary =ust north of the parking lot on W. Pioneers %lvd.

.igure :. %ank collapse along Salt Creek.

%eal Slough heads in the upland near Cheney near the southeast edge of 3incoln. .or about two and a half miles it flows through farmland but downstream from 5:th Street it passes into an urbani@ed landscape and runoff from the residential and commercial properties becomes much greater than it is from farmland. The stream flows through an artificially straightened channel from 5:th Street to the edge of the park. Where the high1velocity stormwater discharge through the channeli@ed part of %eal Slough enters the unchanneli@ed segment at the edge of the park it has undercut the bank and kept it swept free of the sediment that collapses into the *!

channel ).igure <,. 4uring the past &'H years several large %ur 0ak trees have fallen into the channel at that place. The scour destroyed the abutments for the original hanging bridge in *+;& and more recently the new hanging bridge near the edge of the park was destroyed by the high water. /t the =unction of %eal Slough and Salt Creek the divide between the two channels was more than *'' feet across in *+2'. %ank scour during almost annual periods of high water cut away the narrow ridge that separated the two streams dropping trees along the banks of both into the water. %y 0ctober *++& the divide between the two streams had been reduced to less than !' feet wide and the trail that had gone across it was blocked because it had become dangerous. 8n *++2 the meander neck was finally perforated and Salt Creek began to flow into the channel of %eal Slough. .loodplains are the creation of the streams that flow through them. They provide a place for the high discharge that results from heavy rainfall or snowmelt to be stored temporarily while the water within the channel drains out. The excess discharge spreads across the floodplain where it is slowed by both the reduction in water depth and by the vegetation growing on the floodplain surface. ?ntil people began to build permanent structures on floodplains Dflood problemsE did not exist. Permanent structures particularly if their density is great as in cities constrict the width of the surface available for the stream and so they increase both the water velocity and the flood height. $ethods used during the past century or so to reduce flood damage to structures and people in urban areas have been to try to control the streams. These include enlarging and straightening the channel to hasten the flow of water building levees and building dams. These *&

methods do reduce the fre9uency of flooding but they also provide a false sense of security. /fter they are in place many people tend to believe that they are fully protected from all floods. Thus if undeveloped land exists in the floodplain downstream from the dams it is likely to become urbani@ed. Through 3incoln Salt Creek really no longer has a floodplainA reduction of flooding in the city depends on the upstream dams the enlarged channel and a levee system to prevent excessive precipitation from flooding in the city. %ecause they are largely unmodified the flood plain and meandering channel of Salt Creek through Wilderness Park slow the floodwater that reaches it and provide a significant measure of natural flood protection to the City of 3incoln and reaches downstream.

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#>.>#>(C>S *. /nonymous *+:5F The development of a program for the Salt1Wahoo watershed in (ebraska. ?(3 College of /griculture and 7ome >conomics 5< p. !. %urchett #.#. I.7. 4rees@en >.C. #eed and ".>. Prichard *+2! . %edrock geologic map showing thickness of overlying Juaternary deposits 3incoln Juadrangle and part of (ebraska City Juadrangle (ebraska and Cansas ?.S. "eological Survey $iscellaneous "eological 8nvestigations $ap 2!+ scale *K!5' '''. &. Cilinska >wa *++5. Pollen study of late Pleistocene and 7olocene sediments from eastern (ebraskaL paleoecological and paleoclimatical implications. ?(3 "eology 4ept. $S thesis *+2 p. <. $orrison #.%. ed.. *++*. Juaternary nonglacial geologyL conterminous ?S. %oulder C0 "eological Society of /merica "eology of (orth /merica v. C1! :2! p. 5. Stanley C.0. *+2<. $orphology and hydraulic significance of climbing ripples and superimposed micro1ripple1drift cross laminations in lower Juaternary lake silts (ebraska. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology v.<< p. <2!1<;&. :. Stanley C.0. and Wayne W.J. *+2!. >peirogenic and climatic controls of early Pleistocene fluvial sediment dispersal in (ebraska. "eological society of /merica %ulletin v. ;& p. &:251&:+'. 2. Wayne W.J. *+;5. 4rainage patterns and glaciations in eastern (ebraska. T>#1J?/ Symposium Series v. * p. ***1**2.

;. Wayne W.J. *+;2. The Platte #iver and Todd Ialley near .remont (ebraska. "eological Society of /merica Centennial .ield "uide (orth1Central Section p. *+1!!. 833?ST#/T80(S

.igure *. Shaded topographic map of (ebraska showing the eastward drainage of the central and western parts of the state and the alignment of streams that mark successive positions of the ice margin within the eastern part of the state that was glaciated )modified from Conservation and Survey 4ivision ?(3,. .igure !. 4rainage lines of the Salt Creek basin. /lthough downstream from 3incoln Salt Creek flows northeastwardA compare the alignment of (orth 0ak10ak Creek1Salt Creek from #oca to 3incoln with that of %ig %lue #iver and with the ice1margin positions suggested in .igure *. .igure &. 4iagram of the east face of the Schwarck 9uarry near #oca showing se9uence of tills lake sediments and loess overlying Permian limestone. .igure <. %ank of alluvial sediments exposed where %eal Slough enters Wilderness Park and bends abruptly to the north. The bank is almost continuously swept clean so that the sedimentary se9uence can be seen. The erosion also caused the trees at the lip of the bank to fall into the creek regularly. The dark layer at the base of the exposure is a silt bed that is rich in carbonaceous matterA at this location it extends more than one meter beneath the bed of the creek and is underlain by coarse sand. The basal 5 cm of a core from this location was dated by radiocarbonA it accumulated 5*5'HK1;' years ago. Pollen from this depth is almost entirely grasses although higher in the core pollen of other plants sedges ragweed goosefoot become important and some trees )oak elm walnut and pine, show up )Cilinska *++5,. The uppermost sediment in this exposure is beds of sand and silt that accumulated since farming began on the uplands of the Salt Creek basin. 8t rests on the soil profile that existed at that time )about *;2',. Photograph taken in *++'. .igure 5. /lluvial sediments exposed along %eal Slough at the north end of the bend midway between the location of figure < and the =unction of %eal Slough and Salt Creek. The lower

sediments are the same as those exposed in figure <. The lenticular beds above that though are post1*;2' sediments that accumulated in a small ox1bow lake a cut1off of a meander of either Salt Creek or %eal Slough. 8ts base probably represents the level to which of the bed of Salt Creek had been scoured prior to channeli@ation which began in *+':. )Photograph taken in *+;;,. .igure 5. %ank collapseKslump about *5'' ft south of Pioneers Street. )Photo taken January !! !''+. Stormwater fre9uently undercuts the banks of Salt Creek causing the overlying sediments to fall into the creek.

%rief %iological Sketch %ill Wayne is a geomorphologist a geologist who studies surface features and materials and the processes that affect them. 7e earned a Ph.4. in geology from 8ndiana ?niversity in *+5!. /s head glacial geologist for the 8ndiana "eological Survey from *+5! to *+:; he published many reports and maps on the glacial deposits of that state. .rom *+:; to *++! he was on the faculty of the ?niversity of (ebraska at 3incoln where he taught courses in physical geology geomorphology glacial geology and urban geology and conducted research on the Pleistocene sediments and landforms of (ebraska. 8n addition to his geologic studies in 8ndiana and (ebraska he has conducted geologic research on Southampton 8sland (WT Canada the #uby $ountains (evada and in the /ndean provinces of $endo@a and Salta /rgentina. Since *++! he has been Professor >meritus of "eology at ?(3.