Topography/Geology
The topography of the site is that of a badland, due to the downcutting of the Little Missouri River. The rock units are likely sediments derived from the Laramide orogeny deposited in an ecosystem dominated by rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, and swamps.
The Wannagan Site is found in the upper portion of the Tongue River Formation (formerly Bullion Creek Formation). The rocks of this deposit consist of yellow to tan, poorly lithified claystones, mudstones, and siltstones with a lesser amounts of interbedded fine-grained sandstones and lignite and at the Wannagan Site reach a thickness of over 60 m. The Wannagan Creek site is overlain by the Sentinel Butte Formation. This formation is generally gray to brown in color but is similar in lithology to the Tongue River. The Sentinel Butte is roughly 90 m thick. The contact between the two formations is roughly 6 m above the Wannagan site. The Sentinel Butte contains an extensive stump-bearing petrified wood bed above the contact at the site.
Read more about this topic: Wannagan Creek Site
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