Earthquake Lake, Montana-Idaho 1:24,000-scale Topographic Map

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Go to Map Locator and Downloader and search "Earthquake Lake"
Clues as to how an earthquake caused Earthquake Lake and the date of this event are shown by the cultural and physical features on the map.
How did Earthquake Lake form? Cultural names reveal much about the physical and cultural history and characteristics of an area.
Discuss and use the Geographic Names Information System. For example, if you found a Disappointment Hill, investigate who was disappointed, why, and when.
Here, refer to USGS natural hazards posters to illustrate that a crack in the Earth is never as wide as the lake shown here. Therefore, the ground ruptures were not as wide as the lake. There has to be another explanation!
Discuss what happens when water running (in a gutter, for example) is dammed or blocked. What could have dammed Madison River to form the lake?
Refer to the "slide area" on the map. What kind of slide could it be? Why could it not have been a snowslide? Describe the slopes of the mountainsides near Earthquake Lake and draw profiles of it.
What are the clues as to when the slide took place? Clues are existence of memorial, and the lack of vegetation on the south side of the lake.
Who would likely be at the bottom of the canyon? Who lives and travels to this area, and why? Refer to Hebgen Lake earthquake professional paper and USGS web sites on the earthquake for photographs and eyewitness accounts.