The Raynesford plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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Raynesford’s center stands about 4,030 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 3,950 ft to 4,790 ft, a difference of 840 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Barker Mountain, about 8,280 ft, 13 miles south-southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Morrison Formation and Ellis Group (limestone, mudstone, sandstone), from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, 129 to 172 million years old.
The section below crosses 12 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 8×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Conglomerate. Age: Early Cretaceous, 125 to 133 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Sandstone, shale, siltstone. Age: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 113 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Black-shale, sandstone, siltstone. Age: Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous, 94 to 113 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Black-shale. Age: Late Mississippian, 324 to 331 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Sandstone. Age: Early Cretaceous, 113 to 125 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Limestone. Age: Early Mississippian to Middle Mississippian, 331 to 359 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 6 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Raynesford reaches the Gulf of America by way of Big Otter Creek, Belt Creek, the Missouri and the Mississippi: about 3,310 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Lake Oahe, Lake Sakakawea, Lake Fort Peck and Lake Sharpe.
1,170 miles of the trip are on the Mississippi.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Raynesford; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
