Vicksburg National Military Park: Geologic and Soil Resources Inventory Summary
KellerLynn K. 2025. Vicksburg National Military Park: Geologic and Soil Resources Inventory Summary. National Park Service
This document summarizes the status of the National Park Service (NPS) Geologic and Soil Resources Inventory (GSRI) for Vicksburg National Military Park (VICK). It provides information on geologic and soil resource management needs. This document is intended to assist park staff with prioritizing technical assistance requests and/or inventory and assessment funding proposals. From oldest to youngest, geologic heritage values at VICK include fossils—the oldest of which are from the Paleozoic Era (539 million to 252 million years ago) and contained within pre-loess terrace deposits; stratotypes (reference rock exposures) that are approximately 32 million years old (Oligocene Epoch); the establishment of the Mississippi River system, which is recognized by the deposition of sediment into the Gulf of Mexico, between about 23 million and 5 million years ago (Miocene Epoch); loess—two studies provide ages for the timing of deposition: 28,000–23,000 years ago or 25,860–19,670 years ago; and travertine, including cave-like flowstone and dripstone. In historic times, geologic heritage values include the uses of bedrock, which began as early as the 1830s; notable scientists, who began exploring the area in ca. 1845; the USS Cairo, which started to be buried by sediment in 1862; commemorative stones, the first of which was placed in 1864; floods, including the 1876 flood that diverted the Mississippi River away from Vicksburg; and diversion of the Yazoo River, completed in 1903. Inventory needs related to geologic heritage values include (1) paleontological inventories of the Champion Hill Unit and the Raymond and Port Gibson Battlefields, (2) cave and archeological assessment of the (possible) Mint Spring rock shelter, (3) geologic inventory of commemorative stones, (4) inventory of quarries, (5) plan for the preservation of the Mint Spring Formation type section, (6) plan for the preservation of earthworks, and (7) inventory of travertine exposures (i.e., former waterfalls). Needs for resource management include (1) compilation of Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEG) Mississippi Geological Survey source maps into the GRI GIS data model, (2) development of a working definition and understanding of loess for resource management, (3) development of a loess landscape conceptual model, (4) compilation of groundwater data, (5) inventory of springs and seeps, (6) analysis and application of the VICK landslide inventory data, (7) erosion management plan, and (8) inventory and monitoring plan for soil moisture and nutrients.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- KellerLynn, Katie
- Date of Issue
- 2025-07
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRI , GULN , SER , SRI , VICK
- Keywords
- Alluvial Plain, Alluvium, Backswamp, Benjamin L. C. Wailes, Catahoula Formation, Champion Hill, Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Charles Lyell, Commemorative Stones, Cut-Off Channel, Earthworks, Erosion, Floods, Fossils, Geologic Features, Geologic Hazards, Geologic Heritage, Geologic History, Geologic Processes, Glass Bayou, Grant’s Canal, GSRI, Hattiesburg Formation, John Wesley Powell, Landslide Inventory, Lidar, Loess, Loess Bluffs, Loess Landscape, Mint Spring Bayou, Mint Spring Formation, Mississippi River, Port Gibson Battlefield, Pre-Loess Terrace Deposits, Raymond Battlefield, Rock Shelter, Stratotype, Timothy Abbott Conrad, Travertine, Type Section, USS Cairo, Vicksburg Group, Yazoo River Diversion Canal
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Windblown Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Glacial Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Hillslope Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Stream/River Channel Characteristics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Lake Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Cave/Karst Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Seismic Activity , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology