Title: Charles-Alexandre Lesueur in Missouri: 1826
By Walter A. Schroeder, June 2003
Link: https://motrailoftears.com/library/monographs/charles-alexandre-lesueur-in-missouri-1826/
A Geological Summary of the Journal of the Voyage of Charles-Alexandre Lesueur from Harmony, Indiana to Southern Missouri in 1826. The area traversed by Lesueur on his trip to Missouri in 1826 included the geologic extremes of the Mississippi Embayment, a deep structural basin still experiencing major earthquakes, and the Ozark structural dome where some of the oldest rocks of the United States are exposed. The Ozark dome, the goal of Lesueur’s journey, is one of the richest metalliferous regions of the United States.
Abundant Karst Landscapes – As carbonate rocks, both limestones and dolomites are soluble. The extremely long, continuous period of subaerial erosion since the close of the Paleozoic Era has permitted huge underground voids to be created. The Ordovician formations are associated with extensive karst landscapes. Though Lesueur did not pass by any major cave, he noted a natural bridge (42 127 recto and dessins 42 034 en bas and 42 035), streams that disappeared underground (42 124 verso: ravins dont plusieurs se perdent sous terre), and several sinkholes (42 124 recto: plusieurs trous infundihuliformes). (More about Missouri’s Karst Topography)
By Walter A. Schroeder, June 2003
Notes: There’s still a little bit of work to be done on this monograph. My next steps are to clean up the French language; there are missing diacriticals – And then I’ll put more explanatory graphics and text in to demystify the geological stuff, for those of us that aren’t professional geologists because we need to understand the importance of what is being discussed by the author and how it relates to this area. Because thousands of Cherokee were to pass through this area just eleven years later. I am also desperately trying to find the text of the original Charles-Alexandre Lesueur journal. If you have a link to the journal please share it with me at Chris.Dunn@GeoVelo.com
If you have any suggestions, comments, or critiques please email Chris.Dunn@GeoVelo.com
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