Stratigraphic diagram of Middle Jurassic San Rafael group and associated formations from the San Rafael swell to Bluff in southeastern Utah

10.3133/oc119 ◽  
1983 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell

scholarly journals Spectacular crinkled crust—A detachment fold train in the Carmel Formation, western San Rafael Swell, Utah

Geosites ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Thomas Chidsey ◽  
Paul Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Structural Geology ◽  
Structural Feature ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Original Position ◽  
East Central ◽  
Convex Upward ◽  
Detachment Fold ◽  
Complex Structural ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell

Imagine slipping on a small rug overlying a hardwood floor. In the process of sliding along the floor the rug produces a series of small folds and the rug moves forward from its original position. The same could be said for the “crinkled crust,” or folded layers of rocks in a detachment fold train. A spectacular detachment fold train, consisting of over 100 small, regularly spaced convex-upward folds called anticlines in gypsum-rich rock layers of the Middle Jurassic (about 168 million years ago [Ma]) Carmel Formation, is exposed immediately north of Interstate 70 (I-70) in the San Rafael Swell of east-central Utah (figures 1 and 2). The SanRafael Swell, a large anticlinal uplift, is an icon for everything that makes the Colorado Plateau dramatically scenic and geologically classic. However, the fold train is located in drab-colored, relatively featureless rock layers of the Carmel Formation in an area called Reed Wash along the gently dipping west flank of the Swell. After passing magnificent canyons, buttes, and mesas both to the east and west along I-70, the fold train typically goes unnoticed by not only the average tourist but geologists as well. Once the fold train is pointed out, the geologic observer is immediately struck with awe at this large, well-exposed, complex structural feature. Literally hundreds of classic geologic sites are well displayed in the San Rafael Swell; many are easily accessed overlooks and viewpoints. The detachment fold train, by contrast, is chosen as a geosite for its geologic uniqueness, educational instruction, and research opportunities in structural geology.

Upper Triassic lithostratigraphy, depositional systems, and vertebrate paleontology across southern Utah

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 99-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Martz ◽  
James I. Kirkland ◽  
Andrew R.C. Milner ◽  
William G. Parker ◽  
Vincent L. Santucci
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Zion National Park ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
Depositional Systems ◽  
Wingate Sandstone ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Petrified Forest ◽  
Moenave Formation

The Chinle Formation and the lower part of the overlying Wingate Sandstone and Moenave Formation were deposited in fluvial, lacustrine, paludal, and eolian environments during the Norian and Rhaetian stages of the Late Triassic (~230 to 201.3 Ma), during which time the climate shifted from subtropical to increasingly arid. In southern Utah, the Shinarump Member was largely confined to pre-Chinle paleovalleys and usually overprinted by mottled strata. From southeastern to southwestern Utah, the lower members of the Chinle Formation (Cameron Member and correlative Monitor Butte Member) thicken dramatically whereas the upper members of the Chinle Formation (the Moss Back, Petrified Forest, Owl Rock, and Church Rock Members) become erosionally truncated; south of Moab, the Kane Springs beds are laterally correlative with the Owl Rock Member and uppermost Petrified Forest Member. Prior to the erosional truncation of the upper members, the Chinle Formation was probably thickest in a southeast to northwest trend between Petrified Forest National Park and the Zion National Park, and thinned to the northeast due to the lower Chinle Formation lensing out against the flanks of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, where the thickness of the Chinle is largely controlled by syndepositional salt tectonism. The Gartra and Stanaker Members of the Ankareh Formation are poorly understood Chinle Formation correlatives north of the San Rafael Swell. Osteichthyan fish, metoposaurid temnospondyls, phytosaurids, and crocodylomorphs are known throughout the Chinle Formation, although most remains are fragmentary. In the Cameron and Monitor Butte Members, metoposaurids are abundant and non-pseudopalatine phytosaurs are known, as is excellent material of the paracrocodylomorph Poposaurus; fragmentary specimens of the aetosaurs Calyptosuchus, Desmatosuchus, and indeterminate paratypothoracisins were probably also recovered from these beds. Osteichthyans, pseudopalatine phytosaurs, and the aetosaur Typothorax are especially abundant in the Kane Springs beds and Church Rock Member of Lisbon Valley, and Typothorax is also known from the Petrified Forest Member in Capitol Reef National Park. Procolophonids, doswelliids, and dinosaurs are known but extremely rare in the Chinle Formation of Utah. Body fossils and tracks of osteichthyans, therapsids, crocodylomorphs, and theropods are well known from the lowermost Wingate Sandstone and Moenave Formation, especially from the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm.

Tracking dinosaurs in BLM canyon country, Utah

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 67-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
ReBecca K. Hunt-Foster ◽  
Martin G. Lockley ◽  
Andrew R.C. Milner ◽  
John R. Foster ◽  
Neffra A. Matthews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Salt Tectonics ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Paradox Basin ◽  
Cedar Mountain Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Biological History

Although only recognized as a discrete stratigraphic unit since 1944, the Cedar Mountain Formation represents tens of millions of years of geological and biological history on the central Colorado Plateau. This field guide represents an attempt to pull together the results of recent research on the lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy of these medial Mesozoic strata that document the dynamic and complex geological history of this region. Additionally, these data provide a framework by which to examine the history of terrestrial faunas during the final breakup of Pangaea. In fact, the medial Mesozoic faunal record of eastern Utah should be considered a keystone in understanding the history of life across the northern hemisphere. Following a period of erosion and sediment bypass spanning the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, sedimentation across the quiescent Colorado Plateau began during the Early Cretaceous. Thickening of these basal Cretaceous strata across the northern Paradox Basin indicate that salt tectonics may have been the predominant control on deposition in this region leading to the local preservation of fossiliferous strata, while sediment bypass continued elsewhere. Thickening of overlying Aptian strata west across the San Rafael Swell provides direct evidence of the earliest development of a foreland basin with Sevier thrusting that postdates geochemical evidence for the initial development of a rain shadow.

Tracking dinosaurs in BLM canyon country, Utah

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 67-100
Author(s):  
ReBecca Hunt-Foster ◽  
Martin Lockley ◽  
Andrew Milner ◽  
John Foster ◽  
Neffra Matthews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Salt Tectonics ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Paradox Basin ◽  
Cedar Mountain Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Biological History

Although only recognized as a discrete stratigraphic unit since 1944, the Cedar Mountain Formation represents tens of millions of years of geological and biological history on the central Colorado Plateau. This field guide represents an attempt to pull together the results of recent research on the lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy of these medial Mesozoic strata that document the dynamic and complex geological history of this region. Additionally, these data provide a framework by which to examine the history of terrestrial faunas during the final breakup of Pangaea. In fact, the medial Mesozoic faunal record of eastern Utah should be considered a keystone in understanding the history of life across the northern hemisphere. Following a period of erosion and sediment bypass spanning the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, sedimentation across the quiescent Colorado Plateau began during the Early Cretaceous. Thickening of these basal Cretaceous strata across the northern Paradox Basin indicate that salt tectonics may have been the predominant control on deposition in this region leading to the local preservation of fossiliferous strata, while sediment bypass continued elsewhere. Thickening of overlying Aptian strata west across the San Rafael Swell provides direct evidence of the earliest development of a foreland basin with Sevier thrusting that postdates geochemical evidence for the initial development of a rain shadow.

The Lower Cretaceous in east-central Utah—The Cedar Mountain Formation and its bounding strata

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 101-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Kirkland ◽  
Marina Suarez ◽  
Celina Suarez ◽  
ReBecca Hunt-Foster
Keyword(s):  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Salt Tectonics ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Paradox Basin ◽  
Cedar Mountain Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Biological History

Although only recognized as a discrete stratigraphic unit since 1944, the Cedar Mountain Formation represents tens of millions of years of geological and biological history on the central Colorado Plateau. This field guide represents an attempt to pull together the results of recent research on the lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy of these medial Mesozoic strata that document the dynamic and complex geological history of this region. Additionally, these data provide a framework by which to examine the history of terrestrial faunas during the final breakup of Pangaea. In fact, the medial Mesozoic faunal record of eastern Utah should be considered a keystone in understanding the history of life across the northern hemisphere. Following a period of erosion and sediment bypass spanning the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, sedimentation across the quiescent Colorado Plateau began during the Early Cretaceous. Thickening of these basal Cretaceous strata across the northern Paradox Basin indicate that salt tectonics may have been the predominant control on deposition in this region leading to the local preservation of fossiliferous strata, while sediment bypass continued elsewhere. Thickening of overlying Aptian strata west across the San Rafael Swell provides direct evidence of the earliest development of a foreland basin with Sevier thrusting that postdates geochemical evidence for the initial development of a rain shadow.

REACTIVE FLUID EXPULSION DURING PROGRESSIVE DEFORMATION IN THE FOLD LIMB OF THE SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH, USA

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Sundal ◽  
◽  
Elizabeth Petrie ◽  
Helge Hellevang ◽  
Ivar Midtkandal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Progressive Deformation ◽  
Reactive Fluid ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document