Geology of Castle Valley, Utah Kiri Wagstaff Geology 320 December - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Geology of Castle Valley, Utah Kiri Wagstaff Geology 320 December - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Geology of Castle Valley, Utah Kiri Wagstaff Geology 320 December 6, 2005 Where is Castle Valley? Southeastern Utah 20 miles east of Moab, UT along the Colorado River Canyon Country Round Arches N.P . Mountain Colorado River

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Geology of Castle Valley, Utah

Kiri Wagstaff Geology 320 December 6, 2005

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Where is Castle Valley?

  • Southeastern Utah
  • 20 miles east of

Moab, UT along the Colorado River

  • Canyon Country
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Moab Valley

(pop. 4,779)

Castle Valley

(pop. 349) Colorado River Round Mountain Arches N.P .

2 km

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Castle Valley

Porcupine Rim

Seventh-Day Adventists Pace Hill Castle Creek

500 m

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Porcupine Rim

Cliffview Drive My house

100 m

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Geologic Map

Utah Geological Survey, Geological Map 180 (2001)

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Geologic History

  • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas,

low coastal plains

  • Large unconformity between Cambrian

and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift

  • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation)

MISSISSIPIAN PRECAMBRIAN CAMBRIAN ORDOVICIAN SILURIAN DEVONIAN PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY PENNSYLVANIAN Precambrian granite (igneous) Paradox Formation (salt deposits) Chinle Formation Moenkopi Formation Wingate Sandstone Kayenta Formation Navajo Sandstone Carmel Formation Entrada Sandstone Curtis Formation Cedar Mountain Formation Mancos Shale Mesa Verde Group Geyser Creek Fanglomerate White Rim Sandstone Cutler Formation Honaker Trail Formation Leadville Limestone Ouray Limestone Elbert Formation Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone La Sal Mountains (igneous) QUATERNARY Alluvial fan deposits

Unconformity Unconformity Nonconformity

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Geologic History

  • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas,

low coastal plains

  • Large unconformity between Cambrian

and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift

  • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation)
  • Late Triassic through Jurassic: vast

arid desert of shifting sand dunes

MISSISSIPIAN PRECAMBRIAN CAMBRIAN ORDOVICIAN SILURIAN DEVONIAN PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY PENNSYLVANIAN Precambrian granite (igneous) Paradox Formation (salt deposits) Chinle Formation Moenkopi Formation Wingate Sandstone Kayenta Formation Navajo Sandstone Carmel Formation Entrada Sandstone Curtis Formation Cedar Mountain Formation Mancos Shale Mesa Verde Group Geyser Creek Fanglomerate White Rim Sandstone Cutler Formation Honaker Trail Formation Leadville Limestone Ouray Limestone Elbert Formation Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone La Sal Mountains (igneous) QUATERNARY Alluvial fan deposits

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Geologic History

  • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas,

low coastal plains

  • Large unconformity between Cambrian

and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift

  • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation)
  • Late Triassic through Jurassic: vast

arid desert of shifting sand dunes

  • Late Cretaceous to late Tertiary:

violent crustal deformation (faults, uplifts, mountains)

  • Rockies created

MISSISSIPIAN PRECAMBRIAN CAMBRIAN ORDOVICIAN SILURIAN DEVONIAN PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY PENNSYLVANIAN Precambrian granite (igneous) Paradox Formation (salt deposits) Chinle Formation Moenkopi Formation Wingate Sandstone Kayenta Formation Navajo Sandstone Carmel Formation Entrada Sandstone Curtis Formation Cedar Mountain Formation Mancos Shale Mesa Verde Group Geyser Creek Fanglomerate White Rim Sandstone Cutler Formation Honaker Trail Formation Leadville Limestone Ouray Limestone Elbert Formation Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone La Sal Mountains (igneous) QUATERNARY Alluvial fan deposits

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Geologic History

  • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas,

low coastal plains

  • Large unconformity between Cambrian

and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift

  • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation)
  • Late Triassic through Jurassic: vast

arid desert of shifting sand dunes

  • Late Cretaceous to late Tertiary:

violent crustal deformation (faults, uplifts, mountains)

  • Rockies created
  • Late Tertiary: gradual uplift (one

mile)

  • Colorado River starts carving canyons
  • Glaciers shaped La Sals

MISSISSIPIAN PRECAMBRIAN CAMBRIAN ORDOVICIAN SILURIAN DEVONIAN PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY PENNSYLVANIAN Precambrian granite (igneous) Paradox Formation (salt deposits) Chinle Formation Moenkopi Formation Wingate Sandstone Kayenta Formation Navajo Sandstone Carmel Formation Entrada Sandstone Curtis Formation Cedar Mountain Formation Mancos Shale Mesa Verde Group Geyser Creek Fanglomerate White Rim Sandstone Cutler Formation Honaker Trail Formation Leadville Limestone Ouray Limestone Elbert Formation Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone La Sal Mountains (igneous) QUATERNARY Alluvial fan deposits

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Back to the Map

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Back to the Map

Cutler (Permian)

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Back to the Map

Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian)

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Back to the Map

Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian)

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Back to the Map

Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Cutler (Permian) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic)

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Back to the Map

Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Alluvial channel! Cutler (Permian) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic)

Photo by Louis James Maher, Jr.

Castle Rock Priest and Nuns

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Back to the Map

Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Cutler (Permian) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic)

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Back to the Map

Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Cutler (Permian) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic)

Photo by Louis James Maher, Jr.

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Back to the Map

Alluvial deposits Cutler (Permian) Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic)

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Back to the Map

Alluvial deposits Cutler (Permian) Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic)

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Castle Valley: A Salt Valley

  • How do salt valleys form?
  • Salt layers laid down in the Pennsylvanian, then buried
  • Weight of rock causes salt layers to flow (slowly)
  • Flows meet rock ridges, pile up and flow upward,

forming salt domes (up to 4500 m thick)

  • Much later, in the Tertiary, gradual regional uplift caused

Colorado River to start cutting its channel. It reached the salt layers, dissolved the top ones, and the caprock settled downward.

  • Further erosion by the Colorado River will likely cause

valleys (all eight) to settle further in the future

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Full T ransect

  • From southwest to northeast, crossing both Moab

and Castle Valleys

  • Burkholder is an oil well

Jgc

Q

P IPh

T R

IPp T

R

IPh P

Jgc Jgc

T

R

IPp

Ml Ml

P IPh IPp

T R Jgc T R T R Q Ml Ml Ml

Kings Bottom syncline Colorado River Moab Valley Highway US 191 Courthouse syncline Negro Bill Canyon TD 3,420 m Burkholder 1-G-1 Porcupine Rim Castle Creek Priest and Nuns Butte Professor Creek Fisher Mesa Moab Valley salt-cored anticline Castle Valley salt-cored anticline

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  • Formation my house is built on:
  • Qaf: Alluvial-fan deposits
  • Poorly sorted, angular to subrounded

gravel, containing cobbles and sparse boulders, in crudely bedded to unstratified granules, sand, silt, and clay matrix; cut-and-fill channel features locally present; deposited at the foot of mountains, cliffs, and at the mouths of streams; thickness commonly less than 15 meters (50 ft); Holocene to late Pleistocene.