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 Moab Valley Castle Valley 2 km (pop. 4,779) (pop. 349)
Castle Creek Pace Hill Seventh-Day Adventists Porcupine Rim Castle Valley 500 m
My house Cliffview Porcupine Rim Drive 100 m
Geologic Map Utah Geological Survey, Geological Map 180 (2001)
Geologic History Honaker Trail QUATERNARY Formation PENNSYLVANIAN Alluvial fan deposits Paradox Formation • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas, (salt deposits) low coastal plains Geyser Creek TERTIARY Unconformity Fanglomerate MISSISSIPIAN • Large unconformity between Cambrian La Sal Mountains (igneous) Leadville Limestone and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift Ouray Limestone • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation) Mesa Verde Group CRETACEOUS DEVONIAN Elbert Formation Mancos Shale SILURIAN Cedar Mountain Formation Unconformity Curtis Formation JURASSIC Entrada Sandstone Carmel Formation ORDOVICIAN Navajo Sandstone Kayenta Formation Wingate Sandstone Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone CAMBRIAN Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone Chinle Formation TRIASSIC Nonconformity Moenkopi Formation PRECAMBRIAN White Rim PERMIAN Precambrian Sandstone granite (igneous) Cutler Formation
Geologic History Honaker Trail QUATERNARY Formation PENNSYLVANIAN Alluvial fan deposits Paradox Formation • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas, (salt deposits) low coastal plains Geyser Creek TERTIARY Fanglomerate MISSISSIPIAN • Large unconformity between Cambrian La Sal Mountains (igneous) Leadville Limestone and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift Ouray Limestone • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation) Mesa Verde Group CRETACEOUS DEVONIAN Elbert Formation • Late Triassic through Jurassic: vast Mancos Shale arid desert of shifting sand dunes SILURIAN Cedar Mountain Formation Curtis Formation JURASSIC Entrada Sandstone Carmel Formation ORDOVICIAN Navajo Sandstone Kayenta Formation Wingate Sandstone Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone CAMBRIAN Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone Chinle Formation TRIASSIC Moenkopi Formation PRECAMBRIAN White Rim PERMIAN Precambrian Sandstone granite (igneous) Cutler Formation
Geologic History Honaker Trail QUATERNARY Formation PENNSYLVANIAN Alluvial fan deposits Paradox Formation • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas, (salt deposits) low coastal plains Geyser Creek TERTIARY Fanglomerate MISSISSIPIAN • Large unconformity between Cambrian La Sal Mountains (igneous) Leadville Limestone and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift Ouray Limestone • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation) Mesa Verde Group CRETACEOUS DEVONIAN Elbert Formation • Late Triassic through Jurassic: vast Mancos Shale arid desert of shifting sand dunes SILURIAN Cedar Mountain Formation Curtis Formation • Late Cretaceous to late Tertiary: JURASSIC Entrada Sandstone Carmel Formation ORDOVICIAN Navajo Sandstone violent crustal deformation (faults, Kayenta Formation uplifts, mountains) Wingate Sandstone Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone • Rockies created CAMBRIAN Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone Chinle Formation TRIASSIC Moenkopi Formation PRECAMBRIAN White Rim PERMIAN Precambrian Sandstone granite (igneous) Cutler Formation
Geologic History Honaker Trail QUATERNARY Formation PENNSYLVANIAN Alluvial fan deposits Paradox Formation • Precambrian to Triassic: shallow seas, (salt deposits) low coastal plains Geyser Creek TERTIARY Fanglomerate MISSISSIPIAN • Large unconformity between Cambrian La Sal Mountains (igneous) Leadville Limestone and late Devonian; Uncompahgre Uplift Ouray Limestone • Salt deposits (Paradox Formation) Mesa Verde Group CRETACEOUS DEVONIAN Elbert Formation • Late Triassic through Jurassic: vast Mancos Shale arid desert of shifting sand dunes SILURIAN Cedar Mountain Formation Curtis Formation • Late Cretaceous to late Tertiary: JURASSIC Entrada Sandstone Carmel Formation ORDOVICIAN Navajo Sandstone violent crustal deformation (faults, Kayenta Formation uplifts, mountains) Wingate Sandstone Lynch Dolomite Mauv Limestone • Rockies created CAMBRIAN Bright Angel Shale Tapeats Limestone Chinle Formation TRIASSIC • Late Tertiary: gradual uplift (one Moenkopi Formation mile) PRECAMBRIAN • Colorado River starts carving canyons White Rim PERMIAN Precambrian Sandstone granite (igneous) • Glaciers shaped La Sals Cutler Formation
Back to the Map
Back to the Map Cutler (Permian)
Back to the Map Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian)
Back to the Map Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian)
Back to the Map Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian)
Back to the Map Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate Castle Rock Priest and Nuns (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian) Photo by Louis James Maher, Jr. Alluvial channel!
Back to the Map Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian)
Back to the Map Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian) Photo by Louis James Maher, Jr.
Back to the Map Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian) Alluvial deposits
Back to the Map Granite (Tertiary intrusive) Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate (Jurassic) Chinle, Moenkopi (Triassic) Cutler (Permian) Alluvial deposits
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
Full T ransect • From southwest to northeast, crossing both Moab and Castle Valleys • Burkholder is an oil well Fisher Mesa TD 3,420 m Negro Bill Porcupine Priest and Nuns Burkholder Kings Bottom Canyon Rim Highway Butte Colorado Castle Professor 1-G-1 syncline US 191 Courthouse Jgc River Creek Creek syncline Jgc Moab Valley T R T Jgc Q R Q T R T R Jgc T P T R R P Moab Valley Castle Valley salt-cored salt-cored P anticline IPh anticline IPh IPp IPp Ml IPh IPp Ml Ml Ml Ml
• 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.
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