Geological Survey Bulletin 1393 The Geologic Story of Arches National Park

MANY REPORTS covering various aspects of the area have been cited in the text by author and year, and these plus a few additional ones are listed in "Selected References." A few works of general or special interest should be mentioned, however.

Between 1926 and 1929 the entire area now included in the park was mapped geologically in classic reports by Dane (1935) and by McKnight (1940). These men and their field assistants mapped the area by use of the plane-table and telescopic alidade without benefit of modern topographic maps or aerial photographs, except for topographic maps of the narrow stretch along the Colorado River mapped under the direction of Herron (1917). Only small sections could be reached by automobile, so nearly all the area was traversed using horses and mules or by hiking. This work plus mapping done in nearby areas to the south and to the north (Stokes, 1952) during the uranium boom of the mid-fifties was used by Williams (1964) in compiling a geologic map of the Moab quadrangle at a scale of 1:250,000.

Several early reports on the Colorado River and its potential utilization contain a wealth of information and many fine photographs, including two by La Rue (1916, 1925) and one by Follansbee (1929).

You may be interested in brief accounts of the geology of other national parks and monuments, or other areas of special interest, such as the reports on the Uinta Mountains by Hansen (1969), Mount Rainier by Crandell (1969), Yellowstone National Park by Keefer (1971), and ones by me on Colorado National Monument (Lohman, 1965) and Canyonlands National Park (1974).

For those who wish to learn more about the science of geology, I suggest the textbook by Gilluly, Waters, and Woodford (1968).

Acknowledgments

I AM GREATLY INDEBTED to Bates Wilson, former Superintendent, and to former Assistant Superintendent Joe Carithers, for their splendid cooperation in supplying data and information; to Chuck Budge, former Chief Ranger; Dave May, Assistant Chief of Interpretation and Resource Management; Joe Miller, former Maintenance Engineer; Bob Kerr, new Superintendent; Maxine Newell, Park Historian and member of the staff at Arches National Park; Jerry Banta, former Park Ranger at Arches; and Carl Mikesell, Park Ranger at Arches, for their many favors.

I am grateful to several colleagues and friends for the loan of photographs, for geologic help and data, and for reviewing this report. I am also deeply grateful to my wife, Ruth, for accompanying me on all the fieldwork and for her help and encouragement.

Selected References

Abbey, Edward, 1971, Desert solitaire, a season in the wilderness: New York, Ballantine Books, 303 p.

Baker, A. A., 1933, Geology and oil possibilities of the Moab district, Grand and San Juan Counties, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 841, 95 p.

Baker, Pearl, 1971, The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost: New York, Aberlard-Schuman, 224 p.

Beckwith, Frank, 1934, A group of petroglyphs near Moab, Utah: Santa Fe, N. Mex., El Palacio, v. 36, p. 177-178.

Breed, Jack, 1947, Utah's arches of stone: Natl. Geog. Mag., p. 173-192, August.

Case, J. E., and Joesting, H. R., 1972, Regional geophysical investigations in the central Colorado Plateau: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 736, 34 p.

Cater, F. W., 1970, Geology of the salt anticline region in southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 637, 80 p.

______. 1972, Salt anticlines within the Paradox Basin, in Geologic atlas of the Rocky Mountain region, United States of America: Denver, Colo., Rocky Mtn. Assoc. of Geologists, p. 137, 138, fig. 4.

Cleland, H. F., 1910, North American natural bridges, with a discussion of their origins: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 21, p. 313-338.

Crandell, D. R., 1969, The geologic story of Mt. Rainier: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1292, 43 p.

Dane, C. H., 1935, Geology of the Salt Valley anticline and adjacent areas, Grand County, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 863, 184 p.

Dellenbaugh, F. S., 1902, The romance of the Colorado River: New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 399 p. [reprinted 1962 by Rio Grande Press, Chicago, Ill.]

Everhart, W. C., 1972, The National Park Service, Praeger Library of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies No. 13: New York, Praeger Publishers, p. i-xii, 1-276.

Follansbee, Robert, 1929, Upper Colorado River and its utilization: U.S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 617, 394 p.

Gilluly, James, Waters, A. C., and Woodford, A. O., 1968, Principles of geology [3d ed.]: San Francisco, W. R. Freeman & Co., 685 p.

Hansen, W. R., 1969, The geologic story of the Uinta Mountains [with graphics by John R. Stacy]: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1291, 144 p.

Herron, W. R., 1917, Profile surveys in the Colorado River Basin in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico: U.S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 396, 6 p., 43 pls.

Hite, R. J., 1972, Pennsylvanian rocks, in Geologic atlas of the Rocky Mountain region, United States of America: Denver, Colo., Rocky Mtn. Assoc. of Geologists, p. 133-137.

Hite, R. J., and Lohman, S. W., 1973, Geologic appraisal of Paradox basin salt deposits for waste emplacement: U.S. Geol. Survey open-file report, 75 p.

Hunt, Alice, 1956, Archeology of southeastern Utah, in Geology and economic deposits of east-central Utah: Salt Lake City, Intermountain Assoc. of Petroleum Geologists, 7th Ann. Field Conf., p. 13-18.

Hunt, C. B., 1956, Cenozoic geology of the Colorado Plateau: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 279, 99 p.

______. 1969, Geologic history of the Colorado River, in The Colorado River region and John Wesley Powell: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 669, p. I-IV, 59-130.

Jennings, J. D., 1970, Canyonland—Aborigines: Naturalist, v. 21, Summer, Special Issue no. 2, p. 10-15.

Joesting, H. R., Case, J. E., and Plouff, Donald, 1966, Regional geophysical investigations of the Moab-Needles area, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 516—C, 21 p.

Keefer, W. R., 1971, The geologic story of Yellowstone National Park, illustrated by John R. Stacy: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1347, 92 p. [1972].

Lansford, Henry, 1972, Boatman in the desert, a passenger-carrying sternwheeler in canyon country: "Empire' [magazine of the Denver Post], Nov. 5, p. 18, 19.

La Rue, E. C., 1916, Colorado River and its utilization: U.S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 395, 231 p.

______. 1925, Water power and flood control of Colorado River below Green River, Utah, with a foreword by Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior, p. 1-100. [Appendix A, A report on water supply, by E. C. La Rue and G. F. Holbrook, p. 101-123; and Appendix B, A geologic report on the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon of Colorado River, by R. C. Moore, p. 125-171]: U.S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 556, 176 p.

Lohman, S. W., 1965, The geologic story of Colorado National Monument [with graphics by John R. Stacy]: Fruita, Colo., Colorado and Black Canyon Natural History Assoc., 56 p.

______ 1974, The geologic story of Canyonlands National Park, with graphics by John R. Stacy: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1327, 126 p.

McKnight, E. T., 1940, Geology of area between Green and Colorado Rivers, Grand and San Juan Counties, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 908, 147 p.

Ouellette, C. M., 1958, Over the top of Landscape Arch: Desert Mag., p. 13-16, March.

Pierson, Lloyd, 1960, Arches National Monument, in Geology of the Paradox basin fold and fault belt: Durango, Colo., Four Corners Geol. Soc. Guidebook, 3d Ann. Field Conf., p. 17-21.

Schaafsma, Polly, 1971, Rock art of Utah: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Univ., Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, v. 65, 169 p.

Stacy, J. R., 1962, Shortcut method for the preparation of shaded-relief illustrations, in Short papers in geology, hydrology, and topography 1962: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 450—D, p. D164-D165.

Stokes, W. L., 1952, Uranium-vanadium deposits of the Thompsons area, Grand County, Utah, with emphasis on the origin of carnotite ores: Utah Geol. and Mineralogical Survey Bull. 46, 51 p., December.

______. 1970, Canyonlands—Geology: Naturalist, v. 21, Summer, Special Issue no. 2, p. 3-9.

Walters, H. H., 1956, Pacific Northwest Pipeline—The scenic inch, in Geology and economic deposits of east-central Utah: Salt Lake City, Intermountain Assoc. of Petroleum Geologists, p. 169-170.

Williams, P. L., 1964, Geology, structure, and uranium deposits of the Moab quadrangle, Colorado and Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Inv. Map I—360.

Wilson, B. E., 1956, Arches National Monument, in Geology and economic deposits of east-central Utah: Salt Lake City, Intermountain Assoc. of Petroleum Geologists, 7th Ann. Field Conf., p. 50-51.

Wright, J. C., Shawe, D. R., and Lohman, S. W., 1962, Definition of members of the Jurassic Entrada Sandstone in east-central Utah and west-central Colorado: Bull. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists, v. 46, no. 11, p. 2057-2070.