USGS Logo Geological Survey Bulletin 1508
The Geologic Story of Colorado National Monument
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Preface

History of the Monument

Early history of the region
   Prehistoric people

Late arrivals
   Early settlement
   The Brown-Stanton river expedition
   Kodel's gold mine
   Recent cave dweller

Artesian wells

Geographic setting

The geologic story begins
   Ancient rocks and events
   A great gap in the rock record

The age of reptiles
   Early landscape
   Ancient sand dunes
   The rains came
   Another gap in the rock record
   The sea to the west
   Deposits and events east of the sea
   Dinosaurs roam the Monument
   Dinosaurs on the move
   Yet another gap in the rock record
   Peat bogs
   The sea covers the Plateau
   The sea's final retreat
   End of the dinosaurs

The age of mammals
   Early deposits and events
   Lake Uinta
   The mountains rise again
   Nearby lava flows
   Ancestral Colorado River
   Piracy on the high plateaus

The age of man
   The ice age
   Capture of East Creek
   Canyon cutting
   A look into the future

How to see the Monument

Trips through and around the Monument
   From Grand Junction through the Redlands to the West Entrance of the Monument
   From Fruita to the West Entrance of the Monument
   Through the Monument from West to East Entrances
   From the East Entrance to Grand Junction
   Through Glade Park from the northwest arm of Ute Canyon to Columbus Canyon
   From Glade Park to Grand Junction via the Little Park Road

Résumé of geologic history and relation to other National Parks and Monuments in the Colorado Plateau

Acknowledgments

References

Additional reading

Index (omitted from the online edition)


BALANCED ROCK, near head of Fruita Canyon. Spire and rock are Wingate Sandstone resting on red Chinle Formation; thin caprock is protective layer of resistant Kayenta Formation. (Frontispiece)


ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE

FRONTISPIECE. Balanced Rock
1. John Otto
2. John Otto's Monument
3. Map of Colorado National Monument
4. Petroglyphs
5. Cave
6. Independence Monument
7. Rock Column of Colorado National Monument
8. Geologic Map
9. Block diagrams of early Proterozoic events
10. Petrified sand dunes
11. The Coke Ovens
12. Red Canyon
13. Thin-bedded Kayenta Formation
14. Kayenta Formation
15. Gap in the rock record
16. Entrada Sandstone
17. Moab Member of Entrada Sandstone
18. Mottled salmon-and-white Slick Rock Member
19. White Entrada Sandstone
20. Summerville Formation
21. Morrison Formation
22. Excavating type specimen of Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs
23. Skeletons of typical dinosaurs of Morrison Formation
24. Burro Canyon Formation and Dakota Sandstone
25. Mount Garfield
26. Photo index map
27. Common types of rock folds
28. Common types of faults
29. Ladder Creek monocline and Redlands fault
30. Lizard Canyon monocline
31. Kodels Canyon fault
32. Kodels Canyon fault
33. Geologic structures at Fruita entrance to Colorado National Monument
34. Probable drainage patterns and land forms near the Monument at four successive stages of development
35. Fallen Rock
36. Unaweep Canyon
37. Redlands fault
38. Closeup of updragged Wingate Sandstone along Redlands fault
39. Bronze plaque and monument marking the discovery of Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs
40. Reverse part of Redlands fault
41. Northwest end of Redlands fault
42. Looking west into Monument Canyon
43. Looking west from divide on Broadway 2 miles east of West Entrance to Monument
44. New fill on Rim Rock Drive between two tunnels on west side of Fruita Canyon
45. Fruita Canyon
46. Campsites at north end of campground
47. Picnic area and parking lot
48. Window Rock
49. Pipe Organ
50. Visitor Center and the Saddlehorn
51. Independence Monument
52. Ute Canyon
53. Cold Shivers Point
54. Top of old Serpents Trail
55. Looking northeast from old Serpents Trail
56. South portal of tunnel through Wingate Sandstone
57. Devils Kitchen
58. Glade Park fault viewed from the ground
59. Glade Park fault viewed from the air
60. Ladder Creek monocline and Redlands fault
61. Geologic time spiral

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
JAMES G. WATT, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Doyle G. Frederick, Acting Director

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Lohman, Stanley William, 1907-
The geologic story of Colorado National Monument.
(Geological Survey Bulletin 1508)
Bibliography: p. 131
Includes index.
1. Geology—Colorado National Monument. 2. Colorado National Monument.
I. Title. It. Series: United States Geological Survey Bulletin 1508
QE75.B9 no. 1508 [QE92.C61 557.3s [557.88'17] 80—607952


<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

bul/1508/index.htm
Last Updated: 8-Jan-2007