USGS Logo Geological Survey Bulletin 1291
The Geologic Story of the Uinta Mountains

CONTENTS

Cover

Preface

Introduction

Geographic setting

The landscape and its attributes
   The Western Uinta Mountains
      Peaks and ridges
      Drainage basins
      Sculpture by moving ice
      Extent of the ice
      Rock-rubble deposits at high altitudes
   The Eastern Uinta Mountains
      Dutch John-Cold Spring highland
      Diamond Mountain highland
      Douglas Mountain highland
      Blue Mountain highland
      The great canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers
         Flaming Gorge to Browns Park
         Browns Park
         Lodore Canyon
         Yampa Canyon
         Whirlpool Canyon and Island Park
         Split Mountain Canyon
         How the canyons were formed
   Other drainage adjustments
      Weber, Provo, and Bear Rivers
      Rock Creek and the Duchesne River
      Glacial diversions on the north flank

Time and the rocks
   The old Uinta trough
   Precambrian time
   Paleozoic time: 570-225 million years ago
   Mesozoic time: 225-65 million years ago
   Cenozoic time: 65 million years ago to the present
      The Tertiary Period and the beginnings of the modern-day landscape

Geologic structure
   Folds
   Faults
   Crustal warping
   Quaternary crustal movements

What the future holds

Just a few words about the animals

References

Index (omitted from the online edition)




ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece. Turreted Red Castle
1. Regional geographic setting of the Uinta Mountains
2. The Uinta Mountains
3. Glacially sharpened Red Castle
4. Ice-sculptured peak at head of Rock Creek basin
5. Felsenmeer, valley of Yellowstone Creek
6. Glacial lake near the Duchesne-Bear River divide
7. Glaciations of the Uinta Mountains
8. Ice Age glaciers of the Uinta Mountains
9. Stillwater Fork of the Bear River
10. Brush Creek Gorge
11. Duchesne-Bear River divide
12. Debris-mantled slopes at the head of Blacks Fork
13. Active rock glacier
14. Major physiographic subdivisions of the Eastern Uinta Mountains
15. Stuntz Ridge, on the south flank of Blue Mountain
16. Graphic profile of the Green River
17. Flaming Gorge, viewed downstream
18. Red Canyon
19. Browns Park
20. Geologic section across Browns Park
21. Lodore Canyon from Douglas Mountain
22. West wall of Lodore Canyon
23. True-scale profiles of Lodore Canyon
24. Echo Park
25. Yampa Canyon
26. Whirlpool Canyon
27. View northeast from Harpers Corner
28. Island Park
29. Geologic section through Split Mountain
30. Split Mountain
31. Present distribution of the Browns Park Formation
32. Development of the Green River drainage system in Tertiary time
33. Drainage adjustment at Dutch John Gap
34. Drainage adjustments of the Weber and Provo Rivers
35. Development of Chalk Creek drainage
36. Minor stream capture at Windy Peak
37. Drainage adjustments of Rock Creek and the Duchesne River
38. Stream diversions by glacial obstructions
39. Rock formations of the Eastern Uinta Mountains
40. Contorted Red Creek Quartzite
41. Palisades of Sheep Creek
42. Geographic map of the United States in Middle Pennsylvanian time
43. Triassic rocks in Sheep Creek Canyon
44. Moenkopi Formation near Flaming Gorge
45. Glen Canyon Sandstone at Merkley Park
46. At the dinosaur quarry
47. Fossil ripple marks
48. Northeastern Utah and adjacent areas in Late Cretaceous time
49. Geographic map of the United States in Late Cretaceous time
50. The Glades, near Flaming Gorge
51. A well-preserved Eocene fish
52. The Bridger Formation
53. Structural "grain" of the region
54. Geologic cross section through the Western Uinta Mountains
55. Flat-lying strata at crest of the Uinta Mountains
56. Dipping strata at Sheep Creek Canyon
57. Generalized structure map of the Uinta Mountains
58. Geologic cross sections through the Eastern Uinta Mountains
59. Uinta fault
60. Dragged strata along Mitten Park fault
61. Crest fault
62. Goslin Mountain
63. Quaternary faults cutting glacial outwash

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

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Dallas L. Peck, Director

Library of Congress catalog-card No. GS 68—327

First printing 1969
Second printing 1975
Third printing 1983

"Above all it is the rocky region; rocks are strewn along the valley, over the plains and plateus; the cañon walls are of naked rock; long escarpments or cliffs of rock stand athwart the country, and everywhere are mountains of rock. It is the Rocky Mountain region."

Powell, 1876, Report on the Geology of the Eastern Portion of the Uinta Mountains"




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Last Updated: 18-Jan-2007