The Geologic Story of Colorado National Monument: Revised EditionLohman, Stanley William
Science
The Geologic Story of Colorado National Monument: Revised Edition
Lohman, Stanley William
Colorado National Monument (Colo.); Geology -- Colorado -- Colorado National Monument
[Illustration: LADDER CREEK MONOCLINE AND REDLANDS FAULT, telephoto
view looking northwest from point near Little Park Road east of the
Monument. No Thoroughfare Canyon in foreground, which is bordered on
the left by northeastward-dipping beds of Wingate Sandstone at
northwest end of Ladder Creek monocline. The old Serpents Trail, the
lower part of which is barely visible, ascends this dipping block of
rock. The dark Proterozoic rocks form the flat-topped bluff to the
right and are exposed by the Redlands fault which lies just above
the sharply upturned remnants of the Wingate Sandstone. (Fig. 29)]
[Illustration: LIZARD CANYON MONOCLINE, looking southeastward across
mouth of Lizard Canyon from southeasternmost loop of Rim Rock Drive
just before it ascends Fruita Canyon. Note gentle lower bend at
lower left and sharper upper one at upper right. Lower bend changes
to Kodels Canyon fault in Fruita Canyon behind camera station. Grand
Mesa forms left skyline. (Fig. 30)]
[Illustration: KODELS CANYON FAULT, looking northwest across mouth
of Fruita Canyon from point on Rim Rock Drive just described in
text. Here, along a normal fault dipping steeply northeastward, the
350-foot cliff of Wingate Sandstone at upper left has been sheared
and squeezed into only a few feet of broken rock overlain by a steep
slope of the Kayenta Formation covered by piñon and juniper. The
thinner cliff at right is the Entrada Sandstone which belongs high
atop the cliffs at left. Book Cliffs form distant skyline at right.
(Fig. 31)]
If you doubt that figure 31 shows a fault, a glance at figure 32 in the
next major canyon eight-tenths of a mile to the northwest should
convince you. Here, on the northwest side of Kodels Canyon, the Wingate
was not thinned but was rent completely asunder by the vertical Kodels
Canyon fault (fig. 32). Kodels Canyon is not readily accessible to
visitors.
The Lizard Canyon monocline, Kodels Canyon fault, and other structures
are clearly shown in the stereoscopic pair of aerial photographs in
figure 33.
Another structural feature within the Monument is the Glade Park fault
(fig. 8), which lies mainly south of the Monument but just cuts across
the south end of No Thoroughfare Canyon in the latest addition to the
Monument. It is well shown both from the air and the ground in figures
58 and 59. It is unique among all the major faults in the area in that
the rocks south of the fault subsided with respect to those on the north
side.
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