[Illustration: KODELS CANYON FAULT, looking northwestward across canyon of same name. Base of Wingate cliff on left is just about opposite the top of the Wingate on right. Here, nature was kind to the geologist, for the vertical displacement (rise of left side with respect to right side) is virtually the thickness of the Wingate Sandstone—about 350 feet. The Wingate on the right is lighter colored than that on the left seemingly because rockfalls removed desert-varnish-coated rocks and exposed the true color of the sandstone. (Fig. 32)] [Illustration: GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES AT FRUITA ENTRANCE TO COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT. The stereoscopic pair of aerial photographs may be viewed without optical aids by those accustomed to this procedure, or by use of a simple double-lens stereoscope, such as the folding ones used by the armed forces during and after World War II. Geologic details may be identified by comparing photographs with the geologic map, figure 8. If viewer is unable to see stereoscopic pairs in three dimensions, looking at either photograph alone will convey a good idea of the geologic structure. The monocline near top of the photographs may be seen on the right-hand side of the highway in figure 43. Photographs taken in 1937 by U.S. Soil Conservation Service, hence, alinement of then unpaved Colorado Highway 340 differs from the paved present highway. (Fig. 33)] At this point in our story it might be well to point out that the folding and faulting of the rocks just described occurred when thousands of feet of younger rocks covered the area. Additional folding and faulting, drainage changes, and gradual removal of the overlying rocks occurred during the remainder of the Tertiary and Quaternary Periods, as will be discussed further. Nearby Lava Flows[30] Grand and Battlement Mesas, respectively east and northeast of the Monument, are capped by several resistant thick flows of dark basaltic lava. The molten rock welled up through fissures at the east end of Grand Mesa and flowed westward and northwestward over the eroded surface of Eocene rocks. Radiometric dating of a sample of the basalt indicated an age of 9½ million years plus or minus half a million years, placing the event in the Miocene Epoch of the Tertiary Period (fig. 61). A small remnant of the lava on the crest of the Roan Cliffs just southwest of the present town of Grand Valley indicates that the flows crossed this part of the ancestral Colorado River Valley and may have pushed the young stream westward. The lava flows are about 800 feet thick on the eastern part of Grand Mesa but are only about 200 feet thick above the western rim of the mesa. As the ancestral Gunnison River is believed to be pre-Miocene in age, it is not known whether or not the lava flows crossed the old river valley and reached as far west as the Monument.