2007 UW ESS spring break field trip to

2007 UW ESS spring break field trip to southern Utah Jody Bourgeois--intro

Zion--UW spring break early 1980 s

Escalante -- UW spring break field trip c. 1990

Capitol Reef spring break UW camp Zion spring break UW camp

Capitol Reef Spring break UW hike c. 1990

THEMES • Mesozoic paleogeography – Mostly we’ll see Triassic and Jurassic rocks • Non-marine paleoenvironments • Surface processes

• Late Permian Paleogeography – – – Pangea [Utah at the far limit] Locally ~quiet tectonically Extreme environments shallow marine & eolian sediments Dott and Prothero

Triassic fluvial & playa sediments Moenkopi Permian limestone Cutler ~ Kaibab [eolian sediments below ~Coconino, other units in Canyonlands and Arches] Permo-Triassic boundary in Capitol Reef National Park

Permian non-marine sediments in southeastern Utah -- Canyonlands NP

• Triassic – Beginning westward plate motion • but no real evidence where we’ll be – Fluvial, playa & eolian sediments – Petrified forest Dott and Prothero

Shinarump [basal Chinle] Moenkopi

Moenkopi playa deposits Zion & Capitol Reef evaporites & ripples

Upper Triassic fluvial and eolian Chinle [petrified forest, painted desert] fluvial and paleosols Shinarump [basal Chinle] coarse fluvial conglomerate Moenkopi

Zion National Park Coal Pits Wash hike Petrified wood, base of Chinle

QUIZ

QUIZ Upper Triassic Chinle Shinarump Moenkopi

Triassic --> Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Zion National Park View from Angels Landing

• Jurassic – – – Plate tectonic setting similar to Triassic Sea level beginning to rise globally Mostly TONS OF eolian sediments Some shallow-marine incursions Famous dinosaur localities • [but we won’t see them] Dott and Prothero

Navajo Sandstone Escalante Canyon

giant eolian cross-bedding Zion National Park

possible Jurassic impact -- strong shaking -- mega-soft-sediment deformation

Dott and Prothero millions of years ago

Carmel Fm. Temple Cap Zion National Park

evaporite crystals [bedding plane] oyster fossils cyanobacterial mat lamination Carmel Fm, Zion NP

Henry Mountains [Tertiary laccoliths] Cretaceous Upper Jurassic

• Cretaceous – – – Sevier orogeny—major thrusting, uplift to west Cretaceous interior seaway in North America Fluvial sediments to west, marine to east Deltas and coal deposits Non-marine and marine reptiles Dott & Prothero

Cretaceous Mancos Shale, Utah

Cretaceous shallow-marine sediments near Price, Utah Cretaceous deltaic sediments "Book Cliffs" Utah

Capitol Reef National Park “Waterpocket fold” a Laramide monocline

Cenozoic non-marine sediments Bryce National Park

Bryce in March

Cenozoic volcanic cone, Zion National Park

Henry Mountains Utah Cenozoic laccoliths G. K. Gilbert, 1877

Cryptogamic soil Capitol Reef National Park x

Zion National Park "aerial" view from Angels Landing

Capitol Reef National Park

Navajo Upper Triassic red beds Chinle Shinarump Moenkopi Capitol Reef National Park

2007 UW ESS spring break field trip to southern Utah Waterpocket monocline, Capitol Reef National Park

LET'S GO! The Great Arch Zion National Park