CONTENTS VII

Page
FIGURE 85. Index map showing the principal physical fea tures of Utah and their relation to the H en ry Mountains _____ ___ 167
86. Profiles of lan d (orms in the H enry Mountains _ _ __ _ ___ ____ __ _ _____ ___ ___ _ __ _____ _ ___ _ ____ __ __ ___ _____ __ 169
87. Vertical view of the Colorado River below Hite__ _______ __________________________ ____ _____ __ ___ ____ __ __ 171
88. View of an alcove arch______ __ ___ ______________________________ _________ _______ __ _________ __ ___ ___ __ 171
g9. Profiles illustrating shapes of laterally cut arches_ _ _ ___ _ ___ __ __ __ ____ __ __ ___ __ ___ ___ ____ _ _ __ ___ ___ ____ __ 172
90. Vertical view of the south half of P esbliki Mesa _ _______________________________ ________ ___ _________ ____ 173
91. Views in the desert east of Mount Ellen. A, Pediment along Seep Wash. B, Morrison-Summerville escarpment.
C, Small gravel-free pedimen ts in Entrada sandstone. D , Trachyte Creek. above the ranch _ _ _ ___ _________ 176
92. View of Brigham Butte_____ _____ _______ __ _______ ___ ____ ___ ____ __ ___ ___ _____ __ _________ _____ _______ __ 177
93. Vertical view of sand dunes in the Green River DeserL _______ ____ ______ ___ ___ ____ _______ _____________ __ 178
94. Vertical view of Capitol Reef____________________ ________________ ___ ___ ___ _______________ __ _____ ______ 179
95. Views along the hogba'Ck ridges. A, The west flank of the Henry Mountains structural basin. B, The R eef of the
San Rafael Swell. CI View along Halls Creek and the \Vaterpocket Fold_ _________________________ _____ _ 180
96. View of Boulder Canyon _______________ _____ ____________________ ___ ___ _______ _______ ________________ _ 181
97. Vertical view of the Waterpocket Fold ________ _____________ _______ ___ _______ __________ ____ ____________ 182
98. Views in the badlands and mesa areas. A, View north from Stephens Mesa. B. Badlands jn the Morrison
formation. C, Badlands in the upper part of the Ferron sandstone_____________________ __ ______ ________ 183
99. Vert ical view of South Caineville Mesa ______________________ __ ___ _________ ___ _______________ __________ 185
100. Badlands ruong Sand Creck______ ________ ____________ ______________ ___ __________ ___ __ __________ _____ _ 186
101. View across the head of Fourmile CreeL ____ ______________ _._____________________ _____________________ _ 189
102. View of a dike on East Spur, Mount Holmes__ ____ __________ ___________________ ______ ___ _____ __________ 189
103. Gravel-covered ped iments at the foot of Mount Ellen. AI Birch Creek Benches. B, Dugout Creek Benches_ _ 193
104. Oblique view of the Cedar Creek Bench_ _____ _________________ ___ ___ ___ ___ ________________ ____ ________ 194
105. Oblique view of the benches at the mouth of Bull Creek___ ______ _______ _____ __ ____________ __ __ _____ ____ _ 196
106. Map and profile of Bull Creek and tributaries north of Fairview_________________ _______ ___ _____ _________ _ 197
107. Map showing gravel deposits and drainage in the vicinity of Trachyte ranch _____ ______ __ ____ ______________ 198
108. Oblique view of the sou thwest side of Mount Hillers _______________ ___________ _.:______________ _______ ___ 200
109. })ediments in the southern part of the basin. A, Pediments near the head of Thompson Canyon. B , Pediment
near Cow Seep. C, Pediment near Los t Spring. D, Star Creek Benches__________ ________ _____ _________ 201
110. Oblique view of the southeast side of Mount Ellsworth ___________ _______ __ ________________________ ___ ___ 203
111. Cross section of a greasewood mound ___ ___ .. __ __ _________________________________ _________________ _____ 206
112. Profiles across Fremont River to show the amount of erosion since 1897_ ________ _______________________ ___ 208
113. Views of Pleasant Creek before arroyo cutting and at present- ___ ________________ ___ __ ___ ____ __________ __ 209
114. Views of stream channels. A, 1896 channel of Fremont River, B, 1939 channel of Fremon t River. C. McClellan
Wash, 55 ft below Nazer Creek. D, Two alluvial deposits in Sweetwater Creek____ __ ______ _______________ 210
115. Map and view of the alluvial deposits at Blueval1ey_____ ____________ ______________ _____________ ___ ___ ___ 211
116. A, Map of the crosscut at the Bromide mine. B, Map of t he Kimbel-Turner mine_ _____________________ ___ 219

TABLES
Page
1. Derivation of place names in the Henry Mountains region __ __ _______ ___________ _______________________ _____ ______ 21
2. Mont.hly and annual mean temperatures at Hanksville, Utah, since 1920_______________________ ______ _______ ______ _ 25
3. Mon thl y and annual precipi tation, in inches, at Hanksville, Utah, since 1920 __ _____ _______________________ ___ ______ 25
4. Annual rainfv.ll in inches at Giles, Rite, and Hank sville, 1895-1938__ __________________________ _______________ _____ 26
5. Some plants in the Henry Mountains region and the plant formations in which they have been recognized ________ __ ____ 28
6. Estimated volumes of some of the intrusions in the Henry Mountains_ __ ________ ___ __________ _________ ________ ___ __ 144
7. Analyses of igneous rocks in the H enry Mountains, Utah_ ___ ___ ___ __________ __ ___________________ _______ ________ _ 154
8. Statist ical Rtudy of inclusions in float in Gold Creek, Mount Hillers, by E. Ingerson and E. F. Osborn ________ _______ __ 161
9. Analyses of coal from t.he Henry ]\'I ountains region_ __________ ________ __ ______________ ________________ ______ _____ 218
The distant Henry Mountains, SUlTounded by dissected plateau country, "are similar among themselves In constitutlon. They all exhibit dome-like uplifts; they all contain Intrusive rocks; and thcir Intrusive
rocks are all of ODe lithologic type. They are moreover quite by themselves; the surrounding country is dissimilar In structure, and there is no gradation nor mingling of·churacter. Thus similar and thus
Isolated It Is natural to regard the mountains as closely relnted in origin, to refer to their trachytes to a common source, and to look for homology in all their parts. It was the soarch for such homology wlliCQ
led to the hypothesis t hat the laccollte is the domipant element of their structure. "-G . K. GUbert, Geology of the Henry Mountains, 1877. Photograph by :fairchild Aerial Survoys.
 INTRODUCTION
Folding in the Henry Mountains structura l basill apparently
has not been renewed since the basin was formed during late
Cretaceous or early Eocene time . After the basin was formed the
Colorado Pla.teaus as a. whole, including t he structural basin ,
were uplifted. This uplift probably began in late Eocene to
early Miorene t ime but was I'Cnewed in termi tten tly throug h late
Te rtiary time and pe rl.laps even into Quate rna ry time. Integra-
tion of the Colorado Ri ver system seems to date from the early
sttl4:,tes of uplift of the Colorado Plateaus. Glen Canyon, the
yo ungest of the canyons along the Colorado Ri ver, was cut after
the in trusions, of probable mid-Tertiary age, had formed the
Henry Mountains.
'Vater, always a vitally important reso urce, is scarce; only a
few streams are perenn ial, and, except for the Colorado Rive r,
their discharge is slllali and their flow is irregula r. Springs are
few and aU are small. T he Henry Mou ntains structural basin
contains deep artesian water but the quant.i ty an d quality are
highly uncertain.
T he prospects for oil or gas produ ction fro m the structura1
basin are unfavorable unless the uplifts a re rejuvenated ancient
folds, in which caso some Pennsylvanian and pre-Pennsylvanian
formations may be cut off by overlap and provide stratigraphie
traps for the accumu lation of petroleum.
Coal of high volatile bituminous rank is exte nsi ve. There
are minor fiss ure deposits of gold and coppe r in the Mount Ellen
and Mount PenneiJ stocks. Placer gold occurs in the fanglomer-
a te de posited by those streams that now drain or ha ve draine d
from the stocks and a1so in the gra vel terraces along the Colorado
River. Vaoadi urn deposits occur in the lower part of the Mor-
rison formati on and in the Shinarump conglomerate . These
various de posits have been extensively prospected but produ ction
has been small.
The agriculture and timber resources of the region are not
important; no doubt the chie f use for the land will cont.inue to be
for stock grazing. The recreational possibilities of the region
have not been developed.
INTRODUCTION
The Henry Mountains in southeastern Utah, were
visited by Grove Karl Gilbert in 1875 a.nd 1876. His
report, one of the classics of geological literat,ure, was
the first to r ecognize that intrusive bodies may deform
the host rocks, and the first to show clenrly the signifi-
cance of the evenly eroded plains, now known as pedi-
ments, at the foot of desert mountains. The brilliance
of Gilbert's report has been a cknowledged by wide-
spread interest manifested in it by geologists throughout
the world, assuredly the highest form of tribute that
science can pay for iUl outstanding contribution. For
more than 60 years the Henry Mountains ha ve been
referred to in the gcologicalliterature of every language
and are one of the localities most widely known to the
science. No geologist Deeds to be introduced to them.
The opportunity to make a modern survey of the
region arose in the course of the Geological Survey's
program for geologic mapping of southeastern Utah .
The present report giving the results of tbe survey is
one of a series of Geological Survey reports (Bull. 793,
806-0,819, 841 , 863, 852, 908, 951, and Prof. Papers
3
164 and 188), mostly based on plane-table surveying,
that now covers practically all of the southenstern part
of the state.
The area described in this r eport (fig. I ) includes the
Henry Mountains iUld all of the surrounding s tructural
basin, except the southernmost part that lies south
of the Colorado River. It includes parts of Emery,
Wayne, Garfield, and Kane Counties. The area is
bounded on the eas t by the Colorado River and its
tributary, the Dirty Devil River, and on the west
by the Waterpocket I·'old and Capitol R eef. It includes
a small part of the San Rafael Swell at th e north and
extends south to the place where ti,e Waterpocket Fold
is crossed by the Colorado River. Altogether the
ar ea embraces about 2,500 sq mi of which th e Henry
Mountains constitute about 100 sq mi (pI. 2). It lies
wi thin and is typical of the Canyon Lands section
of the Colorado Plateaus, an area that even today is
difficult of access. Modern methods of transportation
have barely penetrated the region and it persists as a
roadless frontier, the largest primitive Ilrea within the
United States.
Early explorers who sought rou tes for transconti-
nental railroads avoided this arid region so completely
that, though the Henry Mountains form a prominent
landmark rising 6,000 ft above the plateau surface,
they were not named and described until 1869 when
John Wesley Powell made the first successful trip by
boat down the Colorado River. From the beginning
of western explorations to the present day this area
has been little visited, and travelers still pass around it.
The reasons are plain Travel from the west mnst cross
the rugged High Plateaus and then seek one of the few
and widely separated narrow canyons through the
barrier , nearly 150 miles long, formed by the hogback
ridges (called r eefs locally) of the Waterpocket Fold,
tl,e Capitol Reef, and San R afael Swell. The 70
miles of barren desert, most of which is covered by loose
sand, extends from Mount Ellen to the Book Cliffs and
discourages travel from the north. The canyons of the
Colorado River and its tributaries all but prohibit
travel from the east and south. In addition, water is
scarce. Only a little more than 5 in. of rain falls
annually on the plateau so tlmt few s treams or springs
maintain their flow through the annual drought
pcriods.
Perhaps to mos t people the region offers few attrac-
tions. It is virtually a treeless plateau and broad
areas of bare rock have no vegetation at all. Much
of the surface is covered with sand dunes that at many
places completely bury small valleys. The plateau is
intricately cut by deep canyons whose walls can be
descended at very few places. Obviously such an
inhospitable country can support only a small popula-
4 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY M OUNTAINS REGION, UTAH

FumR£ 1.-indcxDlo.pofUtah showlnJ!: the location orthc Henry r.rOwltatns rcgion.

 INTRODUCTION 5
tion, and no large settlements were established by the uranium and va nadium deposits ill the I\{orrison
Indians or by the white men who followed . The area formation.
is used principally as range land for stock grazing
and is included in Utah Grazing Districts 5 and 7. GILBERT'S FIELD NOTES AND ITINERARY
In contras t with the surrounding plateau t he three Gilbert's field notes, contained in five bound pocket-
northernmost H enry Mountains receive as much as sized no tebooks, provide a readahle narrative of his
18 in . of r ainfall annually ; perennial creeks and springs t rips. They contain not only his geologic observa tions
are numero us; the valleys are V -shaped; the ridges but unusual experiences of the party as well, including
between the valleys are rotmded ; and their slopes many details of assembling t be party and its equipment .
suppor t a modera te forest. By comparison, the two The number of men in the party is not given clearly.
southern mountains are small and arid, but they form At one place is a list of names: "S. H . Gilson, Nephi,
one of the most rngged sections of the Colorado Plateaus. J uab Co., U tah (aeronautics); Mark Tully, White
Honse, Salt Lake City ; F(ranldin) L . Furusworth,
PREVIOUS WORK Kanab, K ane Co., U t.; Elisha A veri tt, Kanab , Kane
In 1869 in the COln'se of his boat trip down t he Colo- Co. , U t.; and Nathan Adams, Kunab ." A t the begin-
rado River , John Wesley Powell named the H enry ning of t he trip he records, August 30, tha t " Dutton,
Mountains in honor of P rofessor Joseph H enry, well- MacCurdy, & Lewis- Gilbert, Tully, Averitt & Farns-
known physicist , who was then Secretary of the Smith- worth make up the party from Gunnison to Salina
sonian I nstitu tion and an active supporter of Powell's Bridge." On Sep temher 8 when the party reached the
expedition on the Colorado. Powell also discovered a t lower part of Pleasant Creek " Capt. Dutton with
that time the mouth of the Dirty D evil River. Lewis & MacCurdy turned back." It is certain that
Further in formation on the early exploration of the Farnswor th and A veritt wen t on to tho H enry M oun-
H enry Mountains is given hy Gilber t as follows: tains with Gilbert because on October 9 they were sent
hack to R abbit Valley for supplies, but it seems unlikely
* >I< * J ohn F. Steward, a geologist and member of the party that Gilson and Adams were mem bers of the party,
[Powell's] climbed the cliff near the mouth of t he D irty Devi)
R iver and approached the eastern base of the mountains. H e because t here were only nine animals, and had those
reported that the strata in the mountains had a q uaquaversal men been on the party only three animals wonld have
dip, rising upon the flanks from a ll sides. been avnilahle for packing eq uipmen t and supplies.
T he following year Prof. A. H . Thompson, * >I< >I< in charge of Near the beginning of Gilbert's fi eld notes are lis ts of
the geographic work of P rofessor Powell's survey crossed t he
personal effects, equipment, and grocery supplies. The
mountains by t he P Cllcllcll P ass and ascended some of the
principal peaks. He noted the uprising of the str:ata about the grocery supplies at first were listed at 160 rations, but
bases and the presence of igneous rocks. this apparently was regarded as insufficient and a
I n 1873 Mr. E. E . Howe ll at t hat time the geologist of a second list was prepared increasing the quantity of
division of the Wheeler Survey traveled wi t hin twelve miles of each item ahout 35 percen t.
the western base of the mountains, snd observed the uprising of
Among the instrumen ts taken were an a1titude-
the strata.
azimuth, thermometers, barometers, tape line, plane
Possihly the observed quaquaversal dips from the table, alidade, tripod, compass, theodolite, and lens.
mountains in association with igneous rocks caused In his list of personal effects Gilber t included overalls,
Powell to wonder if the H enry Mountains might be so it may be inferred that during his field work he
examples of the discredited hypothesis of volcanic presented as homcly an appearance !lS a modern geolo-
craters of elevation (Von B uch, 1836, p. 342). At least gist working under similar circumstances. During the
he recognized that the H enry Mountains were not a nigh t, however, Gilber t was more typical of his period,
common ty pe of volcano and deserved the special st udy for his list includes nightcaps.
to which Gilhert was assigned. Gilbert spent a week Gilbert was one who made the most of an experience.
in the mountai ns in 1875 and returned in 1876 when he At the conclusion of his trip, apparently as a guide for
spent two months there. An a ccoun t of his itinerary fu ture work, he re-listed the grocery supplies, indicating
and his field notes is given in the next section of tllis for each item the quantity left over or the shor tage that
report. had been experienced.
In 1913 B . S. B utler, accompanied by F. L. H ess, At most of the sta tions occupied by Gilhert dLU';ng
visited ti,e H enry :Vlountains for the purpose of examin- his field work sketches were made of the country
ing the mineral deposits. They visited the gold-hearing arOlmd the station (fig. 2) . These sketches are excel-
fissure deposits on the east side of Moun t Ellen, and on lent reprofluctions of the topography and successfnlly
the southeast side of Mount Pennell, the placer deposits show many of the salient geologic features of the country
east of Mount Ellen and in Glen Canyon, and the They are line drawings, most of them having a minimum
 en

.;- -
- -~~

" .,
,~

y --..~ ' -
---'¥
~, , ' :-c~'...;:' c '~.~ -'~- v,
A' / /.",!,:P
....n... .:AT"t1.~'
~" "
'" .,'~
,I
.~(i:'~
;'?"/
" • = . , ' -~ .
' ~:-
'~
I:::~:\,~'~~'-';;
- '-."~ c . ' ,
~ .~
,.;c~ " : .~ . :.~~~",,,""-::: , "";:"i,\i':.~
l':~\"'..";"r~ -'~
,__
, ..
-'!'
.
/- '
' ,;I :"" '"
i ~''<' ~_,. -ro:..,
. '" ' .--.:.:-..,
.-, -- .... -" Cl
'.4 ?"F'F""'. >
.7" ___ ..... -...,. ..."'"----~.:.. ~ ~ :::__,__ ",....: _:~ " " '~ ... ', ..... ;
<.:. ~
'-::........::: . . . . '''- ~t ..
. t~· · ~
- -,--,. ~ --.::;-~
;;j
~
- .-.. .' "
Cl

§'"
- ,...".
o

-. >

~
i'l
m
~
,~

j
, .::r:~~,"
_Y. ./:", -__....
( ____ ...
~I'v~
r

'" ~
-'-~ , ~ \ ,,.
~~"' ;,r~~~"~,/_~'t ~_~U\i~
" , ~_
,1 •
~

~/~ y",,> ~ '-~ --'.~ ~'-,

o

~'~,~", ~_'"""-
""', -', I ""7 ~

-
- , -, , <
I '". . . '-,
'-..... ~"-
, ...
" ." - -. --=, --',.~
. -c
'
•

~-
- - -. - -----. '---.
- . . --a.:..
>'
~
'"
,
~-

'. p - - . " ..... ''""

· ~.x--L -~ . ,'.
-~ Q
r;;----- ~N -~
~ J, "_
' " ' . u . . """', '- _ ____.

t."'\ . !

'
' (
~, '"k''' '''f . .-, c,~ r .'
'1'
g
~ '8
l -I ..:,.
_.' _ .
~ , ' _-l

FlOUR!. 2.-Skctchesofthc Henry Mountains reproduced from the field notebooks or o.

K. Gnbert. A, View north ntong the cast s!de or Mount F.llen. The stock Is a t the south end of the high part of the moun-
min, The « mienl butto at tho left Is Ragged Mountain, a bysmalith. Jukes Dutte (B .11 Mountain), another bysmalIth, is the butte right of center. B, Vtcw west of Mount Penncll. Tho rtdgo marked
"stn. 7" Is tho ITom mccollth; "511" Is the Dark Canyon laccolith. The Mount Pennoll stock forms the peak and extends southward to Straight Creok. which emerges from the mountain on tho north stde of
station 71. Betwoon stations 71 and 164 Is Bulldog Ridge.
 INTRODUCTION
number of lines. Points referred to in the notes are
given numbers on the drn\vllgs so one who knows the
country hIlS no difficulty understanding just which
outcrops were visited.
Gilbert's notes contain numerous references to precip-
itation, tempera ture, and direction of the wind, and
there were occo.sional references to timber on the moun-
tains. F ew natural phenomena escaped obser vation by
him, tho ugh his observations naturally dealt primarily
with geologic featues. His only whimsical recording is
a sketch of the fore part of a pack mule (fig. 3), en-
titled "Lazarus, Duke of York" The head of t he
mule was reproduced in t he first edi tion of Gilbert's
report with the caption "' Vays and M eans".
Gilbert's t rip to the H enry Mountains was made at
a time when many of the western Indians still were
hostile. Seven years earl ier some Slu V\vitz Indians had
murder ed the two Howland brothers and DUlln as they
traveled towards Kanab after leaving Powell's Colorado
River party in the lower part of Grand Canyon. Five
years earli er three members of WllCcier's party, wit h
whom Gilbert had worked , were among those killed
when Mohave Apache Indians ambushed the Ehren-
burg-Wickenbtu'g stage about 5 miles west of Wicken-
.-- ....'\.
j{,
}' IOUR£ 3.- Ways and l\reans, 187&-1947 (after O. K . Ollbert),
7
blU'g, Ariz. So one may relLd deep thoughts between
the lines of Gilbert's notes when he record ed (No-
vember 1):
' Ve find today a trail made by one 1iOrsC shod or partly shod,
other horses barefooted, barefooted mules and barefooted colts,
in all about 15 animals. There is 8 moccasin track with them.
They came down Cresccnt Creek, started up the trail toward
Trochus Butte and stopped; one went ahead and turned back
and then all went down Cresrent Creek Canon. After an inter-
val they returned and went back up the creek again. The com-
ing tracks were made ill wet sand, the going in dry. Neither
have been rained on . The tracks arc much scattered.
Our last storm was October 20. From all this we infer that
a party of Indians not familiar \\ith the country came down
Cresccnt Creek October 21 or 22 and afte r an inte rval of some
days (loug enough to go to the Colorado and back) returned.
They were less nume rous than their (1 5) an imals. It is not
unlikely that they were Navajos who had stolcn stock from a
stock range and were trying to cross the Colorado without
passing through the settlement.
And again on November 8:
Ycsterday we crosscd the Indian trail twice. They returned
westward close to Hilloid Butte [Table l\{ollntain) with 26 ani-
mals and at least 6 pairs of moccasins. They passed eastward
in two parties (one carHer than the oUter) crossing Cache Creek
[Sweetwate r Creek] near the south twin [South Cainevillc Mesa).
F ew trails exist even today in th e H enry Mountains
r egion but travel has been sufficien t to locate the water
holes and the least difficult and safest routes for travel.
Gilbert had, howe,'er , only th e dim trails of Indians and
deer to guide him and the hazards were correspond-
ingly great. His notes show t his. H e ' ¥rote, on Sep-
tember 4:
On the march the gray mule Louisa rolls down hill with her
pack a distance of 50 or 75 feet. The chief damage seems to be
a cut and bruise on the t.high and another back of the car.
On the 9tll:
A chapter of accidents. Frank kicked by Little Ncphi in Ute
shin. Lightfoot about played out and don.'1l twice. My pack
buckcd off and three alfogas torn. Evcning Epent in repairs.
Water in pockets bad.
On the 10th :
W'c have to leave first thc horse Lightfoot behind and then
the Baldfacc mule . The latter is brought in this P . M. The
horse is to be sought in the morning.
SUcil incidents apparently became so commonplace
that no further mention was made of them un til, on
November 13, he recorded:
Panguicb rolled ovcr t.oday into Curtis Creek. This is her
third roll ou the trip. Beck has accomplished two and Gomas,
Joel, and Lousey onc each. Our little t.rain of 9 animals has
attained to sevcn [e ight?] rolling scrapes.
CHRONOLOGY OF GILDER'r"s TRIP IN 187G
July to August 20: Travel from Sal ina to Rabbit Valley aud
examination of the Waterpocket Fold by pro-
ceedi ng southward alollg it to ncar the site of
Baker ranch.
8 GEOLOGY AND GE OGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
August 21: Travel around south edge of Swap Mesa, across
Bullfrog Creek, and presumably then up P en-
nell Creek and along south foot of Mount
Hillers to vicinity of ' Voodruff cabin.
22: Camp held.
23: Traveled to Mount E llswo rth .
2t: To Straight Creek, probably near Coyote BcuC'hcs.
Travel via pass at head of Black CBuyon .
25: Up Slate Creek, then back up Coyote Benches to
camp near Coyote Spring.
26: Camp held.
27: T o s ummit of Mount Ell en, presumably ncar
sou th end, and camp at a spring surrounded by
firs (probably in Bromide Basin but possibly
at E llen Spring).
28: Camp held.
29: Travel down D ugout and Sweetwater C reeks to
Cflmp near Fremont R ivE"r.
30: T o Fremont Ri ver between North and South
Caincville Mesas. Climb onto North Caine-
"me Mesa.
31: Up F remont River to camp by river just below
Capitol Reef.
September 1 to 10: Travel to Gunnison.
CHRONOLOGY OF GIUJERT'S TRD' IN 1876
August 30 : Start by pack t rain from Gunnison, Utah. Gil-
bert's party consisted of himself, T ully, Averitt
and Farnsworth (see p. 5) and 9 animals for
riding and packing. For the first part of the
trip he was accompanied by D utton,
MacC urdy, and J.JCwis. Travel to Salina
bridge.
3 1: Salina bridge to Kings lVleadow.
SeptemJx>r 1: Kings l\l eadow to t he Widow's.
2: T he \Vidow's to Fish Lake.
3: Fish Lake to Nephi Creek, in Rabbit Valley.
4: Nephi Creek to Upper Corral Creek .
5: Camp held.
6: Upper Corral Creek to near T emple (P1easnnt)
Creek by the Capitol fu ef.
7: To lower T emple (pleasant) Creek.
8: Lower Pleasant Creek to Bloody Hands Gap.
Q: Blood y Hands Gap to S\\eetwater Creek and
around the north end of Stephens Mesa to the
dry wash next west of Cedar Creek.
10: Dry Camp to Cache Camp, located by Dugout
Creek where it leaves Mount Ellen.
11: Climbed Steele Butte. Mo ved camp about 1}{
miles up Dugout Creek.
12: Dugout C reek to Mount Ellen, camp probably
near E llell Spring.
13: Camp held. Examined North Summit Ridge.
14; Ell en Spring camp to lower end of Sa'\\'lUill Basin,
probably by Bull Creek.
15 and 16: Camp held. Examined roof of B ull Creek
laccolith and climbed J ukes Butt-e.
17: Bull C reek camp east to Granite Creek and up
Granite Creek to head ot Butler 'Wash.
18: Butler Wash camp held. Climbed high north-
east point of Granite Ridges.
19: Buller Wash to the spri ng on the north side of
Copper Ridge.
20: Copper Ridge to Slate Creek, probably in the
Slate Creek dome.
September 21 : Camp moVl,>(} to Box Spri ng, ill P ennellen Pass.
22 : Camp held. Climbed the Horn.
23 : Climbed Ragged Mo unta in. Camp moved to
west Ride of Dark Canyon, at base of Mount
P e nnell.
24: Cam p held. Clim bed Mount Pennell.
25: Moved to junclion of Bulldog and Straight
Creeks.
26: Moved to South P ass, probablY at head of
P ennell Creek.
27 and 28: Camp held. Climb ed Stewart Ridge to Summit
Uidge of Moun t Hillers aud climbed east ri m
of Mine Canyon to the peak of :\fo unt Hillers.
29: South P ass to Cove Creek, probabl~' above site
of Sanford ranch.
30: T o Trachyte Creek near Trachyte Mesa.
October 1: TrA.Chyte Creek to near sprinf:!S a t site of Star
ranch.
2: Ca.mp held. Traveled to head of Fourmile
Cree k and return .
3: Moved to Bullfrog Creek a few miles above
Eggnog.
4: Cam p held. Climbed poin ts of Emery sandstone
overlooking \Vat.e rpocket Fold.
5: Move up B ullfrog C reek to the upper gorge
t hrough the Emery sandstone.
6: Camp held. Climbed halfway li p ridge on south
side of D eer Creek, 011 west slope of Mou nt
P elllleli.
7 : Camp held. Climbed T arantula Mesa, south
rim.
8: Retu rll to Cam p 1, the Cache Cam p by Dugout
Creek.
9: Ca che Camp to west side of Table Mountain.
T wo packers leave for Rabbit Valley to ob-
t ain additional su ppli C'S.
10: Camp held. Climbed Table M ountain.
) 1: IVTove to creek with s prings, Ilorth of Cedar
Creek.
12: Camp held.
13 : Retu rn to Cache Camp, by Dugout Creek.
14,15, a nd 16: Camp held, waiting fo r return of packers who
arrive on the 16th.
17 : Move to Bullfrog Creek, southeast of Stephens
Narrows. Travel up South Creek and south
across (oot of South C reek Ridge.
18: Move down lhtllfrog Creek an d cast along foot
of Emery sandstone scarp to P ennell Creek.
19: T o upper pa rt of Sill Canyon.
20: T o head of P ennell C reek in South Pass.
21: Around south side o( Mount Billers to \ Yood-
ruff Spring, where supplies were cached, a nd
t hen to canyon draining nor thwest from
Mount Ellsworth.
22 to 26 : Camp held. Climbed to summit of Mount
E llsworth each day.
27 : To Cache Creek on northwest side of Mount
H ollllC6.
28 to 29: Cam p held. Climbed north slope of Mount
H olmcs.
30: Move to springs near Star ranch.
3]: T o Trachyte Creek just below head of canyon
in Navajo sandstone.
 en
~

,;
":
8
'>"
."
Dl
...:
..,o
~
~

m
'~"
'Z"
-'
>
'"
...:
'o"
R
U>

}'H'lURE S.-Canyon views. A, Vlcw west aMOSS the Colorado River at the mouth of Scvenmile Canyon. Scale lndicatcc\ by boat In midstre:l.ID near center o( picture'. n, View up Dirty nevll RI\-cr (rom the mouth
or Hatch Canyon. Two small alC()Yc arch<lS enn be seen in the Wingate sandstone (Jw). Photograph by R. t . Miller. C, Permlrm formations on the west side or the Dirty Devil River a Qu!\rtcr of a mHe below
Hatch Canyon. The bouldcr-capped plnnaclos are on an ol<llandsllde. Photograph by R. L. Miller.: jJ, 'Angel Co"e, a.n aiC()\'e arch near thc mouth of Deaver WasIl. Srale indicated by p!\ck horses at the loot or
the alcove, Photograph by R . L. Miller. Jk:, Kayenta fommtlon; ]Vt', Wingate san'dstone; lie, Chlriie forIDOotion; 1m, M oenkopi formation; Pwr, White Rim sandstone member a.nd Por, Organ Rock tongue of
the Cutler formation.

~
 ......

"'"
o
S
"..;>
Z
"
<l

'"
o
,.'";xi
~
;;j
...,
:z:
'"I
'"Z
::j
8
CO
z
~
'"'"
"'o"
~

..z
<1
g

FI(lURE It-Canyon views. A, Airplane vlcw northwest across the 00)ora(10 lUvcr at the mouth or 1'rnchyte Crook, fl typical canyon seeno. In the upper left are the foothills of Mount ITlllors. Photograph by
Natlonnl Park Srrvicc. n, View D(M'thwost across the Colorado River just Hbove Dandy Crossing. Indlnn ruins In right forcground, C, View down 011)n Canyon {rom the mouth of Sm ith Fork. T he gra"cl
tcrn)(."C is the CaHlornl'\ Dar. Jn, Navo.Jo sandstone; Jk, Kayenta formAtion; II". Wingate sandstone; Tr, Triassic formations; Pc, Culler torm'ltion (White Rim so.ndstone member o.n(\ top o( Orgo.n Rock tongue).
 ST HATIGnArny
formation at most places tb ere is a conglomerate con-
taining pebbles derived from the older rocks.
The limestone beds tl,at are in tbe lower part of the
formation along th e northwest and west sides of the
region are equivalent to the Sinbad limestone member,
which is a conspicuous member fart.h er north in t.he San
Rafael Swell (Gilluly and R eeside, 1928, p. 65). This
limestone memher thins southwa"d and occupies a
lower stratigraphic position, as if the fonnation WNe
ov('rlapping southward against Ute P ennian. It is 140
ft a bove the base of t he [ormation a t T emple Mountain,
108 to 132 It above the base at Boulder Creek, and 64
it above the base on Pl easant Creek west o[ Capit.ol
R eef. At tbe last, namcd locality the member is 25 ft
thick and consists of dense, thick-bedded, fossiliferous,
plll'plish limestone.
At ~Iuley Twist Canyon, along the 'Vaterporke t
Fold, the Sinba,l member is ahsent and the Moenkopi
thNr is ouly 349 ft thicle The lower] 80 ft arc mostly
buff, yellow, and ligbf.,gray, eveuly bedded sandst{me
and sbaly sandstone wherea., the upper Iialf is dlOcola lR-
colDl'ed shale abundantly ripple marked. A brecciated,
mLlky-white chert at, the bnse of the formation lna.y
represent a basal conglom erate, bu t it is believed to be
a weaUwred and pal"lIy rmdeo ('htwty bed belonging to
th e Kaibab.
]n the (:anyons on the east side of the region the Si1l-
bad limestone member and the ligh f.,eolored sandy facies
in t he lower half of the fonnation arc absent. There
thp fOlmation is mostly red 0 1' chocolat.e-brown, sandy
sbale containing an occas ional bed of buff, fine-grained
sandstone. W'herevel' the base of the Moenkopi is ex-
posed in the canyons it rests on the White Rim member
of the Cutler. At The Hoi'll, the southernmost ex-
posure of the .vlocnkopi-W'hi te Rim conlact, tl,e White
Rim is only a few feet t hicl" Farther south the White
Rim thins out and the Ivloenkopi probably rests on th e
Organ Rock tongue under the southel'll part of the area.
A tllick-bedded conglomerate is at th e base of tile
formation at most. places along the canyo ns. At the
mouth of Poison Spring Box Canyon the conglomerate
is mussive, 32 ft tbick, and rests with sha,'p erosional
unconfonnit.y on tile White Rim . The conglomerate
consists of subangulal' pebbl es of whi te chert and white
lim rstone, as much as 2 in. in diameter, in a matrix
of gray sand. The pebbles seem to have been derived
[rom the Kaibab lim esto ne at no great distance. This
basal conglom erate form s a prominent but almost
inaccessibJe ledge as [ar south as ti,e mouth of the
Di.r ty D evil Ri ver but thins rapicll)' southward in
Glen Canyon . 1t is only 2 It thick at th e mouth of
Nort.h Wash and ranges from 2 to 20 ft thick in short
dis tances at Th e Horn .
OF THE SEDIMENTA RY ROCKS 53
Overlying this basal eonglomel'Rte are evenly bedded,
fine-grained, red sandstone in beels as mu ch as 10 ft
tI'ick , red shaly sandstone and shale in beds a few
inch es thick, and buff sandston e. The buff sandstone
beds thin and become less numerous sou thward . 'The
lower part of the formation is mostly tllick-bedded
sandstone whereas the upper part is mostl y til in-bedded
sandstone, shaly su.ndslolle, anel shale.
Physiographic expressi01l.- In the canyon part of the
fl,l'ea, where the beds have low clips, the Moenkopi
formation erod es into rather steep slopes broken by
ledges forllled by the more resistant layers. Locally,
however, small pe<liment surfa ces have been eroded
on tbe Moenkopi ; the best example is opposite the
Ti eaboo Bal'. On the uplifts, along the north and
west sides of tb e region , wh ere th e beds dip 20° to 30°,
th e Moenkopi erodes into rough, closely spaced hills
that have steep sides. Some have smoothl.v sloping
tops bu t broad dip slopes are found at only a few places.
On the upland surfaces may be found an inch 01' two of
sand.v soil bu t elsewhere, ('s pecially on th e slopes, the
formation is prartically bure. Stony colluvium con-
sis ting of sand and angular pl aty s tones of all sizes is
thinly spread across hillsides in the Moenkopi but
eolh'cts at. Cl1ch breo,k in slope and in t.Ju· shallow
gullies. Alluvial stream bottam s are moderately wide
where they cross the Moculwpi along th e canyons and
on the uplifts.
liilode Qf deposition.-Only the northcl'I1 pa l't of the
II(,IUT Mountains rrgion seems to have be('n co vered
by the Moenkopi sea., which advanced into the area
from the west and rrcrivcd sediments tJmt apparently
wcre derived from the north 01' eas t. Thr marine
facies of the formation is I1pproximutcly co-regional
with tile light-yellow color of the lower part of the
fOJ1nation. The red and h"own hms seem to be non-
marine, but their deposition in quiet, shallow water,
probably under arid conditions, is suggested by their
even bedding, fine grain, abundant oscillation ripple
marks, g~l)sum content, occn-sional mud cracks, and
la ck of fossils. D eposit.ion pI'obably was in sba.llow
lagoons and bays that were cut off [rom the sea by
bllrrier beaches 01' other bars. Perhaps the red coloI'
is du e to a reworking of Permian formations.
UPPER TRIASSIC SERIES
S HIN An U MP CONG LOMERA'I'E
The Shinarump conglomerate is widespread in
southern U tah, northern A"izona, sou theast em Nevada,
and northwestel'l1 New M exico. It represents the
basal conglomerate of the Upper Triassic series and
lies with erosional unconformity on the Moenkopi
fo,motion (fig. 12). At some localities in tl, e Moab
 ~

c:
'"
C
S
~
>
Z
"
c:
'"
o
c:
'"
>
'~"
;;;
~
'"
~
Z
~
::
o
r::
Z
~
~
U>

''""
C'l
3
z
~
~

FrOUllE 12.-Views along the southeast flank of the San Rafael S.....ell. A , Typical exposure of Shinarump conglomerate (t hick capping lodgc) on "Moen kopi formation a mUe east of Boulder ('nnYlin.
B , Clay beds in
the upper part of the Morrlson formation form badlands. View cast across the Muddy River a mile belo ..... the Reef of the Snn Rafaol S.....ell. Goological Survey pack tmin in the valley . C, View .....est along
the unconrormity betw('CIl the Morrison formation and the underlying Summcn'llIe fonnation . Oypsifcrous conglomerate at the ba~c of the Morrison formation fll1s channels eroded 50 ft into the e\'en!y
bedded Summcrv!l1e fonnation. D , Thin beds of Carmel fonnation resting on massive Navajo SBndst()ne along the canyon or the Muddy River where It cm ergc~ fr om the San Rafael Swell.
 STRATIGRAPHY OF THE SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
the geodes were identified as goethite by W. T . Schaller
of the Geological Survey.
The Curtis everywhere grades into the overlying
Summerville tlu'ough a transition zone 5 to 50 it thick
in which gray sandstone of the Curtis type alternates
with brown finer-grained sandstone and shale of the
Summerville type. The boundary is near the top of the
transition zone between the two formations.
No fossil s were found in the Curtis in the H enry
Mountains region, although in a field on soil-covered
Curtis near Notom a belemnite was found by a local
resident. Fossils of species common to the Sundance
havc been reported from the Curtis in the northern
part of the San Rafael Swell.
Physiographic expression.- At most places the Curtis
form s smooth, gray slopes at the base of the escarpm ent
form ed by thc Summerville and MOtTison formations.
The slopes arc steep and are covered by a very thin
mantle of tiny rock chips and fin er material in part
lithosol derivcd from the overlying Summerville.
Locally the lowest beds in the Curtis extend as a thin
layer capping broad b enchcs of Entrada sandstone.
Mode of deposition.- Th e Curtis is interpreted as a
m arine deposit. The southeast shore lille of the sea
crossed the Henry Mountains r egion ; to the north and
west it probably connected ,vith the extensive Jurassic
sea in northern Utah and Wyoming.
SUMMBUVII,l,}] FORMATJON
73
Five miles south of Hanksville a gypsiferous section
of Summerville contains irregular masses of gypsum,
some several feet in diameter, distributed along bedding
planes. Most of this gypsum is white, but some is
delicate pink. A 6-in. bed of brown limestone is
present ill the Summerville at Baker ranch. Local
erosiollal unconformities or diastems arc present within
tl,e formation at a few places. No fossils have been
found in the formation.
The Sununerville formation is unconformably over-
lain by the Morrison formation. Channels in the top
of the Summerville filled with gypsum or conglom erate
of the Morrison arc numerous, especially in the north
part of the region . Som e of these channelt' arc 50 ft
deep. At some outcrops the unconformity is angular
and the beds in the two formations diverge by as much
as 50 (fig. 17). Along the south side of tb e R eef of the

Lithology and thickness.- In general the Summerville

formation is composed of well-bedded brown sandstone FtnuRR J7.-UnooIlJonnlty between the Summerville lormnHon (Js) D.nd overlying
:MorrlsolJ fonnatlon (Jm ) at the south s ide of the PoiSon Spring Benches.
and shale and t1,ins southward from about 250 ft at the
north end of the region to about 40 ft in the valley of San Rafael Swell the Morrison locally cuts across 50 it
Halls Creek (figs. 14 and 15). But the formation of Summerville beds in a mile. In general, however,
thickens and thins irregularly and may vary as much the two formations appear to be structurally concordant.
as 100 ft in a few miles. Generally wbere the base of t.he Morrison formation
The distinctive features of the Summerville are its consists of coarse sandstone, conglomerate, or gypsum,
even beddillg and reddisll-browll color. The formation the contact is recognized without difficulty, but in
is composed of fine-grained reddish-bro\Vn sandstone much of the region the basal Morrison beds e10sely
and sandy shale in beds 6 in. to 4 ft thick separated by r esemble the Summ erville and the contact is gradational.
thin partings of red, green, and purple shale. The Part of the irregular thickening and thinning of the
sandy beds weather as smooth rounded flanges separated Summerville may be due to inconsistency in picking
by parallel grooves along the shaly b eds. At some the base of the formation in the transition zone with
localities appreciable quantities of coarser white and the Curtis. But most of the irregularity probably is
greenish-white sandstone are interbedded with the due to erosion of the upper Summerville beds befor.,
brown sandstone, but are inconspicuous because they deposi tion of the basal Mo,,~son .
are covered by wash from the browll beds. All the Physiographic expression.- In the desert,s tbe Sum-
sandstone is fine-grained; some is cross-bedded on a merville formation crops out in a steep escarpment or
small scale. Beds of gypsum o.re common in th e eIiff that is capped by resistant sandstone or conglom-
northern part of the area but are absent to the south. erate belonging to the base of the Mon'ison formation
Undulatory bedding was scen at Burro Wash, near (fig. 18B). This escarpment is a p ersistent topographic
Notom, but probably this is due to flowage of the feature, both on the east side of the region where the
gypsum. Gypsum veins are ahundant even where dips arc low and on the north and west sides where the
there are no gypsum beds. formation is tilted 150 to 30 0 •
74 GEOLOGY Al.'VD GEOGRAPHY OF THE HE)[HY MOUNTAlNS REG lON, UTAH

FIGum·: tS.- A, Coo] bed, about 6 fl thick, at the top or t he Ferron Slind';tone member of the Mancos ~hale . Overlying It Is the Blue aate shale member. Vl.ewat }' actor)t
Butte coal mine. B. ClIns 8 1ol1~ Bullfrog Cr£'('k nilfIr the mouth OrcJa~' Canyon. J m, r..oforrison forTllation; I s, Summerville rOC Ill(ltlon; Je, Entrada sondSlone. Photo-
graph by R. L. Miller. C, Steele Butte. 'J' hc Mesaverde formatl<'11 caps the butte; the l\lRSuk membrr of the Mancos shale forms the slope.
 ~
'"
...,>
C;
'"
~
~
~
'"
gj
g
s;:
Z'~"
.-.'"
o'"
"Oi
U>

FIG ORE 20.-Vlews of the hogback ridges. A, View of the Mancos shale northeast along thc CaillQ\'iIle Reef. Kme, Emery sandstone member; Kmbg, Blue OaUl shale member; KInf, Ferron sa.odstone member; Kmt,
Tununlr shale, members of th(l Mancos shale. Photograph by George Orant, Department or the I nterior. n, EntraQa sanQstone "t the Roof of the Sail Rafael Swell. View east, about I mile cast of the Muddy River.
....CIJ
82 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH

4 mi les 3 miles .2 mile s North tip Coal Mine Upper end of

southwest southwes t of northwe s t of of the ba s in Wa sh Glue Valle y
of Ca ine ville Factory QUlle Factory DUll e
~ ,... 'i;~"~:' ,
..$>~ :~.;::::. \ Vertical
'7 s s , '\ sc ale
/~ ..I "
260'
, -"'<-_ _ ___ Blue Gate shale member of Mancos shale
'\
"\
" 240 1

220'

200'

180'

160'

Ferron sa ndstone mem ber shale

140'

120'

100'

80'

60'

,:.:..;::- of Mancos shal e 40'

~'.
- - - L- - z... _ _ _ -"=-_
3;" _ "":' -
_ _ s: - -"- 20'

.
0'
EXPLANA TION

~
_._0 _"
Bedded
~
Shal l'
§
Shale
Ii
.. ::
Sa ndy
~- ; . §
Carbonaceous
e
Shall' Coa l
~
Conglo mera te
sa nd s t one sa ndst o ne s hale s hale coa l
FIGURE 21.- Slratlgraphic sections showing le.t()l'81 cbanges In the l"crron sandstone member of :Manros shale across the north end of the llenry l\·founta1ns region.
 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND FURM8 OF THE I GN E OUS INTRUSIONS
both they and the laccoliths have their steepest flank
on the side away from the stock.
Flow structure \\ri.thin lhe intrusions is obscure and
one is impressed more by the random orientation of
the constituent minerals than by their locally developed
linear or planar arrangement. Along the contacts
there is considerable slickensiding and linea tion of
crushed minerals (fig. 82D ), bu t tltis lineation generally
is in the direction of maximwn dip of the contact
at the particular locality and conforms to irregularities
of the contact rather than to general trends. In the
interior of some of the laccoliths can be found a crude
platy structure that approximately parallels the nearest
contac t and a crude linear s tl'ucturo approximately
parallel to the elongation of the laccolith. Short
fissurelike streaks of crushed phenocrysts are not
unCOmmon within the intrusions, bu t these also seem
to be local and irregular features , as if reflecting minor
adjustments to movements during or after freezing.
'fhe intrusions are well jointed but most of th e joints
are irregular and seem to bear only casual relation to the
contacts or shape of the u1 trustion. Columns are well
developed locally, particul"fly where the intrusions are
thin, but where the intrusions thicken the columns are
lost in an irregular joint system . Sheeting pamllel to
the contacts is even less consistent aDd tends to be
interrupted by sweeping curyed joints.
The slight metamorphism throughout the H enry
:Mountains suggests that the intrusions were not highly
heated and that they did not yield much volatile
material. Even above the thick laccoliths, shale
beds are merely indurated for a few feet . 'fhe most
intense metamorphism is found in the shatter zone
around the stocks hut even here the metamorphism is
marked only by conversion of the shale to hornfels,
slight induration of the sands tone 1 and development of
epidote.
The fiv e mountains are ver y diflerent structurally.
The Mount Ellen dome is the wid est and has a broad
plateaulil(e top wrinkled with many small anticlinal
folds (pI. 8). The Mount Hillers dome is the highest
and steepest (pI. 13) and the anticlinal fold s over the
laccoliths on it and on the Mount P ennell dome (1'1. 11 )
lie mostly on the north and northeast flanks of the
domes. 'rhe Mount Holmes dome is the smallest (pI.
16) and its top is anticlinally folded. No subordinate
anticiules mar the symmetry of the Mount Ellsworth
dome (pI. 16). ,Faulting is restl1cted to the southern
two mOUJILalls. 'l'hese principal differences between
the mowlwins are illustrated by the structure contour
map (pI. 5.)
It is easily demons trated that the small folds on the
top and flanl(s of the big domes were caused by the
inj ection of the laccoliths, hysmaliths, or other satellitic
91
bodies. The origin of the big mountain domes is less
clear but they appear to be due to deformation that
accompanied physical injection of the s tocks (p. 148) .
The intrusive structures within the mountains display
a grain oriented UI two du·ections and approximately
parallel to the two sets of joints in the structnral basin
despite the fact that the location of the mOlll1tains seems
to bear no relation to the regional structure.
All of the intrusive rock is diorite porphyry, except
some monzonite porphyry 011 l\10W1t Pennell and some
very minor intrusions of basalt and aplite. The difler-
ent intrusions of diorite porphyry possess considerable
textul"ai VRliation but no correlation was found be-
tween form of intrusion and textural variety.
MOUNT ELLEN
Mount Ellen (pI. 7, 8) is a structural dome about
5,000 ft. high and 15 miles Ul diameter. Not only is
this dome the largest, but it is more rectangular in out-
IUle and has more crenulatcd flanks than do the domes
of the other mountains (pI. 5). The major structure is
open to the south and merges with the smaller :'fount
P ennell dome.
'rhe Mount Ellen stock is located in tb e Bromide
Basin in th e . outhern part of the cluster of intrusions
that compr ise tb e mOlmtain (pI. 9) . A dozen laccoliths
adjacen t to or n ear the stock r adiate from it and prob-
ably were injected nearly horizontally from it.
Several intrusions that are in part crosseuttulg form
North Summit Ridge, which extends from Bull Creek
Pass to the peak of Mount Ellen. Their form is not
well known but they seem to Ita ve been the center of
much of the intrusive activity in the north part of the
mountain and they are interpreted as a part of a mass
that was inj ected irregularly upward and outward from
the stock and that red tbe nortbernmost laccoliths and
related intrusions.
Three large bysmaliths- Tahle Mountain (fi g. 40),
Bull Mountaul (fig. !O5), and Ragged Mountain (figs.
27, 42A)-are located a t the outer edges of the cluster
of laccoliths on Mount Ellen.
MOUNT ELLEN STOCK
The "{ount Ellen stock is roughly circular in plan
and is composed of moderat ely homogeneous porphyry.
It is surrounded by a shatter zone that consists
of a cOlnplex series of irregular minor intrusions and
severely deformed sedimentary rocks. Bromide Basin,
a wide valley at the head of Crescent Creek, has
been eroded into the stock. The shatter zone has
remained to form the rim and outer slopes oI the basin
(fig. 25).
Erosion of the Bromide Basin has exposed the upper
1,500 It of the stock. The exposed sedimentary strata
 ~

""

c:.
l':
C·

~
~
Cl
'"
o
C'l

~
~
>-l
~
tx:
"'Z
"~'"
d
Z

~
e'"'"
-~
~
FIOI:RE 25.-Vie ..... s on Mount Ellen. A, Vie ..... southeast across the head of Bromide Basin. The rim 01 the basin approximately marks the boundary betwooD the shatter :r:ooe and the Mount Ellen stock, which Is
in the basin. Photograph by IT. D. Miser. B, View along the east side or Nor th Summit Ridge to the peak oL\1"ount Ellen. The seemingly smooth surfBCe ofthe peak is mantled with trost-heaved boulders
liko those In the foreground. Photograph by IT. D. Miser. C, The floor Of the laccolith at tho west end of Horseshoe Ridge. The prophyry rests on carbonaceous shale and sandstone belonging to the Ferron.
D, The floor of the South Crook laccolith at the west end of South CrMk Ridge. The porphyry rests on carbonaceous slmle and sandstone in the upper part of the Ferron sandstone member of the Mancos
Shale.
 ~~---~---- ~':T" "'- -.-". .
~ ;>f'-;. _•. ........:... _-= ~ .......I - _ I .~

Bromide Basin Factory Butt~

I
Mount Ellen

"
.0

g'"
iii
E;
'"'"
~
>
Z
<;;
."
C

'~"
'"o..,
"'~
"g
Z
M.

'"t:i
~
'"
e
[3
Z
'"

FIGURE 27,-Oblique \' icw northwest across Mount Ellen. The Mount E llen stock Is in the Bromide Basin, whose rim is formed by the zone of shattered rocks BroWld the stock. Copper Rldge.is formed by the
axtal bulge on the Copper Ridge laccolith, which also extends south under Garden Basin. The ridge Is allned with the stock. Also nlfnod with the SUlek Is the dlkellke ridge on top of the Ragged Mountain
bysmalith (foreground). PhOUlgraph by Fairchild Acrinl Surve)·s.
<D
c;-.
96 C EOLOGY AN D GEOGRAPHY OF THE H ENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
NW.
Copper Ridge
o 1000
L' .1,_ _ __ _ _...J'
~~,~'..J!'-..L!~!~!w..
!
FIr.UR£ 28.- Section along Copper Ridge. 'r ile swpUke inclusions of the Dakot.a snndstone are lnfcrrcd (rom exposures In Copper Crook. 'J'p. porphyry; Krol ,
Tununk shale member of tbe Mancos sbale; Kd , Dakota sandstoo<'; Jm, Morrio:on formnl.ion.
r egular and the overl ying Tunwlk shale is nearly hori-
zontal. This regularity, however, is inteITupt ed by
some southeast-trending dikelike ridges of porphyry
like the eonspicuous one exposed just east of the center
of section 11 (pI. 7) . The roof rocks by these r idges a" e
steeply up turned and are cut off discordantly by the
porphyry.
The individual sheets comprising the laccolith cut
discordantly back and forth across th e enclosing strata.
From Garden Basi n Creek northward to Copper Creek
the uppermost sheet cuts discordant.Iy upward through
200 ft or more of t he Tununk shale to the base of t he
Ferron sandstone. Moreover , beds beneath t he cast
edge of the laccolith are younger than the beds overlying
th e central part of the laccoli th. (See fig. 28.) In th e
lower part of Copper Creek the floor is about 50 ft above
the Dakota sandstone; faither up the ereek this sand-
stone is structurally high er and is overlain and under-
lain by porphy ry ",nil , till farth er up the creek the
Dakota sandstone overlies the main sheet of the
laccolith .
At th e north side of the laccolith , near the cen ter of
the east sid e of section 36, the Da kota sandstone is tilted
nort hward (fig. 29) and is broken by a dozen small
strike faults, each having a displaccment of 6 to 10 ft
ssw. NNE.
o 1000 2000 Fel '
I , ! , westward from the Moun t Ellen stock. Beds of the
Vertical end t.ariJ'ontel ~ ..
FlGUR£ 29.-Section across the uorth side of t he Copper Ridge Iacoollth. Tp. pot".
phyry; Km t., 'J'wlUnk shale member ()( tbe Mancos shale; Kd, Dakota sandstone,
Jm, Morrison form ation.
SE .
2000 Feet
down to the nort,h. At th e west edge of t his outcrop the
Dakota rests 011 porphyry, but a t the east edge th e
Dakota rests on the Morrison formation and dips north-
ward. Apparen tly t he laccolilh t hins northward and
cuts downward to lower llOl'izons.
Only the top of the Sla te Creek laecolilh is exposed
but the shapo of \he fold in th e roof rocks shows tha t
lhe axis of th e bulging p art racli ates from the Mount
Ellen stock. A considerable part of the top of tho
laccolith is exposed in section 10, T . 32 S., R. 10 E .,
where strala t hat belong ncar the middle of th e Morri-
son formal ion and that overlie the porphyry are
turned up 20° to 30° in an an ticlinal nose that plunges
south from the M ount Ellen stock (pI. 5, fig. 30) .
Near the axis of the anticline is a narrow southward-
trending dike, undoub tedly It dikelike ridge on th e mor
of th e laccolith (pI. 7) like those exposed on the roof
of th e Copper Ridge laccoli th. The porphyry ridge
nort hwest of th e anticline, probably another and
larger example of this kind of s tructure (fig. 30), is
formed by a crosscut ting intrusion that extends
linearly from the stock, probably as a bulging part of
th e west edge of t he Slate Creek laecolit,h. Th e sill
under the F erron sandstone west of this ridge may have
been injected as a satellite from t,his bulge.
INTRUS ION BETWl<~EN THE }'O(1"S OF BULLFROG CR EEK
Little is known about t.h e shape of the intrusion
tha t forms th e ridge between th e forks of Bullfrog
Creek. It. is a t least 600 ft thick and is elongate south-
Tununk shale concordantly overlie th e porphyry near
the north end of t,he ridge. The side cont act was found
at only one pla.ce, located directly east of the exposed
 STRUCTURAL GE OLOGY AND FORMS OF THE IGNEOUS INTRUSIONS
FIGURE 3O.- lsruDetric fenco diagram of Slate Creek lacroUth. Tp, porphyryj Kmbg,
Dluo Gate shale member, Klllf, Ferron sandstolle member, Kmt, Tununk shale,
mombors of the ManCC6 sbale; Kd, Dukota snndstonc; Jm, Morrison (ormntlonj
I s, Summerville formation.
roof, where shale beds low in the 'l'ununk am turned up
45° against th e int.rusion. On the west side of the
ridge is a small exposure of Dakota sandstone, presum-
ably turned up against that sid e of the intrusion.
Figure 31 shows th e probable shape of this intrusion.
."unmE 31.- Probable form of lacrolith between forb or BulUrog Creek I.n sections
9 a nd 16, T.32 S., R. 10 E. 'fp, porphy ry; Xmbg, Blue Gate 8118111 memhCr, Klnf, li te arc shown on th e geologic map (pI. 7) as belonging
Forron sandstono mcmhcr and Km t, T UDWlk shale, members of t.he M ancos shale;
I
Xd, Dakota s.'l.ndstone; Jill, Morrison formation.
SOUTH CREEK
The main part of th e South Creek laccoli th (E exposures of Ferron beneath the porphyry 500 ft south
laccolith of Gilbert) Iorms th e Sout.h Creek Ridge of the northwest corner of section 9. If this interpre-
2 10116- 53- 8
97
which is the most prominen t topographic feature of
th e southwest part of Mount Ellen (fig. 32). 'fhe
ridge is 500 to 1,000 It high and forms the divide
between the drninage of South Creek and the head-
waters of Sweetwater Creek. 'fhe top of the ridge is
smoothly rounded and the small r emnants of roof rock
locally preserved on it indicate that the present topo-
graphic form is uot greatly different from the original
shape of the intrusion.
'fhis laccolith, unlike tbe Copper Ridge laccolith,
is narrow, e10ngnte and bulging as shown in figure 33.
It was injected southwesterly from the Mount Ellen
stock. The roof of the laccoliU, is inclined eastward
toward the stock hut the roof rocks. arched over the
cast end of the ridge, conceal the relations whe"e the
laccolith emerged from the shatter zone at tbe edge of
the stock.
The floor of t.IlC laccolith was found at only olle local-
ity, namely at the west edge of the ridge, in the north-
emmost. creek. Here the porphyry rests on carbona-
ceous shale belonging to the upper part of tho F en'on
sandstone about 10 It stratigraphically above the mas-
sive basal sandstone (fi g. 25D). The coaly shale is not
altered except for very slight induration and some
slickcnsiding for about 3 in. fI'om th e contact. The
contact is sharp but undulating in waves a lew inches
high and a few inches wide. Both the contact and the
underlying strata are nearly horizontal.
At the nort.hwest part of the ridge a thin sheet of
porphyry at the base of the laccolith underlies the
FelTon. On the north sidc of the ridge, in sec. 5,
T . 32 S., R. 10 E. nea r the middlc of the laccolith, is
a sandstone lens of the F erron . At the east end of the
ridge the sandstone rests on the laccolith. This lacco-
lith, like the Copper Ridge laccolith, therelore cuts
discordantly to higher stratigraphic horizons away from
the!" stock so t.hat formations in the floor at th e distal
end-of the laccoliths are repeated in the roofs ncar the
fceding stock.
NorUl\vard, t.he South Creek laccolith thins abruptly
and is divided into at least two sills. Along the south
edge 01 the laccolith the Ferron sandstone dips south off
the roof and dips under a satellitic porphyry mass that
was injected through the strata turned up against
tho main part of the laccolith. The sntcllite is partly
phacolithie and partly discordant on th e flank of the
..nuin int.rusion.
The isolated remnan ts of the shale roof on this satel-
t o the Blue Gate shale. This relation is based Oil the
int erpretation that th e Ferron continues nbout 1,500 ft
eastward beneath the prophyry as is suggested by the
 ~

F.l
C·
8
CO
"
~
tl
CO
'"
o
CO

'"
~
Ii]

~
I
I
Ul

f!l
9
-~
!
FIGuttE 32.-0blique view 01 the southwest side of Mount Rilen. South C reek Ridge is n laero1i th whose structure CQnfonnsapproxlmntely to the topography. The broad bench between South Creek Ridge and
Durfey nutte Is underlain by the broad sheetlike Durfey Butte laccolith. South Summit Ridge and the basin at the hend of Slate Orookare in the shntter lOne surrounding the Mount Ellen stock, which Is
located in thc Bromide Basin. Photograph by Falrchild Acrlal SUf\1lYs.
 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND FORMS OF THE IGNEOUS INTRUSIONS
Ltke the similar tro ughs aud ridges on the roof of other
laccoliths in the H enry Mountains they arc parallel
to the apparen t dtrection 01 in trusion (fig. 56).
LACCOLIT HS BE'fW EEN CEDAR AND OAK CREEKS
The h igh est laccolith between Cedar lLOd Oak Creeks
forms the peak 01 the ridge a mile northwest 01 the
peak 01 l\{ount Ellen (fig. 39). Beneath the laecolith
the F erro n sandstone and Tununk shale form a shallow
structural basin . The north end of the laccolith lies
concordantly on the sandstone bu t southward the
laccolith cuts upward and near Mount Ellen it is in
contact with the Blue Gate shale, considerably above
t he Ferron.
Und erlytng this laccolith is a much thicker, more
extensive intrusion (fig. 39) that is probably also la.c-
colithic although the floor is not exposed . Around the
north and west sides 01 tills intrusion strata are turned
up very st eeply, locally over turned. The rooC is
moderately discordant. Dakota sandstone COlms the
roof n ear the middle of section 5, bu t a little Carther
south the roof is Tununk shale and still Carther south
the roof is Ferron sandstone. This laccolith, therefore,
like the overly ing one, crosscuts to lower stratigraphic
horizon.~ fl,wav from \lI01l1l t Ell en .
The lnecolith on th e north side of Cedar Creek, the
109
BYSMALITHS
The T able Mountam, Bull Mountain, and Ragged
Mountain bysmaliths are nearly circular bulges (fig. 40),
whereas th e laccoliths are bulged linearly. These
bysmali ths are surrounded by quaquaverssl dips,
whereas the auticlines over most oC ti, e laccoliths are
open toward th e Mount Ellen stock or North Summit
Ridge. T he contacts on the sid es oC the bysmaliths
away from the stock are very s teep and in part at least
are faulted; the sides toward the stock were raised by
folding. Th e bysmaliths are loeated on the fringe of
tbe cluster of laccoliths.
The bysmaliths resemble th e laccoliths in th at their
rooCs a.re less displaced Oil th e side toward th e stock
than on the distaI side, tI,ey are composed oC th e same
porphyry, the metamorphism is equally slight, internal
flow structure is obscure, slickensiding is just as ir-
regularly disposed, and jomting is no more orderly.
F urthermore, the rooC oC eaclt bysmalith has one or
more dikelike prophyry ridges tha t m'e aImed radially
from th e Mount Ellen stock. I inCer that the hysma-
liths were iniected from the Mount Ellen stock and
that they b~oke upward where the overlying rocks
were not reinforced by other in trusions.
TABLE MOUNTAIN

F laccolith of Gilbert's report, is a~ about th e sam e lovel Table Mountain is au almost circular butte of
as the laccolith just described and the two may be porphyry havmg precipitous sides about 400 Ct high on
connected . This laccolith like its inunediate neigh bors th e north and west sides but merging with the Coothills
crosscuts to older formations away from the mountam, of Mount Ellen to ti,e south and east (fig. 40). The
th e east end being in the F erron sandstone whereas the sides of the butte approximately mark the edge of the
west end is in the Morrison formation, more than 500 tntrusion but the contact is largely concealed by an
it stratigraphically lower. apron of talus. Along the north wall m'e a dozen
Along Cedar Creek th e formations dip about 25 ° N . spectacular monolitbs.
off the Pistol Ridge laccolith, but just north of the cr eek Gilbert spent two days examining Table Mountain,
t he dip is a bruptly reversed and the strata are dragged called by him the Marvin e laccolith, and his field
up steeply against the ahnost vertical side contact 'of notes Cor those days contain a vcry complete exposition
the laccolith no rtJ, of the creek. Where the strata are of his concept of th e form and mechanism of laccolithic
tUl'l1ed up less steeply, as near the south quarter corner intrusion. These notes at'e repeated almost verbatim
of sect ion 7, the steep contact is distinctly crosscutting . in his published report. The almost perCect mushroom
At th e southeast corner of section 7, a part of the form oC the Table Mountain intrusion (pI. 5, fig. 39)
laccolith extends southeastward beneath the F en 'on was accepted by Gilbert as the ideal structural form of
sandstone, but the sandstone is cut off northward by laccoliths.
th e porphyry, which cuts upward through it. The Along th e northeast side of Table Mountain the
porph yry must cu t upward to the east aIso because east contact dips abo ut 80° NE. It cuts back and forth
o f the outcrop of the F erron, on the north side of Cedar irregularly across the beddmg, in a zone about 2 ft wide
Creek, Blu e Gate shale concordantly overlies porphyry ill which the rocks are crushed, but the Tununk shale
t h at appears to be par t of this laccoli th . ruso dips ahout 80° away from the porphyry. A
The west end of tb e laccolith is incompletely exposed hu ndred feet away from ti,e contact the dip is r educed
b u t the contact is steep because it follows a n early to 65 0 • Even at the con tact tJ,e shale is only moderately
straight course across t be divide north oCCedar Creek. baked.
Li ttle is known about the north side oC the laccolith and Along the northwest side oCthe intrusion the contact
th e infen'ed connection with th e laccolith in section 5 is continues steep, dippmg about 80 0 NW. It is more
u ncertain. regular than farther east hut is interrupted by irregular,
 .....
.....
o

Mt Hillers

'o"
M

S
CO
-<
~
""
C'"
'"
~
C
'"
~
~
2
"a:'"
c
c
>;
:;;
Z
U!

1::
9
c·
..z
~

FIf"lURE ro,-Obllquo vIew across tho north ond or Mount Enon. Table Mount.'l ln I!; 1\ bysm!\lIth. The steep side cont:\cts arc exposed at tho outer odgo of t he ring of monoliths; on tho smooth top or tho mountain
a bed or sand~tono lies concordantly on tho porphyry. JugOS Butte also is a bysmalith. Each of tho rld~s botwoon tho croeks d ralnln~ tho nOl'th sldo of Moun t Ellen contains ono or more laccoliths. Photo·
graph by FMr chlld Aurin) Surveys.
 ~'l'R UL.·'1'URAL GEULUGY A.J.~U
small apophyses of porphyry injected into the steeply
dipping baked shale.
On the soul.hwest side of the intrusion the contact is
less stecp but more irregular than along the north side,
and the displacement is accomplished by a series of
steps that have concordant roofs and discordant sides.
Near the north line of section 32, the contact and upper-
mos t strata of the Morrison forma.tion are vertical ,
but the contact is discordant and the strikes converge
northwru·ds. The point at which the Morrison is cut
off northwa.rd is concealed in the talus slope.
A sill in the Tununk sbale soutbwest of the bysmalith
is about 20 ft thick at its most northerly e}.llosure, but
it gradually widens southward to about 65 ft. The
sill is not contin uously exposed nnd the isolated expo-
sures arc offset a rew feet en ech elon, though tbe offset
is not consistently in one direction. Where the siU
joins tbe bysmalith tbe concordant strata enclosing
the sill strike directly toward thc side wall of the
bysmalith, but the contact is not exposed.
lmmedia.tcly so uth of where the sill joins the bysma.-
li th th e a.djoining shale is thoroughly brecciated, a
condition rarely found in the H enry Mountains except
around the. stocks. The contact between tho broccia
and porphyry dips 50 0 toward the intrusion. The
width of the exposed breccia away from tbe contact is
at least 12 ft.
For a short distance along tbe sou tb edge of Table
Mountain the contact is irregular and a wedge of
prophyry extends discordantly into th e Ttmunk shale,
which is brecciated t hrough a wid th of 2 to 5 ft. The
contact has at least two righ t-angle offsets.
On the southeast side of Table Moutain two bell s of
stee]l dips arc separated by a belt of lesser dips. The
F erron sands tone and the immediately adj acent shale
beds dip about 60 0 SE. J\fost of the Tununk sh"le and
the uppermost beds of the Morrison formation dip 300
or less south east. The :-'{orrison heds wbich overlie
porphyry in the slrike valley dip about 45° SE . The
sheet of porphyry in the upper part of the Morrison is
ahout 100 ft thick , but its floor dips more steeply t han
its roof. 'rhe sill, about 1,000 fl long in the J\fancos
shale, is .. bout 50 ft thick at its bluntly rounded north
end , but t·hins to 8 ft at its south end. The structw'"l
displacement on this side of the hysmalit h is less steep
and less in amount than on the northwest side (pI. 5).
The Table Mountain bysmalith has a smooth , gen tl y
undulating, upper surface. '1'he highest point topo-
graphically is the highest point structurally . l"rom it
the roof slopes away in all directions, steeply to the
sout h and southwest, gently (20 percent) for more than
a mile to the north. A considerable part of t he upper
surface of the porphyry is concordantly overlain hy beds
of the Morrison formation . Locally there is as much as
.to'UHMS UF '1'.tH~ IG!\Tf; OU S INTRUSIONS 111
100 {t of this roof rock, nearly all of it moderately indu-
rated sandstone, hut generally the roof is thinner,
commonly as little as 25 ft. The sharp contact of the
roof is gently undulatory in waves whicb generally are
less than 6 in. high and 12 in. apart, and which dis-
cordantly intrude the roof rock a t some places. Even
where the Morrison has been eroded from the roof the
surface of the porphyry is smooth and practically marks
the position of the contact.
A dikelike ridge of porphyry, about 50 it high, dis-
cor dantly intrudes the roof at the south end of Table
Mountain . 1t trends a little west of north and like the
similar ridges on top of the laccoliths is alined with the
:\fount Ellen stock. However , in the eastern part of
the roof of the Table Mountain bysmalith , small troughs
20 ft ,ride and 2 or 3 ft deep I.rend eastwarn , which
suggests that these small inegularities in the roof slope
with the roof radially from th e peak of the bysmalith.
B ULL lIIOl'N'l'AlN
Jukes Butte, referred to in Gilber t's report and locally
called Bull Mountaiu, is one of the most conspi cuous
landmarks on Mount Ellen (fig. 105) . Its top is 2,000
ft higher than Bull Creek and 2,500 ft higher than
Granite Creek, and it stands isolated between those
streams where they emerge from Mount Ellen. The
strata around the butte are not domed by the intrusion,
but t here is a drag along the contacts. Only a short
distance away the strata are nearly flat or reflect ot her
structures independent of this int rusion (pI. 10) .
Along the west sid e of the intrusion the contact was
not found and only at two places, where sediment.ary
rocks and tLe porphyry are exposed close to one another
can the position be inferred very closely . At cach of
thcse places the :\lorrison beds nearcst the intrusion are
verticd. On the north side of the intrusion the por-
phyry is in contact with Morrison beds that are strati-
graphically about 100 ft below th e top of th at formation
(fig. 41). The contact dips about 80 0 away from the
int rusion and the strat,a at th e cont.act, dragged up
almost concordantly, arc moderately crushed and frac-
tw·eel. The contact, exposed through a vertical
dis tan ce of about 50 ft , dips somewhat more steeply than
the adj aeent dragged beds. FOllr hundred feet from
the contact the Dakota sandstone and tbe overlying
beds dip 20 0 away from t he intrusion . The contact
itself is slightly irregular owing to small porphyry bulges
squeezed into the adjacen t strata.
On th e northeast side of Jukes Butte some Morrison
beds extend onto a structural bench in the porphyry.
The upper surface of the bench and the overlying
Morrison h eds dip about 45 0 from the intrusion, hut
locally the dip is steeper. Southwestward the Mor-
112 GJ.<.:: OLOUY AN D GtJOGRAPHY OF 'l'HE HENRY M OUNTAINS REGION, UTAH

FIGURE 41.-A. Skcp discordant COllmct 011 tho north side of Dull Mountain bysmalith, porph)'fY at tbe right. The geologisls are standiug on and pointing to the contact.
Uppermost beds of the Morrison fonnation are drugged up ncarly "ertiC8l1y at the side or tho bysmalith. B, Strep disroroant contact at the south side or the Cedar Crrok
laccolith, porpbyry at the rigbt. Entrada sandstone (Mt) is drugged IlP steeply and crushed against tbe contact. C, Strop discordant oontaCt on tbe east side of Bu)}
Mountain bysmalith, porphyry at right. 'fhc ledge of nearly boriwntal rock at the lower left ill sandstone of the Morrison fonnation . 'rhis bed is turned up vertically
akmg the contact with the porphyry. Photographs by E . D. Miser.
 STHUCTURAL GEOLOGY AN D FOL1MS OF TIlE I G:r-..TEOUS INT RUSIONS
ri"On bed. nrc Cllt off discordantly Itt fl. steep sid e woll
of the main in trusion.
A similar structurol bench olong the east side of the
intrusion is exposed in the south holf section 5. The
sw-face of the hench slopes 45° eastward and is con-
cordantly overlain by It thin veneer of MOlTison stmta.
On the mountninward side of the bench these strata are
turned upward but are cut off discordrultiy along 0;
n early vertical contact at the foot of a porphyry cliff
that forms onc of the side wolls of the main part of the
in trusion. Tbe hench ends ellStward at the rim of a
second porphyry cliff olong which the contact is pmcti-
colly vertical and the adjacent strata aro dragged
upward but cut off discordantly (fig. 41 0).
Extending northeastward from this structurol b ench
is a sill t1Htt, togetber ,,; t!, the enclosing l\1olTison strata,
forms and eastward-facing clifI near tbe foot of the
mountain . The sill is about 125 ft thick where it joins
the beneh bu t it thins pmgressively northeastward and
it must thin northwestward olso because the roof of the
sill dips mtber steeply northwestward from the rim of
the cliff whereas the floor is n eal'ly hOl'izon tal. When
vi ewed from tb o east this sill looks very much likc t hc
tapc";ng fringe of the base of a laccolith bu t actually it
is only a nA.rrow tonguelike satellite proj ecting nOl'th-
ellStward from the main intrusion . Three hundl'ed feet
to the south , at the southC111 e<lge of the porphyry
bench with which tbe sill is connected, the same :Mor-
rison bcds are dragged upward along a discordrul t
contnct and contain no sill ,
Along the southeast side of Jukes Butte (.he contact
is steep and locolly (lips 65° towal'ds the intrusion. The
adjacent sedimentary rocks OJ'e not distUl'bed by the
intrusion except for a vcry narrow drag zon e, generally
DO more than a few feet wide, One hundred and fifty
feet from the contact the strata dip 10° toward the
intrusion, The steep contact crosscuts at least 100 ft
of the upper part of the Monison formation .md the
Dakota sandstone.
The r idge of porphyry southwest of Jukes Butte
pI'obably r epresents aD obliq ue seetion across an in tl'U-
sion that bulged linearly along a southwest-trending
axis. A nalTow band of steeply dipping sed imentru'y
rocks consisting of 150 ft of uppermost beds of the
Morrison formRtion and the Dakota sandstone separates
this intrusion from the Bull Mountain bysmalith,
At many places the top of Jukes Butte is a fairly
smooth surface sloping nortlleastward and it probably
rep l'escnts the originol top of the intruSiOD. Sevcml
dikelike ridges of porphyry on top of the bysmolith at
its northeast end are no higher than the top of the but te
but make wolls a hundred feet or more higb on t be
nortll slope, They are olined with the stock, likc the
dikcs on top of the laccoliths and on the othel' two
113
bysmoliths, so are probably originol intrusive featmes
though considerably modified by erosion (fig. 105),
The fOl1nations southwest of Jukes Butte are strue-
turolly severol hundred feet higher than the fOl1nations
northeast of the moun tain and undou btedly are under-
lain by porphyry, part of whicb may connect the
bysmolith witb th e Mount Ellen stock. The strati-
graphic position of the floor of tbe bysmalith is not
Imown but can be no higher than thc middle of the
l'v[orrison format lon.
RAGGE D MOUNTAIN
Ragged Mountain, an isolated butte by Slate Creek
(fig. 2A , 42A ) and a conspicuous landmark at tile
southeast side of Mount Ellen , is 1,000 ft higher than
Garden Basin and 2,000 ft higher than Slate Creek
which flows by its sou th ern base. The mountain sum-
mit is a nalTOW jagged porphY"Y ridge; on its sides are
ragged spms of porpbFY sepamted by loose rock slides
(fig, 27); its base consists of a series of cliffs fOlllled by
n elLrly horizontal beds of sandstonc, The hill has been
erod ed considembly and the present topographic fOllIl
probably bears little resemblance to the originol form
of the intrusion.
Ragged Mountn.in is a bysJno.lith (l.1'Ound which the
strata are turned up vertically and locolly even over-
turned, Th e contact is about 1,000 ft below the peak.
At the westernmost of th e excellent exposures on the
south side, sandston e beds ncar til e mid(Ue of the Mor-
rison fOllllation are turned up vertically and shole beds
that und erlie the sandstone are overturned 55° at the
contact witll the porphyry, Eastward tbe porphyly cuts
across the lower holf of the MOI'1;soD to the Summer-
v;ne. The Summervill e also is ovcr turned 45°, but
about 150 ft away from the contact, sandston e beds of
the Morrison are verticol nnd within 300 ft from the
contact these beds are nearly hOl'izontol (fig. 42B) .
On the east and southeast sides of the butte Morri-
son beds are tmned up vCl,ticall y, or nearly so, at the
contact, and farth er north olong the cast side beds 300
ft from the contact are olso v ertical. These beds that
dip steeply away from the contact flatten within a few
hundred feet and form cliffs around the foo t of the
mountain,
Along the north side of Ragged Mountain the Dakota
sandstone and the upper part of tile Morrison fOlmation
are nearly vCl,tieol Ilt tile fault and a t t be smoll outcrop
1,000 ft to the west, Because the Dakota sandstone
is abou t 700 ft h'om tbe edge of the intrusion , the
S urrunervill e and UPPeIlllost Entrada may be preseIlt
at the contact as indicated on the map (pI. 7), olthough
these formations were not identified in tbe field.
On the west side of the intrusion Morlison strata at
the contact are turned up 75° to 90°. At most places
 >-'
>-'

""

''""
S
"
"~
..... - ........... ;..:~~
~)..~~ ..... . .?.. . .tl.~: o"'"
,.J,. ~ "~
~,_;i ~~. -~f-~
~

,
.
.--'.
'\Y. ~:.
" ~
[; ='. :"
'. .. ...
o
'~"

•
.{
t;I
~~'" ' ....
lSi
, f
..-.I ' •
.. '~ "
..... ., " , -•
"
" ~
Z

''''- "'4 ... -'"

" . . ."
", :ill' ""oE::
'.. '-.G ~ '"\
.. . '" ' ' i
c1
~
'".. ~ ~
"'~
...~, -if>---"
, ~
OJ

)" .. .., \...,. o"'"

~
' ,

.., .........
'.' . ~.
.;l.
~~
"
'

,."
~
.... -
.-..

-
~
,f

.'
."~
'.
... .
~'.

FIGURE 42.-Vlcws on Mount Ellen. A, Ragged Mountnin, lookJng n.cross the Canyon of Slate Creck. Noo.rly horimntal beds of sandstone appear to pass under the mountain but they Brc turned vertically at the
cont1l.Ct with the porphyry forming the upper half and core of the mountain. The Intrusion is a bysmalith. B, Vlowalong tho south side of the Ragged Mountain bysmalith showing sandstone bC!ds of the Morrison
formation dragged up stC<lply against the side or the Intrusion but tlat 3. short distance away lrom It (right) . C, Lawlcr-Ekker placer mine on the gravel benches below Eagle City.
 S'I'fmC'r U RAL GEOLOGY Al\TD FORMS OF TIIE IGNEOUS INT RUSIONS
these dips diminish progressively away from the in-
trusion but at the south end of the syncline of the
Dakota sandstone the rocks 300 to 500 ft from the
contact , including the Dakota, ''''e overturned. These
overturned strata lire adjacent to the nearly horizontal
b eds tbat rim the canyon, so the break between the
dips is extremely sharp .
No roof rocks remain on the bysmalith but a sharp
dikelike ridge on the crest tr ends southeast, is "lined
with the Mount Ellen stock (fig. 27), and probably
reflects an original intrusive stt'ucture. If so, the (.op
of Ragged Mounta in roughly coin cides witb the orig-
inal top of the in tf'Usion.
Th e alinement of this dikelike summit ridge with the
Mount Ellen stock fits the radial pattem of the satel-
litic intrusions around the stock. Moreover, a south-
eastward , as well as an upward thrust, is indicated
b ecause the forma tions underlying the Copper Ridge
laccolith in Garden Basin are structurally about 300
it higher than the fOI'llations so utheast of Ragged
Mountain. Presumably another lac,colitb 01' sh eet
underlies the Copper Ridge laccolith and connects the
Ragged Mountnin bysmalith wi th the Mount Ellen
s tock. The stratigraphic position of this infen 'ed con-
n ecting intrusion is not kuown out in the vicinit,y of
Ragged Mountain it can be no higher than the Summer-
ville forma tion.
BURIED LACCOLITH S
Around the foot of Mount Ellen arc four antielinal
fol ds tha t resemble the anticlines OVer the laccoli ths
and they undoubteclly overlie buried laccoliths. These
folds are located on the cast, northeast, and north sides
of the mountain . No metamorphism "" IS observed on
these folds, but metamorphism is slight eyeryv, here in
the H enl'Y ~lountain s and particularly so where ther e
is considerable sands tone, as thero is at u.ll Lut, one of
these folds. Two of the folds are cut by dikes that
t rend radially from the Moun t Ellen stock.
On the east side of the moulltain, at the south , is
the Maze Arch which exposes the entire thickness of
the Glen Canyon group and has more than 500 ft of
closure. The cast and southeast flanks of this dome
m erge with the flank of the large Mount Ellen dome
(pI. 5). The dips are steepest and the displacemen t
by the fold is greatest on the side away from the st<:>ck
and a small dike in the dome trends southeast. Prob-
ably the dome is underlain by a laccolith in the Triassic
or older !'Ocks.
Farther north along the east side of the mounta UI is
the Crescent A" ch which is cut by" dike that extends
1M miles northeasterly. Th e southwest flank of the
!lIeh is broken by minor faults Pllrallel to the dike
(pI. 7).
115
At R eservoir Basin , cast of Jukes Butte, an anti-
clinal nose plunges northeastward (fig. 105) a::ld a
similar fold at J et Basin, northeast of Table Mountain,
plunges northward (pI. 5). These two folds, like the
an ticlinal noses over the laccoliths, plunge away from
the mountain, but they differ from the Maze and
Cr escen t Arches in being open towards the mountain.
R eservoir Basin an<l. J et Basin are probably underlain
by laccoli ths although no intrusive rocks wm'e (ound
in them. The laccoli th under R eservou' Basin ",til be
no higher than tile lower part of the Sltn Rafacl group
a nd the laccolith undel' Jet Bas;'l elln he no higheJ' than
baslll Morrison.
E xcept for these foul' domes the flanks of the Mou.nt
Ellen uplift are smooth; apparently the Mount Ellen
cluster of ultrusions includes no more than these four
buried laccoliths ou tside the b elt of exposed intrusions.
MOUNT PENNELL
Mount Pennell consists of a central stock arou.nd
which the sedimentary rocks, intruded by a few lacco-
liths and many dikes and sills, are turned up 45 0 in a
nearly circular dome (pI. 11). The dome has a struc-
tural relief of about 6,000 feet (pI. 5) tUld tln'ough the
Hanks laccoliths were inj ected northward Illld north-
eastward from the stock. These laccoliths form linear
bulges lilw the laccoliths on ]""[ount Ellen (pI. 9) Illld
tlleir roofs are arched into anticlines that plunge radi-
ally away from the stock. Sills are numerOlIS. They
dip away from the stock (tigs. 43,44) and many of them
r ut to higher stratigraphi c horizons down the dip.
Brccciation al'ound the :Mount Pennell stock is
negligible except for an elongate mllSS of scrumbled
sedimentary and ign eous l'Ocks forming Bulldog Ridge
southellst of the stock , and a similar bu t il'regull1r and
less well exposed mass in the head of Deer Creek west
of the stock.
The stock itself consists of diorite pO"phyry, monzo-
nite porphyry, and aplitic dikes. The monzonite
porphyry is in trusive into the diorite porphyry and both
t hese rock types ar e cu t by very thinaplitic dilms.
All the laccoliths except the biotite-bearing Hom
lI1ccolith are composed of diorite porphyry, but the
sills and dikes are composed of either diorite 0" monzo-
nite porphyry.
MOUNT PENNELL STOCK
Around the peak at the center of the l\l[ount P ennell
dome, is a porphyry s tock that covers about 2 sq mi
(figs. 2B, 43) . Not only is the stock at the centeI of
the stru cture hu t it is also at the center of ign~'()us
activity on the mountain- the center f!'Om which the
laccoliths and other satcllitic intrusions radiate.
 ~
.....
0>

Bromide Bas in

C"l
o'"
S
C"l
....
!Z
"
'o'""
''""
~
o..,

~
~
~
.:
~
~
'"
'"'"
~
!

FiOURE 43.-0bHQuQ view northeast across Mount Pennell. Tho oonter cl tho Mount l'enncU stock Is just south of the twin peaks 01 the mountaln. ~;·The mountain flank in the foreground consists of Crctaceous
fOlmntlons Intruded by many sills dIpping 20° to 45" awa.y lrom the stock. The Emery sandstone mcmbC'r of the Mancos shale forms the dip slope)n tho foreground an(the hogback at tho len. Photographs
by FairchUd AeriAl Surveys.
 STHUC."TUHAL GEOLOGY A.t~D FORMS OF THE IGNEOUS INTRUSIONS
Around tho stock is '''' aurcole of epidotized indul'llted
rock. This metamo'l,hism, even tluough slight, is ncver-
theless morc intense than around the knm\~l laccoliths.
Aplitic dikes and minor deposits of sulfide minerals
are practically restricted to the stock. The structural
position of the stock at the center of a huge symmet" ieal
dome and the discordance between the stock and sedi-
mentary mcks turned up around it further distinguis h
this intrusion from the peripheral satellitic ones.
In the central part of the st<lck is a considerable mass
of monzonite porphyry. Tills rock is very unevenly
porphyritic and contaillS much potash feldspar, some
of it in phenocrysts as long as 4)\ in. Textural varieties
of the monzonitc porphyry complexly intrude onc
another and these in tmn are intruded by narrow aplite
dikes.
The outline of the central core of monzonite por-
phyry is p."Obably much more irregular and may be
very different than shown on the map (1'1. 7). The
outer limi.t of this core is well defined on each of the
half dozen ridges that radiate f!"Om the peak but the
boundary is concealed across the intervening valleys.
Judging from float, however, the contact is about
vertical, dipping towards the core at the head of D eer
Creek and dipping away from the core at the head
of Dark Canyon.
There is a suggestion of a concentric or ring structure
within the stock. On the ridge between the head of
Straight and COITal Creeks, five of eight intrusive con-
tacts arc parallel and trend northeast; th e other three
are not well exposed. Northwest of the peak two
intrusive contaets trend northeast, and northeast of the
peak two contllcts trend northwest. At the peak tile
intrusive "elations are iITegular. North of the peak, on
the ridge cast of Dru'k Canyon, eight dikes trend east
or a litt.le south of east. On the ridge 2,500 It southwest
of the peak a dike t"ends northwest. On the other
hand, southeast of the monwni te porphyry co,'e the
diorite porphY'Y is intruded by in'egular dikes of mon-
zonite porphyry that are suggestive of a radial structure.
No shatter zone was recognized Itmund the Mount
Pennell stock for the prophY"y ends latemlly against
st,eeply tilted sl'dimentary rocks. East of the stock
th e strata are ,'ertical and at places even overtul"l1ed,
but the dips are much less steep a short distance from
the contact. The doming is less steep on the south
and west sides. The north flank of the dome is bmkcn
by a discordant irregalar intrusion that eXLends north-
ward f"om the stock to the laccoliths north of the mOlln-
tRin. Thus the l\1ount Pennell stock is asymmetri c as
if inj ected nortb-northeas t~vard ns well as upward. The
satellitie intrusions add to the asymmetry, for the well-
117
developed laccoliths are rest.; cted ro the steep flank at
the north and northeas t sides of the stock.
No valuable ore deposits have been fOlmd in the
MOlUlt Pemlellsrock butmiI.orquantities of copper,goId,
and silver OCClll" in the upper part of Str~ight Creek near
the south edge of the central core of monzonite
porphyry.
BULLDOG RIDGE AND BROWNS KNOLL
The Bulldog Ridge, a prominent spur extending
southward from Mount Pennell , is a complex of sedi-
m entary and igneous rock and is shown on the map as
a shatter zone (1'1. 7). Along the crest of the ridge are
i'Tegularly tilted amI crumpled masses of baked shale,
presmnably belonging to the Blue Oate shale. These
mnsses arc cut discordantly by irregular intrusive
m asses of monzonite and diorite porphY'Y. Few of the
intrusions nre large. Topograpnic benches along the
sou thwest and northeast sides of the ridge are under-
lain by gently dipping, irregular sheets.
'Where Bulldog Ridge joins the higher ridge south of
Straight Creek a fairly large porphyry mass concord-
antly overlies Ferron sandston e, which dips about 45°
away from the stock. South of this locality Bulldog
Ridge is thought to represent a flue that rises outward
from the srock and through whicb anastomosing por-
phy"y intrusiollS wer e injected from the sLock. These
intrusions probably supplied the sheets tmderlying the
bcnches on each side of the ,·idge. This flu e p"obably
penetrates the strata dipping off the stock in the south
wall of Straight. Creek hut emss-eutting contacts weTO
not fOlUld.
Browns Knoll and th e benches intp.rvening beLween
it and Bulldog Ridge contnin tllick porphyry sheets
inj ected along the Emcry sandstone-in part along tbe
base, in part along tilC top. Half a mile south of the
knoll a porphyry sbeet ends abruptly against a vertical
edge of the Emery sandstone, wltich must have been
displaced by faul ti ng at the edge of the intrusion. This
structm'e is duplicated , though less lVell exposed, half
a mile farther south.
In the center of sec. 24, T. 33 S. , R. 10 E. , a sheet
that extends from Bulldog Ridge easLward beneatll tile
EmelY sandstone thins eastward IlJld the roof rocks,
including highe,' intrusion shcets, dip southenstwru'd off
it. It connects with a lo wer sheet neal' the south edge
of Bulldog Ridge and the lower sbeet thins a t the south
line of the section. A tbousand feet no,·th of Mud
Spring the roof plunges southeastward and ridges and
troughs ill the top of tl,e porphyry also plunge south-
eRstwllJ·d. The ridges appear as small dikes, ane! the
intervening tmughs contain canoelike r emnants of the
mof rocks.
U8 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPm:· OF THE HENRY MOU!\TAlNS REGION, UTAH
INTRUSIONS BETWEEN PINB SPRING AND SILL CANYON
The southwest flank of Mount Pennell consists of
a series of intrusive sheets that dip, with their host
rocks, 20° to 4qo away from the stock (fig. 43). Dis-
section of l1iCse rocks has produced sharp-pointe<:1
revet crags that face the mountain. Loose talus at
the foot and sides of the cliffs extends to the valley
bottoms (fig. 44). Valleys are na.TOW and steep,
and their streams have numerous cascades over rock
ledges, or over temporary dams formed by the slides.
This is one of the roughest pRrts of the Henry Moun-
taIDs--{)ne that is largely trailless and rarely visited
except by maverick cattle.
The dip progressively increases towurd the mountain.
Near the stock the sills a.·e numerous and only thin
banels of sedimentary rocks separate them, but farth er
from the stock the sills arc more widely spaced, although
not noticeably thinner. Many of the sills discordantly
cut to younger strata, away from I.he stock; t.hus some
strata do not appear at the sUlface, having been removed
from the exposed roof of IUl intrusive and cut off down
dip by the porphyry and conceal cd beneuth it. This
crosscutting probably accounts for· thc apparent thin-
ness of the Tununk shale at the head of Sill Canyon,
where only about half of t.he shale unit seems to be
present.
The sills above and just below the Fen-on sandston e
in t.he vicinity of Pipe Spring n re simpl e enough struc-
}'lOUK& 44.- 0no or the thick sills in lho Cretaceolls formations on the southwest fl ank of Mount Pennell. Vlcw Is northwest in Wild Cow Canyon.
turally, bu t farth er up Deer Canyon and along the
divide sonth of the canyon complex intrusive and
structural relations are interpreted to be a pipelike
sbatter zone likc Bnlldog Ridge (pI. 11).
Sills along ti10 eli vides between 1110 forks of Sill
Canyon are slight.Jy discordant and cut to younger
strata away from the stock. Th ey probably thin
northwestward in the divide between Sill Canyo n
and 'Vild Cow Canyon but the m.:pOSUl"es there aTe
poor.
Th e sheet that is int.ruded into the Fen·on sandstone
southeast of Wild Cow Canyon is very thick on the
ridge but it is much t.hinner to the west and to the east.
The details of its bulbous form are conjectura.l because
lhe roof contact is concealed and the floor is exposed
only at tbe very crest of the ridge. Ferron sandstone
is exposed above the intrusion near Wild Cow Canyon
whereas farther east no Ferron was found above it.
Thus eastward th e intrusion probably cuts upwat·d to
the top of the Fen·on.
Both diorit.e and monzonite porphyry occur in these
dikes and sills. The dike of monzonite porphyry at
the h ead of Sill Canyon is well exposcd cutting across
the sills of diorito porphyry.
These sills and tile others on Mount Pennell were
probably intmded during the uplift of the Mount
P ennell dome, which apparently was formed by the
intmsion of the stock (see p. 139). Some of the sills
and ,likes are composed of monzonit e porphyr.'·, which
 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND FORMS OF THE IGNEOUS INTRUSIONS
represents one of the late intrusive phases. Probably
there was continued doming while tbese sills were
being intruded . Their shapes suggest that they wel'e
inj ected laterally from the dikes or oth er crosscutting
bodies, rather than from the stock, and tbat they
were injected along the strike rather than down the
dip of the domed strata.
DARK CANYON LACCOLITH
The Dark Canyon laccolith form s a wide and promi-
nen t ridge between :M ud and Gibbons Sp .. ings on the
north side of J\Jount Pennell. The creek in Dark
Canyon is incised abou t 350 ft into the porphy ry of the
laccolith but has not yet cut its wtty to the floor. Thus
this creek, like Bull Creck and Dugout Creek on Mount
Ellen, did not shift its course off th e structure during
th e uncovering of the intnlsion.
Th e laccolith was probably inj ected slightly eas t of
north from the Mount Pennell stock (fig. 45) . It is a
broad flat-topp<'u intrusion with a steep nortll side and
less steep east and west sides. It intl"udes the top of
the Morrison fonnation, at most places about 50 or 75
ft below the Dakota sandstone, but locally along the
southeas t side it {mts upw ard to the Dakota.
Soutllellst of th e laccolith the stmttt are noorly hori-
zontal , but at the edge of Lhe intrusion they are tmned
up ttbruptly abou t 300 • They fla tten again equally
abruptly across the top of the intrusion.
E ast of Dttrk Canyon th e roof is practioolly horizon-
tal, but west of tb e canyon it dips about 150 W. FM-
ther west the dip increases to about 30 0 and the steep
dip is maintained in th e F e..ron sandstone in the
vicini ty of Mud Spring.
Tbe no ..theast edge of the laccolith is nearly straight
and th e adjoining Monison beds are turned up almost
vertically at the contact, These steeply dipping beds
abruptly flattell and become n early horizontal only a
short distance away from the intrusion. This is the
distal edge of th e intrusion and, in common with most
other laccoliths in these mountains, is steeper and more
blunt than the two sides.
Where the trail crosses Dark Canyon upst ..eam from
the laccolith , p01'phyey cu ts discordantly across the
Dakota sandston e 8Jld the TUllllnk s1tale. From the
upper PMt of this discordant mass a sheet extends
northward across the F erron sanelstone and into the
overlying shale along the west flank of the Dark Can-
yon laccolith (fig. 45).
THE HORN LACCOllTH AND ADIACENT INTRUSIONS
Th e Hom laccolith is a linear bulge of biotite-beMing
porphyry that emerged northwMd from beneath a
sheet of diorite porphyry. The axis of the intrusion is
119
alined with the stock; the general form is shown in
figure 45. No exposums of the floor were found but
several exposures of the roof indicate that the intmsion
thins eastward and westward by a stepping down of
the roof. The laccolith intrudes the Blue Gnte shale
ncar the top of the Ferron sandstone but southward it
cuts downwat"d through the sandstone, at least locally,
because small patches of Fe.. ron overlie it.
At the high part of The Hom (fig. 46), called Senti-
nel Butte by GilbCl"t, the laccolith is 1,000 ft or more
thick. Viewed from a distance, the upper 100 ft appears
as a sh eet that is distinct from the lowe.. part of the
intrusion, but this may be only a weathering phenome-
non controlled by the more ablmdant joints in the
upper part, because tbe rock in the ridge is all one type
and close inspection failed to reveal the suggested
sbeeted stmcture.
On th e crest of the ridge only 2 to 5 ft of baked
Blue Gate shale separates The Horn laccolith from the
higher sheet of diorite pOl'phyry which occupies most
of the 2 sqnare miles south of The Horn. Tllis sheet
is thin and not well expressed topographically at the
south end of The Horn but it t hickens eastward and is
bulged linearly. Southens t of The Horn the bulge
forms a ridge on top of which are two nOl,thward-
trending dikelike porphyry ridges a bout 50 ft high.
The trough between the ridges is 1,000 ft long, 150 ft
wide, and contains remnants of the roof of the Blue
Gate shale. These structures are aliucd with tl,e stock.
COYOTE CREEK tACCOIJTH AND NEIGHBORING INTRUSIONS ON THE EAST
SIDE OF MOUNT PENNELL
The Coyote Creek laccolith covers about 1 sq mi but
is not very distinct lopograpllically because it is so
nearly sunounded by irregular small intrusions, Tho
laccolith is composed of diorite porphyry that pl"Obably
was inj ected northeas tw8J'd from the Mount P ennell
stock (fig. 47). It is mod eralely concordant with the
enclosing sediment.ary rocks nIthough north eastward it
cuts downward from basal Tununk to uppermost
Morrison. The floo .. is concealed but the roof is well
ro..l'osed between the forks of Coyote Creek which
are incised about 300 ft into the porpbyry.
A sill of monzonite porphyry, abou t 75 ft thick, is
contained in the strata tumod up along the southeast
edge of the laceoli tho Several oth er sills, com posed of
diorite porphyry, are h igher than the laccolith and
extend consider•.bly farth el' north ruld south but the...
structural relation to the laccolith is not known. Im-
mediately above the laccolith the sills are almost
hOl"izontal but nearer the mountain they are ve.. tical
as Me the enclosing strata. I assume tbat most of
them arc youngel" than the mountain dome bu t that
 '-'

""
o

/ 4 "o"
S
""'
~
C
Cl

'"
o
"'"
~
..,
o
8
il:
'"
il:
'z"
"'g'"
~

"l
~
z
'"
'"
"o"'
H

..z
Q
~

FIGURE 45.-lsornotrtc fenee diagram of Tho ITom la.ccoHth, Dark Canyon laccolith, nnd other intrusions on the north side or Mount Pennell. Tp, porphyry; Kmbg, Bluc Oato shale member, Kmf, Forron
sandstone member and, Kmt, Tununk shale, members oCthe Mancos shalo; Kd. Dakota sandstone; Jm, Morrison formation; Is, Summcrvlllo formatton; and Ie. Entrada sandstone.
 STRUCTUR AL GEOLOGY AND FO RMS OF THE IGNE OUS INT RUSIONS
FIGURE 46.-Vlew northwest a~TOSS PenelJcn !'ass. The lIom isone of the laccolitb::: Injected northward (rom Mount Pennell. Phoklgruph by H. D. Miser.
their dips were increased by renewed or continued
domal uplift.
Between the Coyote Creek and Dark Canyon
laccolit hs is a broad syncline that contains several
sills whose aggregate thickness is approximately equal
to the Coyote Creek la.ccolit h. These sills are in tbe
"ocks below the F erron saudstone, so the synclinal
structure does not appear in fonnations as high as the
F erron.
MOUNT .fITI.. LEllS
The Mount Hillers dome and t·he stock at the center
of it comprise the southern half of the mountain
(pIs. 12, 13) and provide one of the most spectacular
landscape views in the Hen" y :\10untains (figs. 50, 108).
To the east, south, and west of this part of the mountain
Cretaceous and uppermost Jurassic beds rise gradually
onto th e big dOlTIe. :\1ollntn.illw nrd t.he (lips progres-
sively steepen and older and old er formations, down
to the Permian, are exposed in colorful concentric
bands. The resistan t and almost vel·tical sandstones
form high steep walls between skike valleys of the
brightly colored shales. T he continui ty of the forma-
tions is broken only by sills and radial dikes whose dark
masses mottle the variegated bands.
As one goes toward t.he center of ti,e dome and
approaehes t he s tock, t.he sedinlentary rocks become
mor e and more crushed and the sills and dikes become
more numerous and much less regnlar in form. Ad-
joining the stock is a shatter zone in which individual
intrusions are too num ero us and too irregular to be
mapped separately on a scale of 1:31,680 and bound-
aries between the sedinlentmy formations "an be
r ecognized only in a general way. The width of the
sha tter zone r anges from half It mile to more tban !l
210116-53--9
121
mile. Ins ide the shatter zone is It huge mass of
moderately homogeneous diOl'ite porphyry that com-
prises t he stock, about 2)\ sq mi in area. The stock
and its shatter zone are located somewhat off the
center of the mountain dome, and they discordantly
cut ofr more than 2,000 ft of stmta he.tweeJ1 the south
and north sides of the dome.
Laccoliths on Mount Hillers, as on Mount Pennell,
are restricted to the north and nortbeast sides of the
mountain. Like other laccoliths in the Henry Moun-
tains, however, t hey are tong ue-£haped , their arched
roofs form anticlinal noses that plunge away from the
stock, and the axes of the anticlines radiate from the
stock. Even the porphyry sheet at Trachy te Mesa,
which is about 6 miles frOln the main mountain mass,
is elongate and has linear stJ'Uotures alined with the
stock. It nppears to he connected wit h the main moun-
tain mass by It flat-topped dilw or horizontal plug. The
nearly circular int rusions at Bulldog Peak (fig. 48) and
Black M esa probably a re bysmali ths.
Plate 14 shows the distribution and general plan of
the intrusions on Mount Hillers and the position of the
cross sections used in the diagrams illustrating the form
and structure of the int rusions.
MO UN T HILLEBS STOCK
The Mount Hillers stock, which covers abou t 2}\ sq
mi centering in the upper part of Star Canyon, forms a
rugged area, mantled with rock slides, and is accessible
only on foot and even then wit h difficulty.
Gilbert interpreted this int rusion to b e a laccolith but
I believe it is a stock, becA1use it cu ts discordantly from
P e,miaJl on the south to Upper J urassic on the north ;
it is the central in trusion of the Mount Hillers clnster
122 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
FIflURE 47.-Isomctrlc fence diagram of Coyote Creek laccolith and neighboring Intrusions on the ca.'!t side of Mount P Ctlllcll. 'l'p, porphyry; Kmbg, Blue Gate shale,
member Kruf, Ferron sandstone mem~r. and Kmt, TUllunk shale, members or the Mancos shale; Kd, Dakota sandstone; Jm, Mocrison (ormation; Js, Summerville
formation and older rocks.
and the other intrusions radiate from it; the metamor-
phism is more intense around it than around the known
laccoliths; epidote, albite, and quartz veins are· much
better developed in and around tbis central intrusion
than around the known laccoliths; and the shatter
zone around the central intrusion is not dupl icated
around the known laccoliths.
The stock consists of moderately homogeneous diorite
porphyry of the type common in the Henry )'lountains.
Its main mass is centered in the mountain dome but
one lobe crosscu ts into the southeast flank of the dom e
and a larger lobe rrosscuts into the northwest flank.
The structure contour map (pI. 5) indicates that th e
Hillers dome has about 5,000 ft of relief, but this is only
the minimum relief outside of the shatter zone, because
the P ennian rocks brought up in their proper strati-
graphic position in the shatter zone require far more
uplift than shown by th e structure contours on the
F elTon sandstone. Furthermore, the south and east
flanks of the dome are in pa rt vertical but this was
ignored in order to project the contours on the Ferron
against the side of the stock.
South of the stock the sbatter zone is about half a
mile wide, and on the geologic map (pi. 12 ) the outer
"-
~F ..t
limit is drawn at the base of the Chinle formation . In
the outer part of the shatter zone at tbe Woodruff mine
the entire Moenkopi formation and a few hundred feet
of Pel1nian strata are exposed, but these formations m'e
so shattered and irregularly rut by minor intrusions
that no attempt was made to map them separately.
In general the shattered beds dip about 55° away from
the stock, but outside the shatter zone Upper Triassic
and Jw'assic fonnations are vertical. The dips are less
steep half a mile from the outer edge of the shatter zone.
The sills and radial dikes in t he shatter zone and in the
rocks turned up neaJ'by are composed of the sarne
porphyry as is tbe stock, although several textural
varieties are represented. These minor intrusions do
not extend south of the belt of very steep dips.
On the west sid e of the mountain the shatter zone
extends nearly a mile through all the st eeply dipping
formations to tbe less steeply d ipping base of the Upper
Cre\;aceous. In this widened bel t of the shat ter zone
the deformat ion and intrusive relations are complex,
but in crossing the zone t he entire stratigraphic section
can b e recognized in proper sequence in the float and in
small exposures, The shattering, therefore, has not
'h'agged the formation s far out of position. Figure
 r:-~: _ -H :..a,,--.a..-..-.....-. ....... ~, ~

... f!j
Mou nt Ell sworth ~
CO
"'
~
C
t'1
C
S
c
'~"
"
~
if.

C
'"
i
'"
~

CO

"'"
C
c
'"~
"'
§
'"
~
rn

aoro~s Mount Hillers. Mount HiUC'rs and the pointed peak to the right of It are In the stock . Bulldog P eak probably l<; a bysmalith . Stewart Ridge Is one of the Jar~est
FI(;Ul1.E 4S.- 0bIlQUO view southeast
lacrollths In thel1enry Mountains. I n the lower l<'ft corner Is part of a grnvel·covered pediment. Mount Holme::; and Mount Ellsworth in the dlstanCG aro located on the edge of t he canyon country.
Photograph by Fairchild Aerial Surveys. ......
~
124 GEOLOG Y AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
108 is fl view across some of Lhe formalions where they
seem to be cut off by U,is westward extension of the
shnl1.t'r ZOlle .
The Glen Canyon group is cut off at the edge of the
stock in the head of Sq uaw ClU'Yon. Fa rther north
th e heds against the stock belong in the upper part of
the Jurassic and probably are basal Morrison.
The shaLter zone is more than a mile wide in the
forks of Gold Creek, northeas t of the stock. Ncar the
center of section 34, T. 33 S., R. 11 E. , the fOllIlations
stril(e northeast, but the strike changes through efist to
southeas t near the center of section 35. In general
tht'Se fOllIlations are in their proper stratigraphic
sequence although faulLing or irregular intrusions
cnuse lninor repetition or ('uLLing ouL of some strata.
The older formutions are cut off discordantly along the
northeust edge of the stock.
In the shatter zone nOI·th and northeast of t ho
stock the [arm a tions dip less steeply than on the other
sides. Perhaps the dips formerly were much steeper
than now but when the laccoliths were inj ected north-
ward the lower edges of the overlying, steeply dipping
formation s may have been drngged outwlU·d and up-
ward by the roofs of the laccoliths, thereby wid ening
the shat ter zone and reducing the dips in it.
Mt Ellsworth
FIGURE 49.- VlCWSOUtll llcrOSS OoJc.l Crwk, showing the sedimentary formations turned steepl)' upward on the funk o(thc Mount
The east side of tbe s tock, between Gold Creek and
Ghost Creek , resembles the south side (fig. 49), but
between Ghost Creek lUld Still· Creek a lobe of the shat-
ter zone extends so utheastward through the steeply
dipping formation s (fi g. 50).
SAWTOOTH RrnGE AND NORTB SAWTOOTH RIDGE LACCOLITBS
Sawtooth l\idge, named J erty Butte by Gilbert , is
2 miles long, half a mil0 wide, and 1,000 ft high. Its
south side is mostly a series of cliffs and rock slides;
the north side is less prccipi tous. The crest of tho
ridge is extremely rough and jagged, its profile giving
the ridge its name.
Two interpretations may be made of this intrusion.
The exposed porphYlY may be the bulging upper pnrt
of a dike, or the porphyry may be a roughly horizontal
and more or less cylindrical mass trending a little north
of east and extending to no great depth. Whatever
the extent of the intrusion at depth its upper part is
decidedly inegular. Its top consists of several por-
phyry ridges, with the sedimen tary roof rocks still
preserved in some of the troughs between them.
Cataclastic lineation at the roof contact is usually in
the direction of maximum dip without regard to the
UiJlOl'S slock. Some of the ledges are sills.
 ;!J

~S'
t-
O

'"
o
5
"
~

>
Z
'"
6
~
o
."

~
'"
~

"~
o
c
'"
~
'"
C

~
rr.

PInvilE .5O.-0bUque vlow northwest across Mount BU1ers. The main mnss of ::\fount Hillers comprl!lOS the stock a.nd porlph('ral sh:lttor zone. Around this mountain. (ormations toot range fro m Pcrminn to
Cretl\CCOus !lrC turnod up vertIcally agaInst tho sIde of the stoCk and shatter zone. Th!' conspicuous ltght-grny snndstoneIs Nllvu]o. Photogmph by Fairchild Aerial Surveys,
.....
~
<:.n
 .....
~

"'"
0
t""'
0
0

'~"
tl

"'"c
0

'"
>
'"~
'"
0
."

~
~

'z"
''""
'"0
~

r.
~
~

\ /
_Foot en
''""
0
H

-~
c::
"'~
FIGURE 51 .-lsometr1c fenen dL.'\grom of the Sawtooth Ridge laccolith, the laooollth north of Sawtooth Ridge, Bhck :Mesa bysm~Uth and Malden Creck lacooHth. Tp. porphyry; Kmt. Tununk sb.'"Ile,
momber of Mancos shale; Kd, Dnkotll sandstone; Jm, Morrison forml\tion: Is , Summerville [ormation: Je. Entrada sandstono; Jea., Carmel [ormation; In, Nilvillosandstono.
 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND FUHM" OF THE IGNEOUS INTRUSIONS
genoml trend of the int rusion. At the eastern end of
th e intrusion and at Trail Creek, Morrison strata
overlie the porphyry, but at th e peak the capping rock
is F erron sandstene. Evidently t he cen tral part of
th e porpbyry bulged discord antly upward (fi g. 51).
On top of th e ridge at its east end is exposed a
concordant roof dipping south (fig. 52); a concordant
floor may underlie the exposed porphyry. At th is
locality the Morrison (lips about 5° W., but th e south
edge of the porphyry cuts upwa rd about 80° te highe,·
s trata and for a distance of 20 ft from tho contact
th e ~rorrison beds al'C considerably dragged and
crushed.
Numerous sills, dikes, and other less regular apo-
physes extend laterally from the steep sides of the
intrusion. A sill abou t 50 ft thick, presumably con-
nected with the Sawtooth Ridge laccolith (fig. 51) ,
intrudes the Smnmerville formation and underlies
Th e Hoghack southeast of Sawtooth Ridge.
At Sawtooth P eak two porphyry ridges extend
southeast from the main ridge (pI. 12). One extends
more Umn a mile as a nan·ow dike, tinnily ending in
two oranches, th e southern branch sharply curved.
At most places the contacts along tbis dike are con-
cealed, hu t near the east end t he north wall dips abo ut
65 ° NK
West of Sawtooth Peak a thin sill overlies the
Dakota sandstone and an irregular dikelike mass
extends a few hmldred feel northwesterly from the
peak. This is the analog of the dikes trending south-
east from the peak. These dikes are oriented a t
right angles to the nearby intrusions and they are a
notable exception t<l the general rule that the intrusive
127
structures in I·he H enry Mountains radiate from the
stocks.
The top of Sawtooth Ridge is stepped down west-
ward from tbe peak to Trail Creek where, io the east
part of sec. 36, T. 33 S., R. 11 K, two porphyry ridges
and an intervening trough containing Morrison strata
parnllel the main ridge. The strata dip 30° off the
ridges into the trough which deepens eastward as the
adjoining porphyry ridges become higher. The syn-
clinal basin of Morrison in the tro ugh spoons out
westward a t Trail Creek.
Three-quarters of a mile north of Sawtooth Peak
is the north Sawtooth Ridge laccolith, which is in-
trud ed near the base of the Morrison form ation (fig.
51). It has an in-cguJar outlioe, partly because of
erosion, but 1I1OS tly because it thins against the struc-
tural arch io l3lack Canyon.
The north edge of the nOl-th Sawtooth Ridge lac-
colith is 50 to 100 ft thick along the rim of Black
Canyon, a mile north of SawtoOtll Peak. South-
ward it passes beneath nearly horizontal roof rocks
but the floor must dip considerably to the south
because the basal Morrison is structm-ally several
hundred feet higher along the rim of Black Canyon
t han at Sawtooth P eak. It is infened, therefore,
th at the laccolith north of Sawtooth Ridge is con-
n ected with the Sawtooth Ridge laccolith and that
it thins northward by .. rise of its floor (fig. 5\ ).
Near the center of section 30 the laccolith north of
Sawtooth Ridge is a t least 200 ft thick and cuts dis-
cordantly downward across the Snmmerville formation.
Eas tward the roof dips toward Black M esa, so the
laccolit h must. thin in that direction, though a thin

FIGURE 52.- The east cud o! Sawtooth R idge. The "le..... is west from till:' trail ncar tho foot of The Hogback. The lowest part of the porphyry and its north cdgo art
oonC6a1od In talus. A t Ito! south OOj,'{l t.bc porphyry cuts discordantly upward into tOO Morrison (ormation and sends smalJ sills Into it. Higher Morrison stmb. rest
oomX)rdalltly on the )'Xlrphyry along tho south edgo d the top 01 tlle ridge. From a sketch In Ollbert's notebook.
 128 CEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTADrS lU;C';lON, UTAH
sheet may connect it with Ulaek Nresa; the two in-
trusions are at about t.he same stratigraphic position.
The eastem part of Lbe laccolith north of Sawtooth
Ridge is probably separated from th e central an d
eastem part of th e Sawtooth Ridge la.ccolith (fig. 5 1),
because along the east side of section 29 the roof of
the northern laccolith dips southeastward towal',l s
Sawtooth Ridge.
BLACK MESA BYSMAIJTH
Black Yresa is a nea.rly circular hill having a smooth ,
gen tly sloping top and precipi tous sides about 600 ft
high (fig. 53). Th e west and northwest sides are dehris-
covered, steep slopes whereas th e east and southeast
sides form a cliff, wit h a talus apron below.
This intrusion resemhles Tflhle Mountain, both in
geology and topographic expl·ession . Gilbert called it
the Stewa.rd laccolith . Faulting around th e sides, es-
pecially OIl th e east and south sides, is inferred b), anal-
ogy with Table Mountain. Th e concordant 1'00f is a
bed of sandstone that belongs in the lower part of the
:Mol'llson fOl'Dlflt.ion. The fl oor is not exposed.
Th e in trus ion is SUlTOundNl by 8 1.,1'0 La
horizon tal, but they are abruptly tumed up a few hun-
drod feet from th e porphy ry . Along tll(.>northenstside, for
example, about 700 ft from the intrusion, the Morrison
and Sununerville beds dip gently west, but their dip
becomes abruptly r eversed where t hey ri se onto the
porphyry, and about 200 ft from the contact t he basal
rvlol'l'ison dips 55° awny from the intrusion. At severa l
locali ties around tile north and nOlthwc.t sides th e con-
tact nnd , t mtlL adjacent to it are almost vertical.
although t.he pOl1lhy ry appeal'S to cut upward to slightly
higher strata. The structure is eoncenled along Lllr
south and southeast sid es.
'West of the intrusion is a shalll synclinal tro ugh from
Jukes Butte Morrison formation
• FIGURE 53.-Vlew ACTOSS Black Mesa on MOllnt TUllers. Dlnck l\{cSQ probably ill 11. byanoJith. It Is compo.<:ro ellUrdy of di~ltc IJOIllhyry exCt! pt for 1\ tMn remnant ot
sandstone (l\iOIToon formation) on the roof. 'l"he side conto.ct is almost yertical and the sedlmentfITy format ions are turned up steepl y agn1nst U.
whicb the bnsal MOI1'ison s trata rise rather steeply for
about 800 ft up the flank and there flatten aCross th e
roof of th e intrusion . Prot.l·uding tl1.rough this flank and
the 1'001 are dikelike porphyry ridges, th e most easterly
of which approximately marks the intrusion's highest
poin t, whence the sandstone roof dips 5° to 10° in all
directions toward the sides.
Because the widespread concordant roof rock is a bed
of sand stone belonging n ear th e base of the Morrison
fOlmation t he porphyry must rest on a floor of bas fll
M orrison. However, the intrusion must cut discord-
antly downward ncar its north east edge because strata
older than those on t he roof are dragged upward along
that edge (fig. 51 ).
This intrusion, more than any other in the H enry
Mountains, approximates the laccolithic structural form
conccived by Gilbert. But tbe intrusion probably WII S
injerted laterally as a satellite from the Mount Hillers
stock because, in common with th e laccoliths and otber
bysmaliths in the H enry l\10Ul'ltains, t he dikelike ridges
in t he l'Oof aI'e alined with the stock alld the structure on
the distill side is st,eeper than on the side towanl the
that. fire nearly stoek.
MAIDEN CREEK LACCOLITH
Th e ;\J[aidcn Creck laccolith , actul111y liLlIe more than
a sheet 50 to 75 ft thick, is exposed at the foot of The
Hogb •.ck cast of Black J'"f esa (fig. 51 ). Gilbert referred
to it as t.he D laccolith . Except for the sCll rp along the
east and north sides the intrusion is not distinct topo-
gmphically, but thl' dark porphyry contra sts sha.r ply
with the adjoining buff and light-red sandstone of th e
Entl'llds .
The ol'iguml north edge of the sheet was probably
not far from the present outcrops because the roof
rocks are bent northward over the porphyry nt. spvprn 1
 l:)'l'UUCTUHAL GEOLOGY AND FORl\.IS OF THE IGNEOUS lli'I'RUSIONS 129
places, a·s if to fonn the sid e. Along the east scarp a was named the Howelllaccolit.h by Gilbert. The intru-
vertical discorciolJlt side con tact is e""posed locally. sion, which is about half a mile wide and more than It
Presumably the intrusion was inj ected from the direc- mile long (fig. 54), trends nortbeaslward and is ruined
tion of Sflwtooth Ridge and does not extend under with the Mount Hillers stock nIthough the laccolith is
Black M esa, because ill the creek dmining the sou theas t 6 or 7 miles from the s tock and topographically isolated
side of Black Mesa tb e roof of tbe :\;f aiden Creek from the mountain. The floor con tact of this intl"Usion
laccolith dips 20° toward t be m esa. is exposed at the northeast poin t of the mesa and locally
along its southeast side. The roof contact and the
TRACHYTE MISA LACCOLITH arch of the roof rocks are exposed at th e west edge
The sheet of porphyry, about 100 ft thick, that is (fig. 55).
intruded into the Entrada sandston e at Trachyte M esa The contacts of the laccolith are more regular than
one Inight anticipate in the irregulal' bedding of the
N m llSSive Entrada sflJlClstone. In fact lh e floor contact
is almost a plane. The highest point of the exposed
pmt of the floor is neal' the ce.nter of the southeast side
of the mesa and from this point the floor falls about
2000 Feet r 200 ft to the northeas t point of the mesa and a little
more than 100 ft to the southemmost porphy ,"y expo-
sures. In general the floor is about 100 ft lower along
o tb e northwest than along the southeast edge of the
intrusion . The highest point on the northwest edge is
about 600 ft west of the tip of t he mesa, and nearly
strn.ight north of the high point along the southeast
edge. The exposures a re not sufficiently continuous,
bowev e .. , to de Lermine whe Lhel' th ese diffnren ces in
altitude of the floor result from gen tle dips or from a
series of structural steps in th e Roor.
On top of tI,e in trusion is It well-developed ",,,i es of
porphyry 'idges and intervening troughs, t he bottoms
of which contain remnants of th e roof rocks. The
troughs are flat-bottomed and commonly 1000 ft long
and 50 fl or less in width (fig. 56). Some of the ridges
are a1tnost as wide as tI,e troughs nnd are n.bout 15 ft
high . Sump hav(' sharp crests, others are bl'oadly
FutURE M.- l SOtncl ric fenee diagram of the Trachyte M esn M"OlIt.h. Tp. p()rphyry; rounded . These ridges ancl troughs trend northeast-
Js, Summerville Cornmt.lon; Je, Enlrndn snndsl.oncj Jea, Carmel (ormation; Jn,
Nuvojo suudEt.olle. wllnl , pl1mllc1lo t he elongation of t.he laccolith . They

FIGURE l)5.-VI('w orlilt! norlh flank oCtile Trachylt) Mesa laccolith where t.he Entrada snnd::to!lcflses on th" flunk and flattens 8.(!"OSS the rool or the laccolith.
210110--53----'0
130 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
FmURE 66.-Sketch vlcw of rIdges i n lhe roof or the Trachyte Mesa laocomh. T he ridges areoomposed or l)()I"phyry. Between them ate brood fiat troughs containing
remnants of the roof rocks. The ric4:es and lroughs are psrn.lJel to the elongation or t ile laccolith. SketcllCd (rom 8 photograph.
are n early straight, though a few branch and the most
easterly one is slightly curved (pI. 12).
The laccolitb apparentl.v thins southwestwmd because
its roof dips a few degrees off Lbe southwest edge of the
""-posed porphyry.
A mile up Black Canyon from Trachyte Mesa and
perfectly alined wilh th e laccolith is a small mass of
porpbyry wbich is very s uggestive of the "ductolith"
fOI1TI described by Griggs (1939, p. 1l01). The por-
phyry, which is exposed in the north wall of the canyon,
has a concordant, nearly horizontal roof and discordant
nearly vertical side against which the Entrada sllJldstone
is dragged up steeply. 'l'll e exposed side is obviously
the south limit of the intrusion; the intrusion cannot
extend more than a few hundred feet north because it
does not appear on the north side of the narrow ridge.
Similar dikelike masses of porphyry alined with this
one are exposed more fully northwest of Black M esa.
Here the porphyry is demonstrably a nal1"()w intrusion
like a dike, but it contains many wedges of sedimentaty
l'Oek (fi g. 57 ) and the int.rusion may extend to no great
depth. Lineated catadastic structure along th e con-
Lu,ct g enerally is n,lined 111 th e direct.ion of
slope of Lbe contnct nt each locality; internal Aow lines
are nearly hOllzontal and pnrallel to the trend of th e
intrusion. Probably these severn I exposures are one
intl'usion that was inj ected northeastward as it dike
that split into anastomosing t ubes or ducts, some of
which extend at least 2 miles ~ld seem to CO IUl oct with
and be the feeder for the Trachyte-,Mr-sa laccolit h.
SPECKS RIDGE LACCOLITH , SPECK CANYON LACCOLITH, AND CHAPARRAL
HnIS LACCOLITH
These three laccoli ths, locnted btween Black Canyon
and Cove Creek , form th e high ridge that rises south-
westward to the main mass of Nlount Hillers. Gilbert
grouped them togeth e)' as the 0 laccolith (1877b, p. 32).
The Specks Ridge laccolith (fig. 58 ), whieh trends
nea.rly north from the h ead of Speck Creek, is abou t
1)\ miles long and less than half a mile wid e. Along
the west side of th e intrusion, near the middle of section
23, the contact (lips 75° to 80° 'V. and the adjacent
strata , belonging to the lower part of the MOlTison
formation, at'e dragged up almost concordant with the
contact. The s Lrata flatten abwptJy a few hnndred
feet west of the porphyry , because CXPOSUl'es iu the
forks of Cove Creek reveal a nearly uniform northward
dip. Probably the laccolith does not extend west of
th e exposed contact.
The eas tern contact wos not fmmd bllt. a few hundr~c1
feet east of Specks Ridge, strata helonging n ellJ'
the middl e or til t', 1\l{ol'rison formation dip toward Uris
intrusion. These strata are either cut off discordantly
by the Specks Ridge laccolitb or t heir dips at'e shal-ply
reversed and concealed.
The north end of the Specks Ridge laccolith is con-
cealed. The so uth end joins the Chaparral Hills
laccolith and is overlain by the Dakota sandstone.
However , tbe Specks Ridge laccolith cuts to old er
strata northward and its north end is n eat· the middle
of the Morrison formation. Most of the H emy Mo,m-
tnins laccoliths cu t to younger formations away from
tlw s tock so the Specks Ridge laccolith, which cuts
ITI{D<..imUID downwlll'd in the down -dip direction, may be more
dikelike than I have indicated in fIgure 58.
The Chapnrral Hills laccolith fonns the ridge be-
(.ween Black Cnnyon and t he bead of Speck Creek.
li'rom most of t he ridge th e roof rocks have been re-
moved but a t the west end Tununk sllnle overlies t he
porphYIY. At the crest of the ridge this shale is in -
truded by a r1ikclike mass that extends upward from
the roof of the laccolith and trends northeast. ArOlmd
the head of Speck Creek the roof of the laccolith is
irregulat· and the contact cu ts downwa rd to the Dakota
sandstone, 1,000 ft north of the ridge crest. Sills extend
southwal·d from the ridge into the Chapan'al Hills;
one is just above the Dakota sandstone, others are in
the lower part of the C>.1orrison formation.
ArOlllld the east end of the ridge the contact at the
base of the porphyry is not well e"-posed. Discordall t
steep contacts exposed locally along the south side
 Da ndy Crossin

.,
~
g
1:
.,'o"
§
~
g
$
~
-l
~
~
'"o
d
Ul

~
'"
o

~
'"

FIOtiRli61.-0bUque view west across Mount Uolmes. Tbe mountain Is In the canyon part of the area and the Olen Canyon group of sandstones that form the canyons rise onto Mount Holmes dome. Tho
intrusions are restricted 10 ~he centtal part of t he dome and con~lst or a small stock, some small lacooUths, and numerous dikes and sills. The uplift at this mountaLn is less than at the other H enry
Mountains. PhotOiTBph by Fairchlld Aerial Surveys.
I-'
c.:>
en
136 GEOLOGY A!~ D GE OGRAPHY OF 'l'HE HEN RY MOUNTAINS HEGlON, UTAH

F WURX62.- Vlew orthe B uck horn RldgcJaccolUJI (Tp. porphyry) from Ihaesst. At the left the laccolith i! aboul 200 tt thick and n~t:t 011 tile Ch inle ton nfilion {lie). At the
right the Inl!colith splits, a lower longue contillulng lor a shorl, d istance along t he base ortha W ingate ssmlslonc (Jw) Rn d nil upper tongue cutting ncross 300 It of Wln ggte
sandstone to Ihe top or the formation. Sketcll frolIla photograph.

but nea,' the middle of its southern part, dikelike Ridge nnd East Spur, In th e Triassic, along Buckhorn
ridges trend 45° to Lh e axis of Lhe nntioline over the Creek, is exposcd t he upper part of a laccolith that is
laccolith , A veneer of the Chinle !'Oof is preserved probabl,v ,as th ick as th e Buc'khorn Ridge laccolith ,
on each side of the di kes. Irreg n]ul" inlnu:i iolls eul., a cro!:iS th e Wingat.e sandstone
Three of the four quach'an ts between Il,e int.rusions SOUtJl of BucldlOrIl Hole, and several sills are in the
jus t described are appro"imatel,v bisected hy other Kayenta format ion at. th e north foot. of East. Spur,
satellitic intrusions, Between Buckhorn Ridge and Between the Eas t. and SoUU, Spurs are several sills
West Spur several dikes, sills, and very smalllaccolit,hs and the Theater Canyon laccolith, This laccoli t.h
trend roughly northwest, about parallel to a fault that intrudes the Kayenta formation and is about 150 ft
breaks the nOl-thwest flank of th e mountain dome, thick at i~s south ' edge; it truekens nort.hward and
On the west side of Cach e Creck a laccolith, about. westward 'and may conn ect, wi th the dikes in U,e
100 ft thick, extends abou t 1,500 ft from th e stock, bord e'ing spurs, Both the roof and floor are exposed;
thins northward, a nd cuts upwarrl tJu'ough the lowe)' 200 th e !'Oof is an anticlinal nose that plunges southward ,
ft of the Wingate (fig, 63) , A few hundred feet (~,' :t]]er Dikclil{e ridges of porphyry in th e roof are alined with
" , U, e stock. Beneath the laccolith are sills, injecte,1
" ~I tlie top of tJ, e Wingate sandstone,
Fartller" down Theater Canyon arc other dikelike
knobs of pO'llhyry alin ed with the stock, They
apparently protrude f!'Om th e roof of an intrusion tI,at
extends northwestward under tile Th eater Canyon
la ccolitJ1.
No intrusions were found in the quadran t between
South Spur and West Spur,
_:....:....:..: ''1<:
Sou th of Sou th SpUf' the Navajo sandstone is
broken by minor faults and is cut by irrcgular int ru-
FIGURE 63.- Dlagrammat lc cross section or lacco li th in west w all or Cache Creek. sions in a m ann,~l' suggestive of the shnLLcred zones •
The porphyry (Tp) lorml ng the laccoUth , about 250 Ct thick at the leCt edge, cuts adjacent to th e s ~ocks on th e ot,her mountains, A t the
acr068 most or the Wfn!!8te Mudstone (J w) and th ins oul northward 81 the top or
the (ormation. Chinle rormat lon (lie) lie! t.cnChth the W lngatC!iil.ndskmc. souti, end'w f SQullt Spur almost the fuJI thickness of
the Navajo i s.~' ; ,,'posed in approximately horiwntal
west a narrow dike trends about northwest, and a position, Begiii~ ing at the foot of this exposure an(t
thousnnd feet southwes t. of it is a thin sill in the K ayent.a extending down the moun lain side for hall a mile is a
formation, jumbled h eap of huge . blocks, composed of complexly
There are several intrusions between Buckhorn frll.etured Navajo sandstone and porphyry, which are
 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND FOnMS OF THE ICKEOUS INTIlL"SIONS
tilted to almost cvcl'y position, but dip chiefl y away
from th e mountain . The deformation ends westwal'd
along a nOl'mal faull and il ends northward along
anothcl' fault which is at the foot of South Spur. East-
ward and south eastwa.l'd the deformation becomes
progressively less. Along tJ,C soutJl\vest side of tJ, e
defol'med al'ea is a I'everse fa ult along wllich the
Kayenta has been thrust southwal'd over Navajo
sandstone. Th e K ayajo beneath the fault is in nOlIDal
pos ition and dips off the flank of the mountain although
its dip is not sufficient to meet the Navajo at South
Spur.
This broken area al most. certainly is It stl'llcLural
rather than landslide (eatw'c; if it wCl'e It landslide block
it would hav e had to rise from a depression at th e over-
thrust. Furthermot'e, such sliding in the Navajo sand-
stone is unlikely and some sharp structure (,vidently is
required to account for the Navajo on the south flank
of the mountain dome connecting with the much highel'
Navajo at South Spur. The distul'bed area mav be a
pipelike shattered zone rising OULWfLl'd from the~stock J
like that postulated for Bulldog Ridge on I'dount
Pennell (p. 116) .
Th e concealed southwesl slope of East Spur may be
similarly deformed , because blocks of the Navajo
sandstone there hay e el'!'atie dips.
1fount Ellsworth is t.he most symmet,rical dome in
the Henry ~10u ntains (pis. 15, 16, fig. 64) . Its flanks
arc broken by faults tbat extend northeastward across
the syncline in Fourmile Creek to Mount Holmes hut
assuredly they contai n no large laccoliths because no
anticlinal noses are superimposed on th em.
A st.ock, surrounded by a narrow shatter zone, is at
the ccnter of the dome (pI. 15). Numel'ous sills and
dikes in t,be upper part of the flanks of the dome
radiate from the stock and give f'isc to a structural
lind intrusive pattern resembling tbe southwest flank of
Mount Pennell. Th e sills presumably were fed by the
radial dikes and intruded along the strike of the up-
turned strata.
Th e principal features of the structure of Nlount
Ellsworth are described by Gilbert (1877b, pp. 22- 25)
as follows:
The base of the arch is not circular, but is slightly ov.al, the
long diameter being one-third greater than the short. The
length of the uplift is a lilUe more than fOllr miles; the width a
liLLIe more than three miles, and the height about 5,000 feet.
• * *' The line of maximum dip, which separates the convex
upper portion of the do"me fro m the concave periphery, is easily
traced o ut in nature, and ri ms at the foot of t he steep part o f
the mountain. It surronnds ao area two miles in width and
two and two-thirds miles in length.
The Ellsworth Arch is almost but not completely isolated.
137
The Ho lmes Arch, upon the (north) ea."it. side, stand~ so near ',hat
the ba;;cs of the two impinge and coalesce. * * *
The simplicity of the arch is further impaired by faults -not
great faults dividing the whole uplift, but a syste m of small
di~pla ce ment8 which are th emselves subordinate phello mena of
the uplift. * * * Th e greatest throw is only a few hundred
feet.. All or nearly all the fault plane.<:. are. occ upied by dikes of
trachyte.
The trachyte injections are not confined to the fault planes.
* * * Dikes and sheets abound from the cresi of the dome
dowil to what might be called jt,~ springing line- the line of
maximulH dip. At the ce nter dikes are more Humero us; near
the limit. sheet$: . * * *
The zone of sheets is just in side t he line of maximum dip.
Us ually on ly one or two sheets are lairl bare by erosion , but at
one point, four can be cOl1ntC(l Toward t he center of t he uplift.
all of the.<:.e are Ji mit.(.'<i by the ero;:;ion and ex hibit thei r broken
edges , Downward , or toward the periphery, the,), dip ou t of
sight.. Laterally they can be traced along the monntain side for
varying distances, but they soo n wedge out and al'e rCl)laced bv
others e n echelon. In thicknes~ the sheets rarely ~xceed 50
feet, and never 100. They arc alw ays thin as compared 10 the
roc k ma::;scs which separate them, but, by reason of their superior
abilit.v to re.~i st erosio n, monopolize a large share of the s urface
(note the north sine of the mountain], and mnsk a 8t iU greater
lunOtmt with their debris .
The f'edimentary rocks are not. altered beyond t he region o f
trachyte intrusion. The mere flexure of the s iruta wa."! not
accompanied by a percept.ible change of constitutioH. In the
zOlle of sheets t here is liU,le change except, along t.he Imrfaces o f
the contact. For a few feet, or perhaps onl~' a few inches,
t here is discoloration and a s Jight induration , without notable
alteration of minerahs. Dil L in !,he region of re ticulated dikes
none o f t he sedimentaries arc unchallgedj crystalli are developed,
colors modified, and hardness is increased , so the ph ysical
properties of familiar strata no longer sen 'e for their indenti-
fication. Still there is no cru mpling, * * *
Th e zone of increased metamorphism desct'ibed by
Gilbert is in the shattet' zone neat' the center of the
dome. Here the sedimentary rocks fil'e at their propel'
stratigraphic position, but in addit.ion to tbe increased
mctnmorpbism and morc ntun erous intrus ions noted
by Gilbert, there arc a few masses of breccia, some of
which occur in dikes.
The stock, covering about a quarter of a square mile
at the cent.er of t.he shatter zone, is in conl,act with
Permian rocks along its north edge but southwltl'd it
Cl'OSSCUts to the base of the Jurassic. A part of the
stock in the head of Ticaboo Creek is highly altered,
probably hyd1'otheIIDaUy, to a white porous rock in
which the constituent minerals of the porphyly are no
longer recognizable.
On t.he geologic map of "'fount Ellsworth (pI. 15) is
shown an atID of the shattered zone extending south-
westward from th e slock for more than a mile along
t.lt e summit ridge of the mountain. Metamorphism
in tJ,is part of t.he shattered zone is slight, but the
number of minor in trusions is considerable and their
form is complex. In addition, the sU·uo1,.ure 01 the
host rocks is complicated by numerous laults: .
 .....
c.>
00

High, Plateaus

Cl

'o"
is
Cl

'Z"
>

'"
Cl
o '"
">'"
."

~
~
....
~
~
Z
'"
's:"
g
z
;:'
Z
U>

'"
'"~~'"
::l
~

FIGURE 64.-0bJlque view southwest across Mount Holmes and Mount Ellsworth. On Mount Ellsworth, the structural uplift [sgrcnter and thCllntrusions are larger and moro numerous than on Mount TTolmcs.
Photograph by Fairchild Aortal Surveys.
 PETROGRAPHY OF THE IGNEOUS ROCKS 153

FIGURE i9.-A. l)olis hcd spcclrncn or a hornbJendic [neluslon In diorite porphyry; specimen rrom peak or Mount ElJen. Both t he gncLoslc texture and \"clWl in tbe Inclusions
are truncated by the cncloslng porphyry. B. Polished specimen or m lxod sedImentary and igncous matCl"lal Crom the shatt-er wne b)' the r-.rount E llen stock on the
west side or Bartoo PeaL:.

21011G-ri3- -11
 TABLE 7. -Analyses of igneom rocks in the Henry Mountains, Utah .....
,. ::t:
-----ll- - - - l - -I 10 11 12
1_ _ 1_
13
_
14 15
1_ _ 1_ _ 1_ _ ' _ _ ' _ _ ' _ _ ' _ _
16 1; 18
"
SIO,........... 62.50 62.SQ 62..68 06.06 62.44 6.1 .16 60.26 62.49 58.15 6.1.57 59.25 62.88 62.02 62.00 60.04 58.29 57.89 60.98 48.04 40.91
AbOs.......... 17.75 18.35 17. 61 17.29 I S.O. 17.21 19.61 19.54 17.54 17.76 18.67 17. 13 l 7.!l1l 19. 14 18.77 21.32 21.52 19.09 15.38 15. 88
FI!20,...... ..... 2.28 2.GS 2.36 2.22 3.ZJ 2.43 .71i 1.28 3.99 2.70 3.97 1.86 1.41 1.22 3. 46 l.M .66 1.76 2.30 5. 86
FeO . ....... _.. 1.77 1.63 2.40 1.09 1.93 2.30 3.37 1.98 3.17 2.00 2.15 2.58 1.li5 2.38 .19 1.19 1.55 1.15 6.09 9. 27
MgO ___ ...... _ .84 1.08 1.43 .51 l.ZJ 1.27 1.77 1.12 I .GS l.17 1.58 1.48 . 98 1.17 .18 .71 .95 0.65 4.82 7.99
CaO . _______ ... 4.34 5.99 6.31 3.94 5.90 6.27 5.77 6. 10 5.21 3.78 6.05 6.39 4.86 4.75 1.21 4.92 3.38 3.67 8.62 12.00
NasO_• • ______ . 5.66 4.64 6.05 5.30 4.48 4.70 4. 27 4.49 4.34 5.30 4.M 4.50 4.(.6 6.24 9.18 4.67 5.88 6.70 2.62 2.33
K!O _______ _. __ 2.75 1.83 1.86 2.02 1.68 1.84 2.22 2.35 1.71 1.63 2.SQ 2.25 2.12 2.30 .94 4.84 4.45 3.ro 1.21 .98
H20. _. _______ . 1.64 1.12 .74 1.25 ..-,0 0.69 1.14 67 1.50 1.22 1.00 0.58 1.97 .53 237 2.44 2.40 0.92 3.73 .64
T102 ______ ••. __ .30 .33 .42 .25 .47 0.21 .49 .45 .80 .40 .72 0.51 24 .29 .39 .32 .36 0.36.68 1.09
CO, ... _______ _____ • __ .. _ ..... .. . .. __ •• ______ .... ..... _ .••• ______ .. _. ____ • ____ .. _____ ________ .. .10 .. __ . __ ... _.. _______ __________ 1.83 .OS 'rmce ______ ••• _ __________ 0.62 4.91 .43
§
~~?'.-~~=:==::: : :::::::::: :::::::::: :::::::::: :::::::::: :::::::::: .____ ~~~~. ___ .~~ _____ ._~~:___ :1& ... ___ ~~ _______ ~~~. ____ .~~~_ :::::::::: :::::::::: :::::::::: ____ ~~~ __ . __ .. :~~ ________ ~:~~_ .... ~~~. - .--:.~ o

_._.~:~_ :::::~::: ::::~~::: :::::~:~: ;;;;;0;: :::::;~~ ~

MnO •• ________ .0:1 .08 .07 .07 .08 Trnee .09 .06 .07 .03 14 0.16 . 15 .14 'rrnce .11 .16 0.16 . 13 .26

~f.:~:~:::::: ::::~:~~:: ~~~:~~:~~~ ~~~~~::::~ ::::~~:~~~ ~:~~~:~::: . .::. :::::r~::: :::::r1::: :::::::~~: ::::::~~~: :::::::~~: :::::~:;:: ......~H..---
____ .:~. --------------
99.00 l00.2!l 99.82 100.01 99.98 l00.2!l 100. 07 99. i9 98. 83 99.83 100.36 99.86 100.05 99.98 99.70 100.24 99.84 l00.2!l 09.01 99. 04 ~
LilO .. _________ 1_________ .1 ....... . .. r......... . roo.; •••. __ ,. .. ______ _ Trn", .o()(),\ . 0008 I •• _. __ • • • • 1________ • _ 1__ • ____ •• _ Traoo ,•• __ .... . . 1. . . . ____ . . , . . . . . . ___ ' .000.1 .0064 T"""
"g'"
1. Diorite porphyry from the Mount Ellen SU)ek at the Bromide mine . . R. E. Stevcns analyst. 13. Diorite porphyry, sUI at top of Wingate s:LIlclStone In creek west of Theater Canyon, 1 mUe northrost

~
2.. Q.usrtz diorite from tho Mount Ellen SUlCk.l l OOO foot south of Bromide mine. n. E. Stevens, anulyst. of F ounnJle Sp~, Mount H olmes, Henry Mountnlns. R . E. Stevens annlyst.
3. I>loritc porphyry Crom the South Crook laccolith. R. E. Stevens, (malyst. 14. Diorite porphyry, Mount Ellsworth stock, IlOO feet south of peak 01 Mount E llsworth , Henry Moun·
4. Diorite p rophYTY from the roof of the Table Mountain bysmnlith. R. E . Ste"fcns, nnnlyst. talns. R. E. Stevens, analyst.
5. Diorltcporphyrytrom the IntcriororTableMountaln bysmalith. R. E. Stevens,nnalyst. 16. Diorite porph)-'rY, Mount Ellsworth stock, saddle north of the penk of Mount EllS\'I"orth , Henry Moun·
6. Diorite porphyry, exact loen!lty not known. R. B. Riggs, analyst. Referenoo: J. S. Diller, U. S. 0001. tnins. R. E . Stevens, analyst.
Surv~y BUll. 148, p.l83, 1807. 16. Monzonite porphyry. Intrudes No.7. Forms siu on divide south of Deer Cnnyon 8E}iSW~:i sec.
7. Diorite porphyry, intru<wd by No. IG; forms sill Bt same locality as No. 16. J. J. Fahey/ fl.Mlyst. 4, T.33 S.,R.IO E. 1. J . Fahey!analyst. ~
8. Diorite porphyry, part of Mount Pennell stock at snme locaUty as No. 17; intrudC<1 by No. 17. J.1. 17. MOlfLonite porphyry, In rudes No.8. Forms irregular masses within the Mount Pennell stock

~
Fahey, :malyst. NE~lN \,\ 14 sec. I I, T. 33 S.• R.IO E. 1.1. Fahey) analyst.
9. Irregular lacoollth southwest of Trail Crook, SE!4NW~ sec. 36, T. 33 S., R,1I E. Specimen from near 18. M()nnt Pennell, exact loc:nllty not known. W. F. Hmebmnd, ana.lyst, Reference: W. Cross, U. S. OeoJ.

;
roof of Intrusion. 1. O. Fairchild, nMlyst. Survey 14th Ann. Rcpt., p. 227 1894.
10. Irregular dike in the shattered zone cast of Mount Hillers stock, E~NW ;'~ soc. 2, T. 34 S., R.l1 E. 19. Bnsalt sill near base of l\{anoo3 shale.. south side of Butler Wash,}~ mile north-northwost of Engl(', on,
(proj.) J. O. Fairchild, nnnlyst. Mount Elkm. Contains vlslbllcCIllelte. 1" . L. Schmehl. nnalyst.
11. North edge of Black Mesa bysmalith, center NEH. sec. ro l T.33 S., R .12 E. J . O. Fairchild, nn.'l.lyst. 20. Amphibolite Inclusion; saddlenuth ofpenk or Mount Ellen. F. L. Sehmeh),annlyst.
12. Mount Hillers, exnct loc:nUty not \mown. W. F . Hllleomnd, analyst. Reference: W. Cross, U . S.
000). Survey 14t h Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 227, 1894.

!
'",.
""
S
-~
~
 PETROGRAPHY OF THE IGNEOUS ROCKS 155

chemical laboratory of the Geological Survey and

found to contain the following: eaO, 0.80 percent;
Na,O, 7.12 percent ; and K,O, 0.88 percent. Although the
crystal faces on the phenocrysts are preserved, most
of the corners are rounded and a few crystals are em-
bayed by groundmass. Parts of the phenocrysts are
replaced by sericite and very fin e grained feldspathic
material whose composition a ppears to be very nearly
the same as that of the groundmas.s. The replacement inches
is concentrated nlong fracture lines, cleavage lines, and
composition zones of the phenocrysts (fig. 80 A, B) and A
seems to have occurred during the late stages of crystalli-
zation of the magma as a result of reaction between the
phenocrysts and residual liquid around them (p. 159).
The hornblende is common hornblende and usually
bas good crystal out.line. Most of these phenocrysts
are about 3 mm long but CIYStaiS 0.01 mm long are
found in the groundmllss of some in t rusions. Much
of t he hornblende is altered t.o magnetite, epidote,
chlorite, and cal cite.
Magnetite occurs as well-formed Or irregularly
shaped phenocrysts, as t.iny flecks in t.he ground mass,
and as one of the minerals that has replaced hornblende.
Apatite and titanite are generally present but arc. B
irregularly distributed and rarely comprise as much us FiCl'RE Sl.- A, noocttef! of hornblende crystals in diorite porphyry at the north end
of the Wickiu p laccolith. H, Rounded quartzgrainin diorite porphyry. Sketched
one percent of (he rock. Apatite is more abundant. (rom photomtcrogral)h .
than ti tanite.
Crystals in the groundmass of the diorite por- rock are like those in the diorite porphyry but the
phyry are generally less than 0.01 mm in diameter and groulldmass crystals are about 0.1 mm in diruneter
only a few individual crystals can be determined. and consist of abou t one-third quartz and two-thirds
Quart.z, albite, oligoclase, and orthoclase (or soda- sodic plagioclase. Chemically tlus rock is like the
ort hoclase) were identified in various slides, but t he diorite porphyry (I'. 154), so the conspicuous presence
proportion of t hese minerals is not known. A few of quartz is probably due merely to the fact that the
in (,rusions contain microli tes of plagioclase in the grOlilldmass is coarse.
groundmll.ss. 'I'iny specks of magnetite are common; 'I'he relative age of the diorite and the quartz dio-
the fcnomagn esiun mineral s less so . rite porphyries is not known . Inclusions oC quart z
Hornblendic inclusions are abundant in the dioritl' diorite porphyry are contained in the nearby intrusions
porphyry (figs. 80C, 79A ), especially in some of the of diorite porphyry, but locally in the shattered zone,
Moun t Ellen laccolit.hs. They are described on page 160. especially northwest of the stock, the quart z diorite
At the north end of the Wickiup Ridge laccolith porphyry is intrusive into diorite porphyry.
large phenocrysts of common hornblende, as much
MONZONITE PORPHYRY
as an inch long, occur as individual crystals, as crosses,
and as rosettes (fi g. 81A). They are irregularly Monzoni te porphyry, int rusive into t he diorite
dis trib uted but must. comprise several percent of the porphyry (1'1. 820), forms the cent.ral core of the
rock. A small number of augite phenocrysts also are Mount Pennell s tocle and some of t he surrounding
presen t. Other parts of the laccolith contain augite dikes and concordant intrusions. 'I'he rock contains
and q uartz but. lack the large hornblende phenocrysts. la rge plagioclase and hornblende phenocrysts, usually
Well-rounded q uartz crystals (fig. 81R) are moder- distincUy linea ted (fig. 80D ), and altered in the same
ately abundant in some intrusions. In the zone of way as those in the diorite porphyry. Crystals of
shattered rocks some of the quartz is bipyramidal. pink soda orthoclase as much as 100 mm in length are
The sout.lwast part of the Mount Ellen stock contains abundant locally. Most of the monzonite porphyry
as much as 10 percent of quartz and the rock is refClTed intrusions contain pyroxene as well as hornblende
to as quartz diorite porphyry. Small masses of it also and se,;eral contain only t he pyroxene, probably
occur in the shattered zone. The phenocrysts in this aegirine-augite as suggested by Osann (1913, Pl'.
15G GEOLOG Y AND GCOGHAPHY OF THE HF:1\RY MOUNTAINS REGION. U'IAH

FIGURE 8O.-Thin sections of dlorito porphyry 9.Ild mOD1.OI1itc porpbyry.

 PETROG RAPHY OF THE IGNEOUS RO CK S
57-58). FI'~e quartz was not observed in the monzonite
porphyry but magnetite, apatite, and titanite are
prcscnt as in the diorite porphyry.
The grou ndmass is light gray and consists mostly of
exceedingly fine-grained socLic plagioclase and ortho-
cl ase. Microlites of oligoclase lU'e abundant an d tberr
are minor quantities of green pyroxene n eedles. Pre-
slilnably l,tw potassic feldspar is JllOre abundant in tht,
groundmass of the monzonite than of the diori te por-
phyry.
Analyses of th e mOllzonite porphyry show slightly
le!=;s s ilica And more alumina and potash than the diorit C'
porphyry (p. JM), but it is practically impossible to ob-
tain a Sil,,'11i ficant analysis of a rock containing crystals
as large as the soda-orthoclase crystals, so the analyses
presented are excl usive of theln. A sepl1f11te pru'li"1
IUlRlysis of th e feld spar is given below. Biotite occurs
in considerable quantity (2 to 3 percent) only at The
Horn laccolitb. The minerals associated with the bio-
tite arc the same as in the more typical monzonite
porphyry.
Hornblendic il1clusions in the monzonite pOl'phyry a rc
mod erat.dy abu ndlUl t but are more feldspathie IUld less
coarsely el'ystalli ne than those in the diorite porphy ry.
Til ey seem to be more abundant in the monzonit.e
porphy l'y tlmn in the I1djacent intl'usions oC diorite
pOl'phyry on Mount Pennell .
The large sodll-orthoclase crystals are usually 20 to 30
mill imeters long and some are more t han 100 millimeLPI'S
long. Tbey have a pinkish cast and some have a white
outer shell , about 1 millimet.el' wide, t hat has about the
same index of rdraction IlS the rest of the Crystlll. The
apPl'oximat e indices of refraction ru'e alpha, l. 525, and
g amnu~ , ] .53. In some crystaJs gamma is greater, in
others slightly less than l.53. A Cew minu te dark
needles Ill'e ('Ontained in some of the big crystals but
other kinds of inclusions were not obse.-ved. A partial
111ll1lysis (R. E. Stevens, U. S. Geological Survey,
analyst) of an aggregate of several of the crystals
sbowcd the following:
Percent
SiO, ___________ _____ _ 63.57 1(, 0 _______ __________ 10. 02
AI 2 0 3 _______________ 20. 11
CaO ___ __ ____________ 2.37
N aIO ____ ____________ 3.82
These crystals are well form ed Illthough the corners
a.re rounded to about the same degree as the plagioclasc
ph enocrysts. Within about one centimeter of the
157
lal'ge crystals smaller pbenocly sts fiI'e concentri cally
arTllllged although not congested . The big crystals
mal<e up only a vely small part of t he monzonite 1'01'-
pbyry and appear to be distribu ted irregularly thl'ough
it. None was found neRr contacts but it calUlOt be
positively stated that they arc restricted to the interior
of the intrusions.
The fact t hl1t th ese crystals Itre so nearly euhedml
wh ile being completely fmc of any Coreign matrix pre-
cludes their being xenoliths derivC'd from previously
consolidated rocks. Furthel'more, the absence of sharp
compositional breaks in t he ¥.Oning of the pll1gioclase
phenocrysts implies lilLIe Or no mixing of different
magmas. It is conclud ed that the soda orthoclase
crystallized from the magma represented by tbe monzo-
nite porphyry. Their place in the crystallization his-
tory of the rock, however, is uncertain . The excellen t
crystal form, concentric flow structw-e i.n t be ground-
mass around the crystals, a.bscnce oC ulc1usions of other
phcnocrysts \\ithin the big crystals, or congestion of other
phenocrysts I1rolmd theJl1 sugges t tha t the soda ortho-
clase clystallized cady and was fioated in the magma
with the ot he,' phenocryst.s. On t he oUter hand th eir
close relation chemically to the gl'oundmass and gen-
crru , if not absolute, absence near contacts imply that
the lI1rgc crystals were formed aft.er the other pheno-
crysts.
APLITE
Light-gray dense apli te dikes, less thall a foot wide
and gene.-ally only an inch wide, intrude the monzonite
porphyry in t,h e .Mount Penn ell stoele Th e aplite is
a granular aggregat.e of an hedral microC"Ystallin e
qUlUtz and orthoclase and minor quantit ies of aegirine-
augite, magnetite, and Litani Lc.
BASALT
Basalt occurs as irregullU' masses within the zone of
sbattered rocks and I1S very thin sills ""ound the shat-
tered zone on Mount Ellen . The rock is a dark POI'-
phyry with st""lctme closcly resembling the other rocks
Perct'll,t
although lIle phenocrysts do no t show in the hand
specimen. As brought out in the analyses (I'. 154) the
99.89 silica content is low.
The original minerals of the basalt lU'e considel'l1bly
altered to epidote, chlorite, and calcite. The largest
phenocrysts are ferromagn csian minerals, mosL of
which appear to have been hornblende. The plagio-

EXPLANA TIO N O F FIGU RE 80

A , Thin sootlon of dlorUc porphyry Crom north edge of BlP.ek M~. ]o,'[ ount lJUlcrs. Flue-grained feldspar and serIcite has replaced parts of the feldspar phenocrysh, in pan
along composition !ones. in ptlrt along transverse fissures, and III part illlrrcgular arC8S. B. Tliln section of diorite porphyry from the MOWlt Pennell 1>1ock on 100 ridge
next north or Corral Ridge. Flnc-grahlCd feldspar has replaced psrt!:! or the reldsl>8l" IJhcnocq l"sts. The vein Is albil.(]. The dark rullleTaLs are m~"t ly hornblende; some
small OllCii are magnetite. C, T hin section o f diorite porph).'l'y. from sill beneath the Copper Hldge JaccoUth. 'I'he lower part of the section is a bornblcndlc Inclusion coo-
talolng the same plagioclase and hornblende as the diorite porphyry. D. 'I'bln section of monzonite porphyry Crom Bulldog Ridge. Flow lines commonly are more di£.
tinct In the mOluonttc porphyr y than in the diorite porph )'l'Y. Aeglrlno-Bugltc In the u pper left corner. in the 10WH right Is nn inclusion of hornblencw and (cldsp9r
l hat also CQnlnlns fleg irU1C·8UJ;ltc. T be feldspar alteration Is s imilar to t liat in the dlorlte porph}'l'Y.
 I-'

"'"
§
o<i

~
"g'"

~
r;J

~
~
~

Im

'"
"v~'"

~
FHlURE 82.- .4., Thin st'etion cf mODZonite porphyry from sill by Deer Crook,soutbof Pine Spring, Mount Pennell. Too largo dark phenocrysts are hornblende. The remains Ma bas31 section of aegirlne-augiUl can be
seen in the loft oontor. The uPP(lr part of the section Is a fino-gmined homblGndle inelusion. B. Thin section I)f diorite porphyry from Bulldog Ridge. Feldspar phenocrysh Q,\VG boon roplnced by fine grain
feldspar a long tra1lSvcrS(> fissures. Embnyed quartz crysto.lln lower tight. C, Polished spPClmen showing contact where monzonite porphyry (right) lms beon intrudod into diorite JXlrphyry. Specimen Is from
t h(' contact of the two minot intruslom thrOC-Quartors of a mUD south of PIne Spring. D, Polishod specimen of dlorlto perphyry from roof contact on the Pistol Rldgo laccolith. Tho edge of the scale ma rks the contact.
The phenocrysts BrG crushed, rotated. and dragged line:uly in a 1.Qnbaoout lin. wide at the contnct. Two Inches from thcoontact the porphyry has theso.ml> texture and structure as In the center of t he laccolith.
 PHYSICAL GEOCRAPH Y 167

FIGURE 85.- lndex map showing tho principal physical roatures or Utah Bnd their relation to tho Henry Mountains.
168 GE OLOGY AN D GE OGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAIN S REGION, UTAH

the dentri tic pattern is not pronounced and the drain- Permian formations the canyons are wide, because in
age is very well adjusted to the adjacent parts of the these places the Glen Canyon group of formations is set
plateau. The Fremont and Dirty D evil Rivers flow hack from the river by st eep slopes on the Triassic and
in a wide arc around the mountains and the drainage Permian formations (fig. 9A, B). But where the can-
tributary to them and th e Colora.do River is m dial yon bottom is within the Glen Canyon group the canyon
from each of the fiv e mountains (pI. 17). In the west- is narrow and th e steep walls rise abruptly Crom the
ern part of the basin a trellis drainage pat tern is con- bottom (figs. 8A, 90).
trolled by the strike valleys of the steep west flank of On the divid es between the canyons is a rough and
the basin and a parall el drainage pattern has developed inhospitable bare rock surface. The Navajo sandstone
along second ord er tributaries in the sou theastern pnri weathers and erodes into huge, light-gray, rounded
of th e a.rea. heehive forms (fig. 8A) which everywhere present
LAND FORMS steep , smooth rock slopes and discontinuous ledges.
OU the basis of type of topography th e H enry Moun- The Kayenta formation erodes into ledges, the widest
tains region can be divide.d into six s ubdivisions : of which contain small patches of very sandy soil.
canyon areas, sand deser ts, hogback ridges, ba.dlands E lsewhe.re tb e surface of th ese formations is bare rock.
and mesas, mountain areas, and piedmont grav el Trails can be made along th e ledges, but the trails
benches (pI. 18, fig. 86). These six principal topo· must follow the con to ur because above the K ayenta are
graphic forms are due primarily to the kinds of out- th e rough hills and clifrs of the Navajo and below is
cropping rock formations a nd, excep t Cor the moun tains, the impassable cliff of th e Wingate sandstone. The
the land Corms all occur in the sam e cli matic environ- Wingate forms a nea,rly unbroken cliff winding along
ment. The severaJ kinds of land Corms tb us OCCUlTing the canyons of the Colorado River lind its tributaries.
within a small par t of one d rainage basin under iden tical R arely is it possible to cross this formation except by
climate conditions illustrate the profo und effect of following the main streams. Indeed, this persistent
lithology and structure in cont rolling the evol ution of cliff is the prineipal obstacle to travel wit hin the region
topograph y . and has ueen the major factor in b.uring the passage
CAl\"<YON AREAS of t ravelers and explorers.
The part of the Col orado River tha t adjoins the E vidently the cliffs in t be resistant formations, such
H enry M oun tains area is the headward par t of Glen as the Wingate and N uvajo, are WOrn back very slowly.
Canyon, which has a total length of 170 mil es and ex- Gravel deposits on terraces considerably above the river
tends from the mou t.h of the Dirty D evil River to L ees abnt against the nearly perpendicular canyon walls
F erry in Arizona, at th e h ead oC M arble Gorge. In (fig. 80) and at some of these places the gravel has
Glen Canyon the. river is quiet, rapids are few, and been removed exposing a remarkably sharp right-
small boats can he used tlu'oughout its course (fi g. angle break between the wall of tbe cunyon and the
8A, 9B ). Upstream from Gl en Canyo n, bu t east of rock floor of the terrace. At these places the cliffs
the area here described is Ca taract Canyon, one of the have not retreated perceptibly while the bed of the
roughest stretches of the river. Colorado in Glen Canyon has been cut dowllwnrd
The gradient of Glen Canyon in this area avemges several scores of feet.
a lit tle more than 2 ft p er mile, b ut just below tho Almost everywhere t he elilTs are stained by desert
mou ths of tributary canyons the gradient is commonly varnish and locally very heautifully so, as at Tapestry
twice the R\'Terage and locally is three times as great, Wall. They would be marred uy scars of fresh rock
beca use of debris dumped there by the tri huta,·ies . if erosion of the walls were v igorous. The abundant
Evidently the river is un able to move all the load well-preserv ed pictographs engraved on the walls
dumped in it by its trihu taries. hundreds of years ago tell the same story of exceed-
Most of th e tribu tary canyons have grad ien ts steeper ingly slow recession of th e cliffs.
than 50 ft per mile, but farther upstream, where the Persons who have prospected lind lived along the
valleys are open in th e eas ily eroded formations, the river r ecall no rock falls dur ing the pas t 40 years, and
average gradients ar e less, nnd locally are as low as yet at several places in Glen Canyon lind at a Cew places
20 ft per mile. in the tributarv canvons talus cones have accumnlated
The Colorado Ri ver and the lower par ts of its tribu- at the foot o( the ~liffs. These cones commonly are
taries are in deep canyons whose sleep rock walls are composed in large part of huge boulders, whose fall
composed of the resistan t sandstone of the Glen Canyon must have produced startling sounds r ev erberating
group (figs. 87, 90). Where the can yon bot tom has between the narrow canyon walls. The large boulders
been cut into the old er and less resistant Triassic or are stained by desert varnish liS though they had lain
 P HYSI CAL GEOGRAPHY 169
<
~ ):
~ < ug .!!
~ ~ '" ~~ ~
8 ~ g .:: J : . : j ~
0>:: ·c Ct:" 1 ~.=

e:L±= PROFILE TYPICAL OF CANYON ARE AS

:::
,.
0.
..·•<
" .g .~

'"·I
~
~
".f
w
1 ---L_~~-----------r1··OOO'
I
'---'-
[L-__________________________________________________________________________________ ~
5,000'
, .OOO·

PROF IL E TYP ICA L OF SAND DESERT AREAS

MI. Pennell

~ _____ --lf·s.°·o o' .

'---------= ~ S,~' C.••k Bo"oh., ~

PROFIL E TYP ICAL OF TilE MOUNTA INS AND PIEDMONT GRAV EL BENCIIES

( , _ ______ U_P_~____8_'ue____H_;_"_,__________________-------------------------SR-k.!_
:, i""__-====-~~~~~ , ~~_NI~_
r 75·.::·. ______
L
___________________________~_________ _______ _ - - - - - - - --'- 3.000·

PROFILE TYPICAL OF BADL AND AND MESA AREAS

:;;
"j c;
t-~
t5 ~

~-----J-~:':.
L~----------------
_,___--__=_--_,_,___,----cc_---"-~ 3~OOO'
PROFILE TYPICAL OF THE HOGBACK AREAS
FlOUR!!: 86.- protHcs Illustrating land rorms In tbo Henry Mountains region. Horizontal SCflle is same as the ver t1rol.
J70 GEOLOGY AND GEOG RAPHY OF THE HENRY IvlQUN'fAINS REGI ON, U'l'AH

FIOUR£87.--Vcrtlcal view of the Colorado River below Bile. At the mouth of each trlbuta. y Is a sand bar. lim, l\'f oenkopl formati on; lis, Sblnarump conglomerate;
lie, Chinle tormmion; Jw, 'Yingn.le snnd~tone; Jk, KI\}"entR (ormaltol1: In, NSVI1jo SlUldstonc; JaI.. Carmel fonnlltlon. Peshllkl Mesa Is about 2.(Q) It higher than tho
rh-CT. Horizontal scale. about 2 in. eQuals I mile. PhotOl,'TRph by Fairchild Aerial Surveys.
 PHY SI CAL OEOO nAPIIY
tI,US exposed for It long t.ime. l'"foreover , most of the
cones are being dissected by gullies. At one locality,
in Halls Creek, a.bout h a.lf a mile above its mou th , a
slide is o\'erlapped by the 10 ft of a.ll",~um into wbich
H alls Crerk is incised. The alluvium which extends
aboyc and below th e slide is therefore not the result
of clamming by that slide. The slid e therefore must
antedAte not only the los t p eriod of an'oyo cutting, but
also the period of alluviation which prcceded the
cutting. The talus cone probnbly hfts considerable
a ntiquity despite the excellent preservation of its topo-
graphic form . ]\10st of the slides o.r e probably old
features; they may be periglaciaL They appear to
have survived from a more humid climate when con-
ditions wC're more conducive to wenth e.ring and reces-
sion of the cliffs.
The preservation of topographic features in t he
resistant formations is impressively illustrated by the
overhanging arches of the alcove type (figs. SB, D, and
.F IOURE 88.- EmBJI alcove arch in Wingate sandstOIl(" south well of Xorlh "'!\SI.I
1 mile below n ~ Callyull. Sketch froUlphotol.'rnph.
88). The alcoves OI'iginate in at, least thJ'Ce ways:
by lateral cutting of the streams, by SCOllr and sapping
bA ck of th e foot of wa.terfalls, and by solution of ccment
along pervious bedding planes and subseq uent blowing
a.wa,y, 01' falling away, of loosened sa.nd grains. Lateml
cutting of streams frequBntly produces huge alcove
arches but tbe other processes by themselves rarely
produ ce such large ones. 'VIlen an arch bas been
sta rted , however , if the strength of the rock p ermi ts,
it may grow to the limit of the thickness of t he forma-
tion by solu tion of the cementing ma trix along joint
planes permitting blocks to fall from insid e the al'ch.
Joint planes within the roofs of the arches aTe con-
spicuous, but in the adjoining cliffs few can be found.
They may be due to the opening of incipien t, or tight,
joints by the new stress relations that UJ'e set up in
th e roof as the s upporting rock is removed.
171
Alcove arcbes fonned by lateral cu tting of streams
are numerous. Two of the la.rgesL are in lower Hansen
Creek; one of them is 600 ft long, 130 ft deep, and 260
it higb; the other is 600 It long, 175 ft deep, and 175 ft
high. A similar arch in th", lower PUJ·t of Smitb F ork
is 500 ft long, 160 ft deep, and 300 ft bigh. Still
anotber having about these dimensions is ncar the
mouth of Peshliki Fork of Ticaboo Creek. At many
of t he Interally cut arches the stream has been diverted
from be.n eath the arch and no longer fl ows against the
back walL The arch in Smith Fork was cut when the
stream was 25 to 30 ft above its present position , and
a. rock-cut terrace, mantled by stream gravel no w forms
a. platform beneath the arcb . Tbe terrace an d gravel
are paTtly buried by sandstone boulders and loose sand,
in places 12 ft deep , fallen from the overhanging roof.
A large fall of such debris would effectively divert the
stre.am from b eneath tbe arch.
Tbese arches are located along the outside of stream
bends, and at a few places wh ere the canyons are nar-
row the arches overhang rock-cut slip-off slopes inside
the strel1lll m eander. One of the best examples is in
Smith Fork about 2 miles above the mouth of the canyon.
Most of the laterally cut alcove arches have a
smoothly curved interior surface which s uggests that
they were cut by the progressive widening of the
s tream's meander arc. Locally, however, lateral cut-
ting ceased when a given arc had been attained and
Later cutting was vertically downward. Still other ex-
ampl es indicate cess.a tion of vertical clown cutting while
t be strel1lll cut laterally far under a very low overhang-
ing rim (fig. 89) . A fine example of . uch an arch is
found at the point where Trachyte Creek en ters the
outcrop of the 'Vingnte sands tone. H ere t he stream
has cut 65 ft under a sands tone ledge and the overhang
is so low that a person carulOt s tand upright at the
stream channel.
An alcove arch may evolve to a natural bridge like
the Rainbow Bridge or the bridges in White Canyon if
the meanders are spaced closely enough to permit
their cutting through the alcove (Baker, 1936, p. 86;
Gregory, 1938, pp. 103- 106). The nearest approach to
this condition in this region is in Halls Creek, near the
h ead of the canyon, where breaching of an alcove arch
was interrupted by collapse of tbe rim , leaving a jum-
bled pile of broken blocks separating two meanders of
the stream.
Alcove arches also form by scour and sapping back
of wate.rfall s. The fines t example of this type, located
at the head of Warms pring Canyon, is one of the larg-
est arches along Gl en Canyon and is one of the scenic
places visited hy persons making the boat trip down
the river. The arch probably started as a small reces-
sion cut by direct scour back of the foot of the water-
172 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY U}' THE H~NHY MUU.N '1'A.LN~ REGiU N, UTAH

Rows of very small cavities, appearing from a distance

.' .
like so many woodpecker holes, are common along bed-
. :....... ... .
" ," . .- :.:»: . : .. ding planes in th e cliff-forming sandstones. Occasion-
. .. . . ", ,"
"
ally a large one is seen as at th e California Bar. Most
of the arches of this type are not symmetrical, but have
. ' " '":'", - angular roofs where jointed blocks have fallen awav .
Related to the arches are the tanks, on which'the
desert traveler must depend for part of his wa!.er sup-
ply. These tanks are formed in at least t hr'ee ways.
Many of them are plunge pools below waterfalls, like
...:..: ..::......::.,
'. '. . . the dep"ession in front of the alcove arch at the head
.:..:: .. ,' '". >... ' of W arms pring Canyon. Others are potholes along
.'. cascading stream courses. This latter type is most
abundant in th e Wingate and Navajo sandstones, and
locally in the Entrada sandstone, where it is massive.
... -....:->:. Still other tanks a re loeated on open upper surfaees and
'. -. .: :.
",
probably are clue to solution of the cement hy standing
B water and su bsequent wind aetion blowing away th e
loosencd sancl. M any tanks of this type a re elongated
along false or foreset bedding planes in the. C1'OSS-
bedd ed sandstone.

8
·· ····· ········:·: ::········> Another striking feature of the canyon part of the
.. : :: :: .:.- region is the marked parnllelism of s treanlS tributarv
....... ... .... , .. . ':- .: ..... .
..... -'. to t he large canyons that drain into th e Colorado Rive;' .
'.:', :;::.
'.'
:......• These second-order tributaries w'e aliJled ~outhw e~te rly
-.::
. .',
-." , "
'", " , , ",

~~~",--;;
' . :"
,': . ": : .. :
.: : ~

' ...,.. .
and the. d ivides betwe.en the. main canyons, which are
first-order tributaries, ar'e crowded against the ' south-
c west sid es of those canyons. Thus, N orth Wash
FWURE 89.-DlaJ:rammatic pmtlJes across canyons to Illustrate three shapes of later- drain s practically all the country between it and Poison
ally cut alcove arches. 11-:1ost of the arches ha\'c smoothly curved interIor surfaces Spring Box Canyon; Tracl'yte Creek drains practically
as it cut fly the prOb'TCSSi vc widening of the stream's meander 8fC (A). l..oc911y I
however, lateral cutting ccased when u gi\'en arc had been attained and later cut· all the country between it and North Wash; and the
ting was ve(tically downward (B). St ili other examples Indlcnt.e cessation of dowll tributaries en t.ering the can yons of Tica boo, Sevenmile,
cutting while the stream cut laterally fur under a vcry low overhanging rim (e ).
Warmspring and H ansen Creeks are mostly on the
fall , bu t its later growth seems to be due mostly to northeast si(l e of those can~rons. This drainage system
water seeping along the face of the recession and' dis· is oriented 45° to th,' strike of the rocks. I n the vi-
solving the cem enting ffiat r'ix from th e sandstonC'. cinity of }.Iount Holmes and Mount Ellsworth and
Wind or wash then can remove the loosened sand farth er sou theast hetween the Colorado and San Juan
grains . Solution would be mos t effective on tbl~ cool R ivers, a cons picllous set of joints trend southwest, hu t
protected face of th e arch across which considerable in most of the. region the conspicuous joint fractmes
water could seep \vi th a. minimum of evaporation. tJ'end southe.a.t (fig. 90). Presumably the parallel
" Thatever t he process, it is impressively m o re effective dra.inage has been controJleo by the so uthwesterly
than the downward cutting by the main creek which trending set of fractu res.
flows over the roof of the alcove but has been able t{) Likewise t he courses of the ca·n yons of North Wash
cut onJy a sho rt narrow sluice in the ov('rhanging l'i.m, and Trachyte Creek may he related to the. regional
Wl,en the strellJ1l is flowing the water falls ve rtically a jointing. B etween th e mountains and the heads of
few hundred feet from the sluice to a plunge pool 6 ft the canyons, these stream s flow east\vard, but on enter-
deep beneath it, but the inte.rior wall of the alcove is ing the. canyons they turn southe-nstward and flow con-
so far back that it must cateh little more than fme siderabl y farther to reach the Colorado River than
spray even wh en stonns make large water falls. would be necessary if their eastward course was main-
T he most common typ e of alcovo arch is formed tained.
along bedding planes, presumably pervious beds from Poison Spring Box Canyon, one of th e largest can-
which the cement has been dissolved permitting removal y ons in th e area and the largest western tributary
of the loosened sand. Usually th ese are small arches canyon of the Dirty D evil River, receives practically
or caves and thoy grade into small nicbes and cavities. no water from the H enry ~/fount,ains, 'rhe drainage
 PHYSI CAL GEOGRAPHY 173

F IGURE OO.-Vertirel view of the south half of PefhUkl Mesa and lower part of the canyon of TiaJ.boo Creek. lim, Moenkopi formatloui lis, Shlnarwnp conglomerate;
lie, ChInle f(lnnation; Jw. Wingate sandstone; Jk, Ka;yenta formation; In, Navajo sandstone; Jea, Carmel formaHon. l'eshUki M£!Sf! 1S about 2,000 rt hIgher than the
river. I1orizoutal scale, about 2 in. equals 1 rulle. Photograph by FalrchUd Aerial Surveys.

basin lies almost wholly within the desert and actually
is rather small. 'l'be canyon, however, once received
the water of Gl'IIllite Creek which has since been ili-
verted northward (p. 197) . Presumably Poison Spring
Box Canyon was cut when Granite Creek and possibly
other streams from Mount Ellen were flowing into it.
In the (u'st-ordcl' tributary canyons, such as tbese,
m eanders are mostly concentrated whero resistant for-
mations are crossed (:\1001'e, 1926, p. 43). The inner
gorge in the lower half of the Dirty Devil. River, for
example, is exceeilingly sinuous in the resistant Cedar
:\fesa sandstone. Between the head of this inner gorge
and I-Ianksville the river course is Jess sinuous, except
where it crosses the K avajo and vVingate sandstones.
North Wash and Trachyt.e Creek (fig. 9A) are fairly
straight except where (bey enter and lea ve the Wingate
sands lone. The canyons of Ticahoo Creek (fig. 90),
Hansen Creek, and t·he lower part of Smith Fork are
meandering in resistant formations although the simi-
larly incised canyons of Seven mile Canyon and upper
174 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF 'l'HE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION , UTAH
part of Smith Fork are stmight. Alcove arches along
the outside of many of these meanders, especially in
Hansen Creek and Smith Fork, indicate that the
meander belt has been widened during the canyon
cutting.
Lillie order , though , can be diecel'l1ed in the distribu-
tion of the large bends along Glen Conyon. The tor-
tuous bend at The Horn (fig. 87) is in the Triassic
fO"mations but the evenly spaced bends downstream
including t he sharp bend at Moki Canyon are in the
resis tant Jurassic sandstone formations. These large
bends in Glen Canyon have Ilot changed much during
the canyon culling, so apparently they were inher'ited
from a time when the drainage was at. a higher level.
Hanging tribu tary valley s are commonplace through-
ou t the conyon region. They arc olle of the effects of
intermitten t streamflow in the resistant formations.
The tributary yalleys drain smull areas within the
desert and carry water only a few times each year
following local millS that happen to fall wi thin their
drainage basins. The main stream , because of its
larger drainage basin, is in flood much more frequently
and is able to cu t downwru'd more mpidly than any
one of the tributaries. Hanging val.leys are most
s triking where the runoff in the drainage bas in of the
tribu tru'y is very smail compared to that of the main
stream, or where the junction is in an easily eroded
fo,mation below a resistant layer. 'Vb ere tribu tru'ies
join the main stream in homogeneous rock, the lower
part of the I,ribu tary is merely steepened .
Along many hanging yalleys, the falls, originally at
the mouth, have retreated cOllsideraole distanees up-
stream, forming hoxed canyons. The falls mig"ate
head ward bu t remain on almost perm,ment feature
because the downstre"m course tends to becom,' graded
to the main s tream . ::\1ain streams, iu genpl'ul , cross
the resistrul t layers " 'ith steepened gmdes, out not
wa terfalls.
Tbe regimen of tbe s treams in the canyons differs
from place to place and has differed from time to time'
in the past. Glen Canyon has an alluvialoottom that
is wide at Hite and Goodhopr (fig. 87) but at most
places form s only a narrow shelf between the river and
canyon wall. No doubt the thiclmess of the alIm-ium
also yaries considera bly from place to pl ace. South
of t bis area, a few miles below Halls Crossing, just
below the mou Ib of Lake Canyon, tbe river clutnnel
crosses a bare rock ledge. The maximum thickness of
the alluvium along th is part of the canyon is nol
known.
Th e Colora.do Rh'er in the upper part of Glen Canyon
must be essentially at grade and engaged primarily in
trrulsporting debris brought into it by the tributaries
because deltas have been ouilt into the river at the
mouths of the large tributary streams and the ri" el'
is crowded against the opposite bank in a narrow chan-
nel that has minor rapids (fig. 90), a condition resem-
bling tbat along tbe San J uan River (Miser, 1924, Pl'.
62- 63).
The lower parts of the principal tributaries are also in
alluvium but they have recently started cutting into it.
The second-order tributaries are mostly on bedrock
and are actively cutting at their cascades, falls. or
beuds.
Further eviu ence tlmt th e Colorado River in Glen
Canyon is essentially a t grade and bas beeu for some
time is the develo pm ent of small pediments in the
Triassic rocks above the old I"Cservior at Goodbope and
on the east side of tbe river opposite tlw Ticaboo Bar.
These pediments are located a few hundred feet from
the river and apperu' to oe graded approximately to
tbe flood stage of the river. The Goodbope pediment
was cut in tb e unprotected Triassic rocks oaek of the
gravel deposits that form the Goodhope Bm·. The
pediment opposite the Ticaboo Bar is covered by a t
least 9 fee t of fanglomerate but the pediment is heing
extended headward up each side of tbe fanglomerate,
between it and t he bordering hills of Triassic rocks.
These pediments arc small-scale replicas of tbe extensive
pediments arounel the foot of the H enry Moun tains.
Th e 10"'er edge of the pediment opposite the Ticaboo
Bar is cove.-ed by a series of sond dunes that are elongate
parallel to tbe ri,·pr. The dunes have their steepes t
side toward the river, but this must be due to erosion
by the river because the p revailing wind and direction
of saJld movemen t cvery\vhere in the area is toward the
nor lheast, that is, from the river toward the pediment..
Drainage oft" the pediment has heen blocked hy the
dunes and has become diverted around them. The
tops of the dunes orc Inodcl'ateJy well cemented ; 011
top of one is an Indian fireplace, built of rock and
surl"Ounded by flint chips. These dunes apparently
were derived from tbe channel of the river itself,
presumably during dry seasons of a period of exceptional
dl"Ought, such as occurred near the close of the 13th
century.
D rainage cbanges of greater an tiquity are recOl'ded
by numerous l'ock-cut terraces, most of which are
overlain by gravel (fig. 90). Along the Colorado
River these deposits conta in flour gold which has been
the object of considerable pros pecting (p. 220). The
terraces are a t diffe"en t heigh ts above the streams, and
on the map (pI. 18) arc grouped arbitrru'ily by th eu'
height. They are rathe,' uniformly distributed along
the upper 75 miles of Glen Canyon, except for part of
the course which is in the VVingate sandstone, where there
is none. Mos t of the terraces ru'e along the compara-
tively straight parts of the canyon, ou t a few are located
 PHYSICAL GEOOH APIIY
on the innel' side of river bends. Along the lower 90S
miles of Glen C!lnyon, termces al'e excccdingly few,
yet tbe river gradient und discharge is about the same
as in the upper part of the canyon, the same group of
formations are present, and the shape and plan of the
canyon is about the same,
Canyons tributary to tbe Colol'lldo River meander
more than the rivet', anel are much narrower'. Rock-cut
terraces along them ",'e mostly vel'y small and discon-
tinuous and most, of them arc locnted inside mennder
bends as the coullterpart of the alcove arches at the
outer sides of the bends. Tenaces lITe uncomnlOn in
tributary canyons cut in the Kayenta formation and
the Wingate sundstone, t.hougb one would suppose tbat
t.he ledge-forming Kayentu would fucilitatc the forma-
tion and preservation of such features .
The highest gravel deposi Is examined within the
river canyon Ol'e about 500 ft above the river und contui.n
abundant boulders of porphyry from Lhe H emy Moun-
tains, Gravel deposits containing porphyry boulders
Occur also at muny places on top of lhe plateau near
the west rim of Glen Canyon and the canyon of the
Dirty D evil River and along the divides between their
western tributaries. The gravel deposits at Cedru'
Point nrc at an aU,itude of almos t n,OOO ft and nrc
almost a thousand feet higber than the plateau surface
intcrvening between Ccdar Point and thc Henry
NIountains, so the deposits must be older than the
canyon of North Wash und Poison Spl'ing Box Canyon,
Similar deposits on thc divide betwecn Nortb Wash and
Trachyte Creek und ttt tbe southeas t points of divides
bclween slre","s dmining Cane Spring Desert also
antedate tbe tributill'Y canyons, Cle",'ly the entim
epoch of canyon cut ti.ng along Glen C""yon and its
tributaries occurrcd since the intrusions at tile Henry
Mountains (p. 204).
Wllcn the rivcr was ut the level of t,he high gravel
deposits, 2,000 to 3,000 ft above its prescnl position, it
must have been in broad open valleys because the
formations at that lcvel, the San Rafael group and
overlying formations, ure not resistant und would not
have formed steep-walled canyons.
BANI} DESERTS
Santi d uncs blanke t. extensive arf'as wbere the
Entrada sandstone is the surface formation as in the
Green River Desert, Bun D esert, und tb e Cane Spring
Desert. Tb ese places perhaps typify a mther general
concept of true deserts. They are hummocky with
sand dunes and sand mounds, illld the drainage is indis-
tinct unci commonly is disintegrated by shifting sund.
The relief is not great, the larger strcams have broud
shallow valleys, und the general aspect of the suriuce is
tbat of late maturity.
175
The monotony of the dunalland is relieved somewhat
by a few protruding bills of bedrock. The Entrada
sandstone is irregularly lime-cemented and tbc resulting
differential erosion produces odd-shuped bu ttes and "rock
babies." The Gilson, Brigham (fig. 92), Sorrell, and
Trochus BuLles (fi g. 91A) ill'e large feutures of tbis type.
A collection of "rock babies" (fig. 910) by thc road 1 ~
miles north of North vVash contains such n weird assort-
ment of small forms that th e place is locally known as
Egypt,
A photograph of Brigbam Butte (fig. 92), belonging
to :Mrs. Cornelius Ekkcr of Hanksville, and Luken about
1900, was comparcd witil a photograph made n.t the
same place. in 1939. Ko erosion of the buttc coulrl be
detected. The dislribution of the bould ers on tbe pedi-
ment. ttt the foot of tllC bullewas somewhat difrerent, but
this may hnve resulted largely from human influence, for
the locali t.y is b eside th e old Hoskinini freight roud, find
provided a shaded resting place for the wagon trains.
Tiny pediments gencrtilly slope from the foot of such
buttes and other hills i.n tbe Entrada sandstone.
Althougb a tremendous quantity of sand shifts across
th e dunnl areas, very em\"' dunes migrate far out of t he
Entmda belt, because, in the more shaly Carmel forma-
tion, the source of sand is left behind and th e dunes can
only become smaller, and the smaller the dune th e faster
its travel and obli tcration, Locally though, where only
a na!'l'DW belt of Curmcllies between the dunal area ""d
a canyon , a slope of loose sand may bc built from the
eflllyon bottom to the rim, Invariably tbese slopes are
on t.he sou thwest sides of the cunyons because the pre-
vniling wind is {rorn that du'ection. Conspicuous ex-
amples may be found ulong Halls Creek, 'It the bead of
NOlth ''lush, and at the hcad of the south fork of Poison
Spring Box Canyon, At these places th e Cflll)'on bo t-
loms are usually dry, hut the movement of sand into
U,cm is not sufficicntly rapid t.o do more t.han bury the
one sid e-wall.
Most. of the dunes arc of the barchun e type, that is,
in pial] they are crescent shnpe and convex toward Lile
windwru'd side (Shippee, 1932, fig, 21, p. 21). The
duncs tend to become clustered. In pnrts of the Green
HiveI' Desert the clus ters also ure crescenticall), urnlIlged
but tirey face th e direction opposite to t.he individual
h,u'chune dune (fi g. 93). Each cluster is com posed of
severul barchrulC dun es tbat nrc crowded irregulill'ly n.t
the center but arranged en ecbelon at. tll e sides of the
clusters, A long n!lI'l'OW ridge of sand on th e otherwise
Aut desert extends far to the windwal'd from the tenni-
nal barchane on eacb side of the cluster.
The dunal area is surprisingly good gmzing lund.
The vegetation is capable of survi ving prolonged periods
of int.CIlse heat ill"l drought and yet it blossoms like a
gardcn after even a moderate shower. Bu t unless the
 >-'
~
C>

Trochus
Butte 1:;
C·
S
CO

'"
>
Z

"
CO
o'"
CO

..'>"
~
Ii:
:'""1
'~"
Z
~
~
Farmer Butte
@
>
i;2
'"
'"'"'"
~
_.
..
C
... ..... -. ;';
-
,
~"'
~ ~

-~-~... c:-
....... .-
.~,"'*-

FIOURE 91.-Views In the desert 6aSt of Mount EUan. A, View O.lSt down tho gra\'el pediment along Seep Wash. The pediments and the gll\vcl on thorn extend castW!lTd into the hea.ds of the canyons, and the
canyon producing formations rise eastward II thousand feet higher than tM lower edge of the pediments. n, Typical view orthe Morrlson-Summorville cscnrpment, 2 miles south of North Wash. Je, Entrad:!.
sandstone; I s, Summerville formation; Jm, Morrison formation. A gravel-free pf'diment In the Entrada slopes from tho foot of the escarpment. C, Small graveJ.(ree pediments in Entrada s:mdstone at tho foct
of SMdstone monoliths IH miles north of North Wash. D, View up Trachyte Creek half a mile above the ranch. The creek Is In a gorge incised into a cut terraco mantled with flood plain deposits.
 rrrvslcAL OEoonAPIIY 177
CrOSS mOre resistant formations downstream. Con-
sequently there has always been ample time to erode
the Entrada to maturity while lhe streams more slowly
eu t into the hru·der formations. Under a more humid
climate there may have been litlle or no loose sand,
but the relief prohabl~' would have been as subdued
as now.
HOGBACK RIDGES

Hogbaek ridges, locally known as reefs, arc among the

FUaIR.K 02.- Drlgham Bulte, a monolltb of Enlrada sandstonc in Ibl' dunal area
a long Well Wash {i m iles north of Hanksvillc. Small ped imCIlt.'1 around tho base
of such monolith!> art: c;onll:UOIl. Skl::tcl J(.' Il frOlll1l. pJlutogr1l.ph. The 01'11:111111 WH.S
compand wUh a photograpb taken 40 }T ago but no eddlll,)llCi pitting, fluting , or
othCt' erosion 01 the monolith could be dlsooflled,
s tOlIDS arc repeated , t he plants soon wither undnr tbe
burning SUllo Olle marvels at their persistent revival.
Surface water is almost nonexistent in the dunal
area, either as streams or springs, though fortunately
there are a few spdngs in the less pervious formations
of immediately adjacent areas. Neverthel ess, in spito
of the absence of water and the presonce of loose
sand, the dunal areas are the easiest routes for un-
iluproved roads, because of Lbe general absence of
large topogl11phic obstacles.
The mature topography of these ru·ellS reOects the
ease of erosion of the Entrada sandstone. The forma-
tion wos firs t f'xposed in the Henry 110untains struc-
tUI'al Lasin when the ancient. mnsler drainage was about
3,000 ft above tbe present Colorado River bed . Be-
cause of the basin ward dip the belt of outcrop of the
sruldstone has been shifted slowly toward th e trough
of the basin bu t probably a matw·e surface has per-
sisted on the sandstone since it was first exposed because
the streams crossing t he Entrada have always had to
most prominent and speetucular featu I'es of the region.
The lru·gest of these ridges The Reef of the Sun R afael
SweU (fig . 95B ), th e Capitol R eef (fig. 94), and Water-
pocket Fold (figs. 95A, 97) form huge nearly impassablp
waUs along the north and w"st sides of thp Henry
Mountains structural b asin. They arc formed by the
resistant sandstone beds of tbe Glen Canyon group
turned up along th e steep north and west sides of the
structural basin. Impassable cliffs mOllY hWldreds
of feet higb along t1w outer side of these hogback
ridges (fig. 95A), face outwurd from the structw·al
basin. The tops and hack slopes of the hogback ridges
are exceedi ngly rough, heing surmounted by high
knobs and deeply cut by canyons (fig. 96 ). The
landfOIms of these "hogback rid ges, like thosp. of t,hp,
canyon areas, ru·e decidedly yo uthful. They ru·e
formidable burrim"S to t ravel and eun be m·ossed at
very few places, even on foo t. Thei.r surface is mostly
baro rock and virtually aU of it is wuste land.
Broad slt·ike valleys lie on each side of Lhe hogback
ridge'S (figs. 95A, B , and 97), lind th ey are connected
by only a few widely spaced HftlTOW canyons through
tbe ridges. Many of these eOJUlccting Cfillyons are (00
narrow or too rough for hOJ"Sebnck travel. Boulder
Canyon, for example, which crosses the hogback
ridges of the San Rafael Swell, is about 300 it deep
but its sides are so close together t hat a boulder fallen
from the rim has lodged between th e walls without
toucbing bottom. One does not need to stoop much
to walk under it, but until it is dislodged, hOt'Ses CllJlIlot
be taken through the crul)'on.
For the most part the major dl'l1inage on or across
the hogbltek ridges is controlled by the s tructure of the
sLeeply dipping r esistant forma Lions but, here and thm·e,
the urainage is in complete disregard of the str ucture.
Several of the canyons crossing t he Reef of th e San
Rafael Swell, for example, meander quite as much as
the st,,·eltffi cow-ses in the broad valleys cut in the easily
erod ed formations on either side. HaUs Creek at two
places leaves the wide, easily eroded s t.rike valley east
of t he Waterpoeket Fold and enters a deep nruTOW
gorge cut in the hard rocks of that hogback ridge. Tb e
rllllyon of the Fremont River through the Capitol
Reef is fairl y well adjus ted to the s tructure most of the
 ....
O'l

c:
"
C-
to
C-
c:
"
~
e
",..
C-

",.'"
~
"
C-
":
~

~
":r
"z
~
E:
C-
c1
Z
"'Z
>
Cfl

'"
"~"'
c::
,."'
J1

FIOURE 93.-Vl\rrica\ view of sand dunes In t he Green River nesert. The photograph Includes most of the northeast quart('lf or T. 26 S. , R. 12 E. The Individual sa.nd dunes are the barchanc type, in plan concave
to the leeward . These barchanl' dunes arc ciustl'J'cd in crescentic arcs that arc concave to the windward. Nearly straight ridges of sand cl.-tcnd sout.hwestward from the tip of each crescentic nrc. Scale, about
2 In. equ1\ls 1 mile.
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 179

Ftr.UltE 94.- VcrUcal vJew of Capitol Heel. lim, Moenkopi formatlou; li~, Shinarump conglomerate; lie, Chinle formation; Jw, 'Villgate salldstone; .Tk, Kllycntn forma-
tion; Jn, Navajo $Rndstone; Jea, Carmel formation. Capitol Wnsh is the route followed by the main fOnd into the Henry Mountains regIon from the west, Scale, about
2 in. equals 1 mile. Photograph by J<'alrchJld Aerial Sun'c)'s.
 .....
00
o

Swap PAt £lIen

Mesa

"'o"
S
c
-<
>
Z
"
o"'"
"'>"
~
'"
o
"
"'~
;r

""
~
ao
~
"'
~
''""
S
'"~
cj

"'~
FIOURE 9S.-Views along the hogback rIdges. A, AJrplane vicw north along the Waterpockct Fold. Photograph by Aero Service Corporation. B, Vlcw west along Tho Reef ot the San Rafael 8w(>11, from the north
end of Little \Vild Horse Mesa. C, View north along Halls Creek and the Watcrpocket Fold from the escarpment formed by the Morrison formation 5 mHes northwest of Clay Seep. Photograph by P. Averltr.
Kmv, Mesaverde formation; Kmm, Masuk member, K.me, Emery sa.ndstone member, Kmbg, Blue Gate shale member, KInf, :I<'erron sandstone memher, and Kmt, Tununk shale. members oltho Mancos sbale;
Jm, MOrTison formatIon; Jsr, San Rafael group; JI\, Summ(lJ'ville formation; Jeu, OtUti3 [ormation; Jo, Entrada sandstone; Jca, Oarmel formatton; Jn, Navajo sandstone; Jk, Kayenta formation;)w, W\ngatesand-
stone; li, 1'riasslc formaHons,
 PHY SICAL GEOUHAP.L-!Y
}~ IGVRE OO.-Douldcr Cftllyon, an example of the narrow gorges severBl hundred
ll'(lt dl'(lp in The Hoof or the San Hafael Swell, the Cailitol Red, and Water pocket
Fold. Sketch Crom photograph.
way, the course being st.raight between several right-
angle bends that appru'ently are controlled by th e
numerous open joints . But just befOl'e leaving the
181
hogback ridges, the stream winds in goose-neck mean-
dOl'S to follow a coU/'Se 2 miles long between points only
half o. mile "'pru·t. Capitol Wash has a sharp meander
just below its entrance to the Capitol Reef. Muddy
Ri vel' hus a looping meander neal' the middle of its COllrse
across the R eef of th e San Rafael Swell. These mean-
dei'S, like the shurp hends in Glen Canyon, evidently are
inhmitod from a mOre ancient and lugher level of the
s tream courses and have hecome superimposed on t he
I·idges.
On the other hand, the second-ol'der or third-order
drainage shows considerable adj ustment to the s tructure
und at many places has developed It trellis pattei'll in the
jointed rocks (fig. 94).
All the canyons through th e hogback ridges are
narrow and most of the stream channels are on bed-
rock. Along the larger streams, however, alluvium
has been deposited, and in some-Capitol "Vash, for
example-thore are" few cut terraces mostly on the
inner sid es of the stream bends. The alluvium in all
the CRnyons is now bcing eroded. Tanks like tbose in
t he canyon arcus are numm'Ous in the bru'e rock sur-
fU(, l'S of these large 'l'idges.
In addition to th e hll'ge hogback ridges formed by
tho upturned fonflaliulis o[ tIte Glen Canyon group
Lhere fire small hogback ridges formed by other thinner
forml1tions (figs. 20A, 97) . They are confined to the
western edge of the structural basin; most of them l1re
only a few htmdred feet high, hut their steep westward-
facing cliffs seriously interfere with travel. Their tops
and back slopes fire less I'Och.,}, and more accessiole than
t hose of the big hogbacks and are fairly useful for
grazing land.
These to pographi c feat.U/·es ure controllod almost
wholly by lithology and slruetUl'e. E vml uncleI' a more
humid climate they wo uld p ersist us ridges although
th eir slopes would be less precipitous. The intercanyon
divides are lowered v ery slowly hecause erosion is con-
centrated along the stream channels and at the base
of !be cliffs. The hogback ridges probably stand as
high today flS they ever have, and their broad upper
surfaces will probably hecome even more dissected and
p erhaps will he lelL slruuling in even greater relief as
the surro unding countr y is furth m' reduced.
BADLANDS AND MF.8AS
Shale membel'S of the lvIancos ruld clayey pal'!s of the
M01'l'ison formation form badlands of which the Piuto
Hills ,u1d Blue Hills al'O typical examples (fi gs. 98A, 99,
100) . The badlmul hills are genemlly less than 150 ft
high. In the lVIol'I'ison, most of the hills are fairly large,
a few ru'e l'Ounded knohs, and all have a smooth convex
profile with slopes that are furrow ed by only a few
rather large rills (fig. 98B). Mancos shale hills differ
182 lil.:ULUGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REG ION, UTAH

FIGURE 97.- VerUCflI view oCt he Water pocket }'old immedlateh' south of Burr T rail lie. Chinle formal ion; Jw, Wlngate sandstone; Jk, Kayenta Cocmatlon; Jo. ~8"ajO
sandstone; Jsr I San Rafflel group; Jm, Morrison form ation; Kmt, Tununk shale member, Kruf, Ferron sandst.one member, Kmbg, Blue Oale shale member, Krul', Emory
sandstone, members of the Mancos shale. Scale, about. 2 in. eQunls I mile. Photograph b}' Fairchild Aerial Sun-el'S.
 PHYSI CAL GEOGR APHY 183

FIOURE 98.-Vlcws In the badlands alld mesa areas. A , View DOl'th or Stephens Mesa. 'I."he badlands arc deve)oped in the Dluo Oate sbale member or the Mancos sha1e:~B .
Badlands Conned by the clay beds in t be upper part of too McniSon (ocmatlon, near the Muddy River. C, BadlandS in the upper part of the Ferron sandston~ member
or the .Mancos shale, aIoU&' State Route 24. Tho highest badland bills aTC formed by t he Blue Oate shale member of tho Mancos shale. In too diStance is F actOly Butte.
184 GEOLOGY AN D GE OGRAPHY OF THE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
in several ways. Few of theIn are isolated, their
crests are narrow, and their sides arc concave and
intricately cu t by a fretwork of minute rills (fig. 98A ).
The difference in form between the Morrison and
Mancos badlands is probably relateo to the intemal
structure, texture, and composition of the two kinos of
clay. The clay beds of the M orrison ace t hick and
homogeneous, whereas tbe M an cos is fissile shale,
abundantly jointed. Much of th e Morrison clay on
weathering, swells, becomes Ilighly pcnrious, yet remains
ficmly coheren t and tough. The Mancos, on the other
IU111d, wea t hers into discret e flakes of shale that do not
fIrmly cohere. When dry they are easily blown away;
indeed, at some places they form small dunes of shale.
On the Mancos slopes, therefore, the weathered crust
generally is t hinner than on Morrison slopes so that
runoff and rill cu t ting are morl' acti ve on the :VIancos
t han on t he Morrison.
The uppec clayey part of the Morriso n is cavernous
and contains numerous sinks-a karst to pography on a
small scale. At one locality, in sec. 24, T. 29 S., R. 10 E .,
a small wash has been diverted into a cavem and the
wash has cut its course 4 ft deepcr since t he diversion.
A small but distinct windgap marks the old course of
the wash to the main stream.
These badland-producing fOl"llla t ions are separated
by firm beds of sandstone that form broad benches and
dip slopes of bare rock or sandy soil. Scarps are formed
along the up-dip side of th e benches whereas down the
dip the bare sandstone is found beneath another stri p
of badlands. Where dips arc slight t he benches arc very
broad and parts of them are isolated as mesas, as for
example, the North and South Caine ville :vIesas and
Factory But te (figs. 98A, C, and 99). Where dips are
steep the benches form hogback ridges (fig. 20A).
Scarps a round the benches are WOrn back m ostly by
erosion of the soft shale which undercuts t he capping
resistant sandstone, but a t some places especiall y along
t he scarp of the Summerville and the basal Morrison
formations, the retreat involves small-scale landslid_ing.
The capping layer of basal Mouison is fi ssured , gypsi-
ferous conglomerate tlu"Ough whi ch water has easy
access to the nunlcrous joints that extend downward
into the Sununerville. Where t he joint cracks are t ight
at a slight depth below the surface, the water seeps
lat erally along the joints or bedding planes and in a
short distance comes to tbe surface. The Summervill e
contains shale beds, and seepage along them lubricates
a sol e on whicb large joint blocks slide downward. Small
oases of grasses and shrubs dot t he hillsides in certain
localities, as along Wild Rorse Creek, and mw·k the
spot where the scepage is coming to the surface.
The shale formations give li se to either a youthful or
a mature topography (figs. 99, 100), for the youthful
badland hills are surrounded by pediments·that 'separat e
the hills from broad alluvium-floored valleys along the
main streams. Pigure 99 shows such an area be tween
Sweet water Creek and Oak Creek. Similar gradation s
between youthful badlands, mat ul·e rounded hills,
pedimen ts and allu vium-floored valleys may be seen a t
t he sou theast side of North Caineville M esa and along
Sand Creek.
As erosion ad vances in the badlands, t he height of the
hills is reduced, and as t he nan"Ow-{;rested divides are
lowered they become smoo t her and broader . By way
of contrast, the Itills capped by the more resistant for-
mations, the sandstones, maintain their heigh t during
advanced stages of erosion which progresses chiefly b y
removal of ma tClial from the hillsides, as at Factory
Butte and ot her mesas (fig. 980) .
Cliffs of shale in t he badlands have been produced
locally by lateral cutting of streams. At th e foot of
some of the cl iffs are talus cones of t he shale but, unlike
the t alus cones and slides in the canyon areas (p . 186) ,
these shale cones a re probably no t ancien t features, be-
cause cliffs in the shale formations against which the
COnes abu t are not durable features even in the arid
climate.
Streams crossing the badlands and mesa areas have
moderately meandering courses. Commonly, along a
given stream , straight stre tches al ternate with stretches
of m eanders, such as along the streams in the canyons or
hogback ridges. FOI· example, for 6 miles east of Caine-
ville, the Fremont R iver is nearly straight, but at Blue-
valley the course of the ri ver is broadly meandering.
E ach stretch has the same kind of flood plain, same
kind of bedrock, and each stretch is immediately up-
stream from a gorge in alternat ing sandstone and shale
beds.
·What was tho ancestral form of the badlands and
mesa area? When t he Colorado River and lower part
of the Dirty D evil River first began to cut their canyons
the posit ion of the Fremont River n car Caineville mus t
have becn at least a thousand feet higher than now ;
that is, no lower th"n t he present top of the Caineville
':'1esas. At that stage proba bly the M esaverde forma-
tion was as extensive fiS the Emery sandstone is now J the
Emery was abou t as extensive as the F erron sandstone
is now , and the FelTon was as extensive as the presen t
Morrison. To the exten t that t hese formations were
spaced more closely then than now, their surface relief
exceeded that of the presen t badlands and mesas. To
the extent tha t they wer e spaced farther apart, their
relief was more subdued. One may suppose that the
spacing has not been greatly changed and that the
mature surface has been inherited and simply shifted
westward with the fOITlla t ions as they were eroded t o
progressively lower levels.
 P H YSICAL GEOGR APHY 185

FlOum; OO.- Vcrtical view of South Cainevile r.·I esa and the badlands along the lower part or SweetwlUer Crook. The mesa Is capped by Emery sandstone member of the
Mancos shale, the badlands are formed by the Bille Oate shale member of the Mancos. Note the PQdlments between the (oot of tho badlands and the alluvium or the
streams. Scale, about 2 In. equals 1 mile. PhotOb'Tapil by Aero Service Corp
210116-53-13
 ......
00
0>

<:>
'"
S
~
~
"
<:>
l'l
o
Cl

'"
~
..,o
-l
:r
tri
:r
'"
:7.
...'"
0:
o
~
..J
::::7.
'"
'"
9'"
o
!;t,

FIGVRE lOO.-Badlands In the Blue Gate shale member of thtl Mancos shale along Sand Crook, 4, miles sout.hwest ofCalnevUle. The alluvium along Sand Oreek overlaps the pedIments that slope from the
toot of the badland bills. Tho limit of overlap Is marked by a ehllnge III color. Photograph by Oeorge Grant, U. S. Department of the Interior
~
~
o

f
f
;
I." :'
~

."

~
Ul
".
~,..
"'"g
Ferron '>"
Steele Butte
~
( Me~tlerde)
£~ry
'"

• ~.

F IfIURE l03.- 0rnvel co\'cred pediments at the foot of Mount Ellan. A, View northeast RcrOS.~ tho diSsectoo north edge 01 the Dirch Creek Benches. T he gravel L~ r. to 10 rt thick and lies on a pediment
eroded In Tununk shale member of the Manco~ shale. S, View south across the Dugout Creek Benchos. Sandstone hills protrude t hrough the gravel, which 1s about 25 rt t hick,
.....
<D
<:..:>
 .....
~

North Summit Ridge

Mount EUbn

'"
'"
S
;;j
>
~

"
'o'""
''>""
~
'"
o
'"
>-3
:Ii
'"
~
'"Z
~
~
C1
~
>
~
'"'"
C
~
o
::
r.
~

FfI1URE 104,-Obl1Que vlcw eastward up the Cedar Creek Deneh on t he west side or Mount Ellen. Cedar Creek is perched on the bench, but It is threatened with cnpfurfl hy the valloys that bn.e been eroded
considerably below the ben~h on tQc north nnq. south sIdes, T, Table MOQntnin bysmalith; eL, Ceqar C r~ek laccolith ; P, PiStol Rtdgo laccolit h. PhotolITaph by Falrch Ud Aerinl Surveys,
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
the west, a nd the resulting complex series of drainage
diversions is entirely comparable to that west of the
.nou ntuln.
Th e main gravel beneh of Oak Creel, has its apex
about 2 miles northwest of T able :'vlountain. The
gravel deposit is a mile wide and extends mOre than 3
miles dowllstrcam. It was deposited on a sUlJacc,
probably a pediment, cut on tbe Biue Gute sbale.
As sbown on plate 20, Oak Creek emerges f"om the
mountain at the "pex of this gmvcl fun a nd flows
nort hward in a shallow channel for half a mile and t,here
turns sharply west whcre it bas been cnptul'cd by a
tribu ta ry of Sweetwater Creek. Oak Creek is now
aggrading th e valle), of tb e stream t.h at cap tured it, but
probably will not co ntinue in this colllse very long, for
it is threatened wit,b imminent capture by two tribu-
tmies of Town Wasb wbich have cut 75 to 100 it bclow
the main Oak Creek beneh on the east and west sides.
These lower valleys arc pediments, partly gravel-free,
whose lower edges fire covered witlI alluvium.
An extensive peditnent has fOl'llled along the west
side of the main Oak C"eek bench (pI. 20), and it needs
but little extension before the strcam tllut is cutting
it will capture Oak Creel<. I t tben will become tbe
dumping ground of the gravel being Inoved by Oak
C reek. The stream flowing on the pediment east of
th e main Oak Creek bench already has a tributary
only a stone's thmw {mm the channel of Oak Creek,
a nd the divide between them is only 10 ft high . How-
evel', as this tl'ibutary is un old channel in t.he gravel,
it probably does not bave th e advantage necessary to
captul'e anot.h er stream, for it.s course is nearly as
choked with gl"Uvci as the cha nnel of Oak Creek.
Birch C"eel< emerges from ]\<[ounl Ellen south of
J et Basin and flows onto a gravel bench 1% miles wide
and 4 miles long. Th e gl'ilvel lies all fi ped im ent surIn ee.
R emnnnts of tlus gravel and the underl y ing ped imen t,
or other grl1vel-covered pediments at very nenrly tbe
same level, e,,"tend G miles farther north (fig. 103A),
hut 2% miles from the mountain Bimh C"eek recently
has been diverted westw,u'd into a lower, gravel-free,
you thful valley cu t in t he T ununk shale. The creek
is actively aggrading the new vaJley which rejoins the
old cou.se 2 miles north enst of Bert A very Seep.
Along Coaly Wash und its larger tributaries all"" ium
has been deposited, but between the streams only a few
small bills of bedrock remain and broad arens are
eroded to a plane surface. There is vcry lit tle gravel
in th ese washes 0" on tbe pediment.
Bil'ch Creek is being threatened with captW"e by
Conly Wash which has eroded deeply into Jet Busin
dome 400 ft below the channel of Birell Creek. A
narrow divide, only 20 ft high , is all that keeps Bil'ch
Creek in its perched chann el. When the divide is
195
b "oken and Birch Creek is diverted into tbe grayel-free
valley of Coaly Wash, the wash will become aggraded
with gravel. Given time thi s gravel will build a fan
I)rogressiycly farther down the vaJJey until it spreads
over the all uvium and pediment nlong the lower part
of Conly Wash.
BiTcb Creel< may also be diver ted into N azer Canyon
"bove Bacon Slide where Birch C reek flows on top of
the F erron sandstone. The creek in N azer Canyon is
200 it lowe.', Itt the foot of the sandstone scarp. At
this place a divide, only 9 ft bigh , keeps Birch Creek
in its channel ; when this divide is In'eached Bil'ch Creek
will become a. tributar,v of Bull Creel<. The conditions
afrect.ing divel'sion here, however, differ from those
beyond the front of the mountain in being controlled
largely by the structure of th e bedrock.
During stage 1, Bull Creek (1'1. 20, fig. 105) flowed
on a pediment on wh ich the creek deposited gravel for
at least 2 nilles north and 2!~ miles cast of the place
where it emerged from the mountain. 'VlI en B ull
Creek flowed on this smfnce it p"obably drained into
the D irty D evil Ri ver via either Beaver Wasb or Dry
Vnlley hut wns diverted westward (stage 2) and bus
s in ce joined t.he river yia D.-y ValJey or Hanksvill e.
At the present ti mp. flood watcr mtty go either way.
The gravel surface on which Bull Creek now flow s
bas been built practically to grade, but along the west
eelge of tbe gmvel, trib utaries that bnve lower gmdierlts
have cut their beds mea surably below Bull Creek. In
t he SW y. sec. 17, T. 29 S., R. 11 E., a gravel-free
t ributary bas a cluumcl 14 ft lowe,' and only 50 ft west
of the gravel-clogged cblUlncl of Bull Creel<. M cClel-
lan Wash , anotl. co· tributm-y, has cut considerably lower
a nd if a pediment thot has formed along it (fig. 106) is
extended only a sllOrt distance, the wasil will captme
Bull Creek, wbicb will tben aggrade tbe pediment.
Tbe headword part of M cClellan Wash is a youthful
valley Itbout. to captuo'e Nazer Creek (fig . 1140).
Tbe total are" dr,uned by McClellml Wash is only
"bout 2 sq mi and p"actically all of it is in the belt of
low precipitation. Bull Creek on the other hand
drains nearly twenty times as much m'ea, about half of
which is on l\10tult Ellen whel'c the precipitation is
considco'ably greater. 'Where tbe two streams a rc side
by side, the bedrock and str uctmc are t he sume . But
while Bull Creek h as been at grade or aggrading its
grovel-laden course, McClellan Wash, wit.h only an
occasional flow of wuter, has been cutting downwul'd
in the soft Man t'Os shale.
STREAM DIVERSIONS ON THE EAST SIDE OF MOUNT ELLEN
The streams draining t be east side of 1\1ount Ellen
flow about 10 miles aeo'oss the stl'ike of the form ations
to the boads of the 101J'!!e canyons cut into the resistant
 ......
r:>
~- . br" -- 0'1

c
'iii
'"
III c ~
Ltu
'is E CI) € ~
"''0
~i2a;
'" ~ 2
Q)
~o E .2.,.
0.
",'0 ~ .2
'5 Lij I G,)

... ....
II>
'" .x a. C'l
'"
et:: ....J:
:;: ::E ::E z ·~ +-"
J :=:;:
North
Summit Ridge '"
o
bC'l
..;
>
21
"
C'l

'"
o
C'l

..~
~
o

i'"
'~"
..,''""
8
~,:
z
'"
'"'o"
C'l
~

?o

FIt'lURE I05,-OblJqne view south up the benches at the mouth or BuB Creek . The creek has been dl\'crted westward of! the hlgh benches and Is aggrading the lower b enches on which It now nows. Severa) 01 the
desert washes on each side or Dull Creek: have cut t heir channels lower t han the creck and threaten It with capture, Dull Mountain hystnalltll forms Jukes Butte. Photograph by Frurch11ds Aerial Su r,eys.
 PHYSTCAL GROClRAPHY
STREAM DIVERSIONS ALONG GOLD CREEK
Gravel deposited by Gold Creek and other nearby
st.reams draining t,he east side of !V{ount Hillel's co '~ers
a bout 6 sq mi , and nearly luill t hat nrea is being actively
a ggraded by Gold Creek at the prcsent t ime, producing
a hummocky, fau-;;hapcd sUlface interrupt.ed by monad-
nocks (fig'. 50).
Gold Crepk em erges from the mountain in a shallow
~bannel t hat becomes braided t hroe-quarters of 11 mile
from the foot of the mountain. Some of the channels
of this braided stream diverge dO\\Olstrcum and go in to
three widely sepurnted canyons t.l'ibut.nry to T rachyte
Creek. In 1939 the more northem distribu taries car-
ried flood water into '!'mil Creek. Dist"ibu taries lead-
ing to Woodruff Canyon carried wate" except dm'ing
low stages, and t he main channel went southward orr
the fan to the canyon of Star Creek.
This aggraded surface ends at t he rim of an escarp-
TIlcnt ovcrlooking lo w eountry to the cast. 'rhe main
~hannel of Gold Creek is a Jeep gorge through t his
·escarpment, but the distributaries t hat cross it at Wood-
ruff Sp"ing "'e in small washes. Trail Creek, however ,
not only hns a gorge t.hrough the escnrprnent, but in
addition has eroded II deep narrO W vruley along t he
n orth Nlge of the ab'b'l'aded plain.
Trail Crepk rises in the lugh pUl't of Mount Hillers
b ut does not drain a large area of porphyry int rllsions.
'Conseqll,mtly the !'!lIIJmel of Trail Creek contail's
only a moderate quantity of coar"e debris whereas the
·channel of Gold Creek and its distribu taries are clogged
with boulders.
R ellm an ts of gravel deposits h igher than the main
bench of gravel along Gold Creek form The Hogback
IIIld form small benches at vat·io us levels "long the foot
-of the mOlmt,ain.
.STREAM DIVERSIONS ON THE SOOTH AND SOUTHWIST SIDES OF MO UNT
HILLERS
Thc magnificent group of gravel-covered pediments
'south unu southwest of .\{ount Hill er" are well wor th
the vicissitudes uf a pack-trai.n trip t.hat is nccessRl'Y
to see them (fig. 108). 'rhe d eposits and t.he p ediments
·on which they rest fij'C muong the most extensive in
the whole area, and reveal an IInusually complete
sequcnce of cll'a inagc c hanges. ~1ol'coverJ they show
present-day examples of nearly every stage of the
process. On ly the barest outline of the drainage his-
tory is indicat.p.d in the diagrammatic v iews Itnn maps
·on plate 2l.
P edi ments that a rc being extended today covel' 3
sq mi of the TumIDk shrue between Thompson Canyon
ami t he mOllt b of Copper Creek (fig. 109A). A smaller
pediment is being formed between the F erron sand-
,stone and the m ain Copper Creek bench just above
199
where the creek has been <Ii vc,ted westward from t.he
bench . The washes cutting Lhis pediment have gra-
dients that are less than that. of Copper Creek and t he
washes have cut considerably below the level of the
Copper Creek bancl.. Another half square mile of
p ediment lms formed in the Blu e Gat·e shale southeast
of Cow Seep (fig. 109B) . A narrow di vide, in places
a lmost breached , separates the ped iment from SaleraLus
'Wash, but the pedim ent is little if any lower t han the
wash . However, the pediment is cut considerably
below and tiu'eatens t.o cap tme the tributary of Salera-
tus W'ash that heads near Squaw Spring and that
drains the gravel-covered hills northeast of tbe pedi-
ment. Still another moderately large pedimen t is
locat;cd at the head of the dry wash 2 miles west of
Cow Seep. It cove'" half a squltre mile in the M ancos
a t considerably lower level tha" the washes on the
gravel bench t o th e east.
All these pediments are f" ee of gravel an d each is an
illustration of the ru,pidity of erosion by even the driest
descrt \vashes where they are e roding weak formations.
St.reams whose channel s are clogged with coarse debri s
at several places are threatened with diversion onto
gr'{Lvel-free pediments or into gravel-free channels of
other streams. A stream ri sing at the foot of Mount
HLUers Hows down the north edge of the gravel deposit
t.hat slopes west from Indian Spring. A few hundred
feet to the north is a little t.ribut ruy wash , dmining
scarcely 50 acres, bu t this wash has cut many feet below
the stremn channel on th e gravel, and the divide be-
tween them is so low that any htrge Hood may breach it.
The streams that liow on t he pediment southeast of
Cow Seep are about to capture the wash that heads
'Will' Squaw Spring. Also, t he youthful valley s drain-
ing to the perument west of Copper Creek are about to
capl;1Ire some of the washes tha t ri se against the moun-
tain west of Copper Creek .
These gravel-free pediments Or valleys will become
aggraued when the streams transporting COSlrsc dcbris
are di verted on to them. There are several exrunples
where aggradation is uetually taking place. Half a
mile west of 'Voodruff's cnbin, a small area is being
aggrnded as a resul t of recent di version, pl'oducing a
very mugh surface of fresh gravel in hummocks and
nuturul leyees along distributari es of the aggrading
strcum. Star Creel, emerges from th e mounta.in at the
apex of a large fan which is still being aggraded. Star
Creek, like Gold C reek, is onc of the prin cipal streams
druining Mount Hillers, but after leaving the 1ll01m-
ta in , it follo ws no well-defined channel. Its water is
dist.ributed to the three forks of Star Creek that do not
join until t hey enter the canyon north of Momlt Hobnes.
When aggradation has increased the slope of a Slll'-
face so that the ltvailable water can t'ransport the debris
 ~
.- .. - " --~-- .- -.---- ' ------_. o
o

Cl
o'"
t-
O
~
>
""
Cl
o'"
gj
>
~
-i
o
."

~
'"
>-<
>-<
'Z"
';;::-i"
g
Z
"'
,:
Sl
U>

"'"
Cl
(3
..z
d
...
~
'"

FIGURE 108.- 0bllQue \'\cw or the southwest stele of Mount Hillers. In tho foreground are the honchos aroand Indla.n Sprlngnnd SQU!lW Spring: to the right arc the Copper Crook Bonchesaml the Gold Creek Benches.
Turncd up around tho Mount HWers stock Iltld thl' shllttcr 1.one l!; the ontlre section of sedimentary rocks from Pcrmtnn to CrotllCCOUS. nlthollgh only the IIght·oc)ored Navajo snndstone Ls conspicuous,
Photograph by Fairchild Aerial Surveys.
 •

."

~
'"~
t"

''"o"
''""
"Mt Hillers ~
;;J

FIGURE lW.-Pcdlments In the southern part of tho basin. At Pediment In Tununk shale at tho foot cf tho escarpment capped by Ferron sandstone, both members of the Mancos shale. VIew Is northwest near tbe
h~d of Thompson Canyon. D, Vi('w southwest across a grn\'o!·froo pediment developed In DIue Onto shale member of Mancos shale. half a milo southeast of Cow Soop, C, View north across the gravel-covored
pediment n milo northrost at Lost Spring. Thls part of too pediment 15 being aggraded. D, View southeast across the Star Creck Douches. The Ilght-graYS30ndstono turned up around the foot of Mount H olmes
tsNam,Jo. The bonchos are gnlvel-rovered pediments CUt In Entnda sandstone. Photograph by 1. W. Grieg.

~
....
202 GEO LOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE HEl\TRY M OUNTAINS REGION, UTAH
the RI,rcn1TI iR graded. Several of the streams in the
vicinity of Woodruff's cabin , including part of Copper
Creek, have "pproximately reached grade and lIow in
shallow chnnnf'is across the grave] plain. Howevc!', by
th e t,ime a stream has been graded oUler neigh boring
washes are deeply incised around the mflJ'gin of the
graded slU'fllce find may therehy rejuvenate the gmded
st,ream and CULISC its incision into the gravel and under-
lying rorks. Such a seqncnce of events is taking place
nlong the stl'NLm dl'aining from the mountain hali a
mile west of Woodruff's cahin and along the [ower parts
of th e stl'cmns that drain the hjgh gl'1Lvf'l deposit
southeast of Squaw Spring.
STREAM DIVERSIONS ALONG THE LOWER PART OF STAR CREEK
A group of gravel-covered erosion surfaces lie along
each side of Star Creek 2 to 3 miles nortuwest of IVl ount
Holmes (fig. 109D). l\.fost are in the outcrop belt of
t he Elltrud" s"ndstone, which fonns a broad viller
between Mount Holmes and the eastward-facing sc",,!,
of the ]\rol't'ison formation. Ho\'~" cVC I', some of the pedi-
ments extend west,vard into the belt of the Morrison
nnd oth ~rs extend southeastward aeross th e N o.vajo
sandstone onto the northwest flank of YJount H ohnes.
Thc lo wer ends of the sUTfaces are locntcd whc l'c the
crceks enter canyons ill the outcrop of tbe Navajo
sandstone.
Thcse pedilnents were involved in u scries of strenm
diversion s resembling those observed elsewhere HI'ound
the H enry Mountains, but the erosion uistory of thi s
valley is complicated by outside factors, because St m'
Creek has ent.ered this valley by three different ways
as a result of diversions at the foot of Mount Hill ers.
It is difficult to distinguish between these majO!' r1i,'el'-
sions of Star Creek and minor drain age di vcl'sions
within the Entl'"da vall ey itself.
STREAM DIVERSIONS AlI.OuND MOUNT ELLSWORTH
On the northwest side of Mount Ellsworth , ",long
the stremns tributalY to the upper part of Shoot,fi ring
Creek, is n series of gravel-capped erosion surfaces that
"oscmble those along the lower part of Star Creek. In
general, this dminugf' has been shifted southward as a
r esult of a series of captul·es.
Nowatc,' Creek is aggradi ng its valley at the fool of
the Stunmerville-Morrison scarp. A form er comS<'
nOTthwul'd to D ehnon t Creek is nlal'ked by a wind gnp
at the head of U,e valley between Ule two high gravel
benches that form the divide between the creeks.
On e of the highest piedmont gravel deposits in the
r~'gion is located in the helt of Entrada just north of
Delmont Creek. It is several hundred feet higher than
the tributaries of ShootflJ'ing and Star Creeks and its
eastern and mountainward end is a thousand feet higher
thml the head of Founnilc Creek (fig. 101), which has
eroded headward between Mounts Ellsworth and
Holmes to cnptme drainage that fonnerly went west
to Shootal-ing Creek.
Along Lost Spring 'Wash and its tributaries, within
the helt of Entrada sandstone, gra vel deposits cover
a plain 4 sq mi in area. The western edge of this
gravel is being dissected while the central part is
being ngg ruded (fig. 1090). At the foot of the mOlill-
tllin the slope of "he grovel is sLeep flntI the streams
are in weIL1lefin ed chmUlels, some of which are being
actively erodcd. Downstl'cam, howevcr, the slope of
the surface decreases and the st ream channels become
more shallow, branch into distributaries, and ahnost
lose their identity in the helt of aggradation. M ean-
while, a tributary of Lost Spring ' Vash has cnt deeply
into the Entrada sandstone around the edge of t he
gravel at the foot of t he SummenTille-IVIorrison scurp,
and r outhful valleys tributary to it arc cutting head-
wal·d into the lower edge of th e gravel.
The streams on tbe sou thcnst side of Moun t Ells-
worth formerly dmined aCl'oss the h.igb gravel hench
toward Sevenmile Canyon but w('I'e diverted southward
toward Smith Fork by a vall ey that eroded head ward
fTom a place nCilr J)aulos Tanks , 'This diverting
streanl eroded its valley in resis tant sandstone forma-
tions but captured thc earlier drainage and is now
being aggraded with coarSe debl'is from the mountnin
(fig. 110) . The south fork of Ticaboo Creek, which
drains only a small part of the mOlmtnin and is com-
paratively free of gravel, is lllciscd into the same forma-
lions neflJ'ly a thousand feet lower (1'1. 17) than the
headward part of Smith Fork.
CONCLUSIONS
Gilbert , in his r eport on the H enry l\f ount"ins,
wus the fil st to recognize clearl:v that the gravel-
covered plains nround the foot of desert mountains
arc a product of stream erosion , and his report was t he
first to offer a rational explanation of their origin.
H e observed som e indisputable examples of lateral
planation along several of the main st!'Cams, for
example, along Trachyte and Bullfrog Creeks, find he
concluded that lateral corrasion was th e canse of the
extcnsi \'e pediments. Accordiug to his hypotllesis
t,he gravel on ench erosion smface was deposited wlille
the surface was bcing cut and was deposited hy th e
same strculllS that did the cu tting.
La teral planation by mnin streams has operated in
the H em,), !.lountains region , but presellt1lay pediments
fiTe being formed only ".long those stre>tllS that are
not transport.ing coarse mu,tcl'ials. Moreover, gravel
is deposited on these p ediments only when gravel-
laden streams nrc diverted onto them. The gravel
 rMt Htuell! tAt !JISwnrtfl MtHolmS5

~
.....
rn
(")
>
t<
<:>

'">'""
::l

::l
::;;

FIO\lRE llO,-ObJlque view of the southeast side of Mount Ellsworth. The dralnage In the lower right quadrAn t for merly went to the r lght but was diverted towards t he obser ver. The new course Is being aggraded;
note the braided and distributary drainage. LcJt of MOlUlt Ellsworl h is the gravel-covered pediment at the head of Lost Spring Wash. The light gray sandstone is Navajo. Photograph by FairchUd Aerial
Surveys.

~
204 GF..oljOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TI-IE HENRY MOUNTAINS REGION , lJ'J'AH
deposits on the pediments are not related to the process
of planation. D eposition of the gravels on the pedi-
ments was, and still is, wholly unrelated to the process
of planation and the deposits are distinctly younger
than the er osion surfaces on which they rest. These
conditions duplicate those along the front of the Book
Cliffs, where the processes, as described by Rich (1935),
appear to have been identical to those that have
operatcd around the Henry l\1'ountains.
In brief, the condition is dependent upon the fact
that the streams rising around the foot of the mou.n-
tains are primarily degradational , whereas those issuing
from l,he mOlmtains become primarily aggradational
in the piedmont belt.
The streams that rise in the monntains arc laden
\\~th gravel. When, as frequently happens, the moun-
tain course of one of these streams is brought to flood
stage, the flood ebbs rapidly away from the mountain
front because of seepage and evaporation. The
large quantities of coarse gravel being moved by the
flood therefore must be deposited by the ebbing flow.
The distance traveled by the flood water varies wit h
each storm , but the floods in th e mountains can be
maintained across the desert only when the desert
also is rained upon. Evidently along each stream
draining the mOlilltains there is a foothill zone wh ere
aggradation is dominan t.
Streams rising within the desert between the streams
that drain the mountains are not subj ect to such
aggradatIon. FlU'thermore, these desert strco.ms flow
across fin e-grained sedimentary rocks and the finc-
grained detritus from those rocks can b e transported
down lower grndients than can the gravel in the channel
of a mountain stream. Thus, as ngcnts of erosion,
the str eams rising in the desert have a distinct ad-
vantage over the streams issuing from the mountains.
This difleren ee in the rate of down cutting betwee n
the two classes of streams has permitted one desert
wash after another to capture the streams issuing from
the mountains. Diversion of a stream draining the
mountains into a desert wash r educes the grndient of
that stream and causes aggradation. The surface ag-
graded may be a narrow valley Or may be a wide valley
having pediments on one or both sides, but clearly the
surface, whatever its form, is ind ependent of and older
than t he overlying gravel.
Only the streams rising mthin the desert arc involved
in the problem of the origin of the pediments . As
pointed out (p. 190), each pediment consists of a series
of rock rans distributed along one Or both sid es of the
main washes and their tributaries. If the rock fans
were formed by la teral planation, it is apparent that the
work was done by the small lateral washes and rills
flowing down the fans from the sid e hills. The main
wlls h to which these laterals are tributary controls tbeir
base level, sa each fan along the main wash is cut to
approximately the same grade and position. By the
coalescing of these fans an extensi ve pediment is formed .
EROSIONAL HISTORY
EVOLUTION OF THE 'J'OI'"OORAPHY OJ:o"' THE HENRY MOUN-
T AlNB }tJoXJTON
Wh en the Colorado River was 2,000 ft higher than
its present position, its valley was in the nonresistant
San Rafael group of formations which overlies the
resistant canyon-forming sandstone. This ancient. val-
ley must have been broad and open , like the present
valley of tbe Fremont Ri ver at Hanksville, because the
rocks in the San Rafael gro up do not preserve high
steep walls even under arid conditions. This open
valley preceded the cut ting of Glen Canyon. The
caliche-cemented gravel deposits at Cedar Point and
at other places near the present canyon rim date from
this open-valley stage.
The open valley that was ancestral to Glen Canyon
end ed upstream at the foot of Cataract Canyon, which
was already in existence a cross a structurally and top-
ographically higher area than Glen Canyon. For the
same reason the open valley ended downstream at the
higher Waterpocket Fold. Thus the Colorado River
was eroding an open valley aeross the H enry Mountains
region at the same time that it was eroding canyons
upstr eam and downstream from that open valley, just
as today the river is eroding an open valley at Green
River, Utah, between Gray Canyon and Labyrinth
Canyon.
At the present time the tributaries of Glen Canyon
have steeper gradients across the canyon-producing
formations than across the higher, more easily eroded
formations . If we assume tbat during the open-valley
stage t he gradients of the tributaries in the easily eroded
formations were ahout the same as today it would follow
that when the Colorado River was in its open valley,
2,000 ft above its present position in Glen Canyon,
the tributaries were only about 1,000 ft. higher than
their present position in the desert near the mountains.
The Henry MOtmtains antedate this higher-level
drainage because porphyry boulders from them occur
in the gravels deposited during the precanyon, open-
valley stage at Cedar Point and Trachyte Point.
Moderately large boulders of basalt, presumably from
the High Plateaus, have been found in gravel deposits
500 ft above the Colorado River; probably the lnva
flows in the headwaters of the Fremont River also
antedate the higher-level drainage.
Valleys in the H enry MOlmtains have been eroded
between resistant porphyry intrusions but the intrusions
themselves have b een little eroded. The uncovering
 PHYSTCAL GEOGRAPHY
-----
A
.8
F lGURE 1l3.- Plcasant Creek at Notom before the arroyo cutting (A) and at prescnt
(E). The lower sketcb ls from B photograph Bnd tbc upper ls based on dl'SCf'lption
by residents who lived there before erosion started. The former small ehannd of
theerook ls stU! pr~rved locally on too old flood plain fLlld subs! fLlltiatcs the reports
Ihat it could bc bridged with po ltJS. Tbe arroyo now Is about 2(J n deep.
was abandoned becausc no satisfactory criteria were
found to correlate the deposits or to distinguish between
irregular channel (leposits and remnants of former true
flood plains. Th e present arroyo cutting is demon-
strably not the first, and some of the carlier cutting was
on a large I' scale than the present . Tbe periods of
arroyo cuttings were separated by periods of alluviation
during which the arroyos were partly refilled .
The present period of arroyo cu tting started 25 years
after settlement and introduction of livestock, but the
fact that arroyo cutting repeatedly occurred prior t<J
settlement shows that such erosion is th e resuit of
natural processes. Overgrazing undoubtedly hastened
the presen t erosion, but probably was only a minor
factor as compared to t he factor of changing elimate.
TERTIARY HISTORY OF THE REGION
In reconstructing the T ertiary history of the H enry
Mountains region there are five main problems to he
considered, namely, th e date of the orogenic structural
movements, especially the folding; the date of the
209
ep eirogenic uplift of the Colorado plateau block as a
whole; the date of integration of the Colorado River
drainage system ; the date of the intrusions at the lacco-
lithic mountains; and the date of the canyon cutting.
Th esc st;ructUJ'fl1 and pbysiographic problems arc
closely related, but discussion of tbem is easier if they
are treated separately. Moreover, because recognizable
T ertiary formations have been stripped from th e interior
of the Colorado Plateaus, the problems must be ap-
proach cd regionally. Never theless the scattered hits of
information from the plateau as a whole do provide a
coherent, even if sketchy, picture of the probahle
sequence of events.
DATE OF FOLDING
Ncar the close of the Cretaceous period the region
probably was low. In late Cretaceous or early T ertiary
time th ere occurred the deformation that resulted in the
great folds sucb as the San Rafacl Swell, Circ!cCliffs, and
H enry Mountains stl1lCtural basin. Evidence for this
date for the folding is found in the St. George Basin
(Gardner , 1941), in the vicinity of E scalante (Gregory
and Moore, 1931 , pp . 117- 124), and at the north end of
the Waterpoek et Fold (Dutton, 1880, pp. 286--295).
At each of these places, strata that have been classed
as Eocene lie across the eroded edges of the old er folded
rocks. It seems probable that the other largc, uortberJy-
trending folds of the plateau- like tbe Knibab uplift,
the Defiance anticline, and thc :\1onument upwarp-
also were formed at this timc. As a first result of this
folding the structural uplifts becam e topographically
high areas and t be Stl1lCtural basins became th e sites of
d eposition of sedimen ts eroded from the high land. In
the San Juan hasin in New M exico and the Uinta Basin
in Utah the basin sediments al'e still preserved ; from
the other basins, including the Henry :\'fountains
structural basin, such fill as was deposited hilS beeu
removed.
In several parts of the Colorado Plateaus, notably
in the San Juan basin (Dane, 1936, pp. 134- 135;
R eeside, 1924) and in th e Uinta Basin (Bradley, 1936,
pp. 184--188), th ere was later orogenic folding, pre-
sumably in mid-Tertiary time. But the folds in SOUtll-
eastern Utah , especially those around the H enry
Mountains, arc old er and appaJ'flutiy und erwent little
or no renewed movement after the Eocene sediments
were laid across them. On the other hand the major
fault movemen ts that produced the High Plateaus west
of the H enry Mountains took place after the late Cre-
taceous or early T ertiary folding , probably during the
middle Tertiary, though uplift may have started earlier
in the form of monoclinal folding, as along th e west
side of the Wasatch Plateau (Spieker , 1946, p. 155) .
 ,....
~
o

Mt Bien

Cl

'"
o
8
~
~
tJ
Cl

'"
o
Cl

'>"
~
..,~
~
~
Z
~
~
g
Z

~'"
'"
'"
"'"
-~
..,c
~

FJCURE 1l4.-Vlews of stream cho.nne!s And alluvium north of Mount Ellen. A, This was the channel of the Fremont RIver prior to 181)6. Tho channel, 65 rt Wide and [, rt deep here, Is part 01 a cut-ofJ meander
prcsorvoo In the alluvial plain where tho Fremont joins the Muddy River (SJ-i $tO. 3, T. 2S S., R . ll E ,) . B, View up the Fremont River where it is Joined by the Muddy R iver. The channel of the Fremont River
Is a Quarter of a mile wide and 6ft tower than the 1896 channel. 0 , McDlellan Wash has cut Us channel i 51t lower than Nazer Crook. At this locaUty thediv ldo betwoon tbetwo creeks IsonJy 5~ilt higher thAn
Nazer Creek IUld when tho divlde!s breached, that creek, which lstransportlng ltTavo lfrom M ount Ellen, willaggrade McOlcllfLn Wash. D. Contact between two alluvial deposits in Sweetwater Creek below the
mouth of Cedar Creek. The younger alluvium forms th e low bench (right) and along the marked contact overlaps the base of the older alluvium Oeft).