Publication Date

1980

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Weiss, Malcolm P. (Malcolm Pickett), 1921-

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Geology

LCSH

Geology--Utah; Geology; Stratigraphic--Eocene; Petrology--Utah

Abstract

The Colton Formation consists of green calcareous claystone, red, green and variegated mudstone, speckled mudstone and siltstone, thin-bedded carbonates, siltstones and sandstones, and channel sandstone. Sedimentary structures include dessication cracks, burrows, rootlets, graded bedding and cross bedding. Ostracodes, gastropods, pelecypods, charophytes, bone fragments and fish scales constitute the fossil assemblage; of these only the first two are numerous and locally conspicuous on the outcrop. The Colton Formation thins northward and westward from a maximum thickness of 853 ft. (260 m) in the southeast quadrant of the plateau. In the northwest quadrant the limestones are thicker, and more abundant relative to the mudstones. Sections in the southwest quadrant contain fewer limestone beds and more red mudstones. Channel sandstones are more abundant in the sections to the east and southeast. Speckled mudstones that contain analcime are absent in the southwest but are found at or near the top of the other sections. The geographic and stratigraphic distributions of rock assemblages are consistent with the model of an oscillating lake surface and consequent transgression and regression of near-shore lacustrine and nearby alluvial-deltaic facies. Green calcareous claystone (locally dolomitized) interbedded with thin limestones and calcareous siltstones is representative of a fresh water lake-carbonate flat environment. Units composed of channel sandstone, thinbedded siltstone and sandstone, green calcareous claystone, and red and variegated mudstone are indicative of alluvial sediments that accumulated along the lake-margin to form deltaic deposits. Speckled mudstone and siltstone belong to the group of saline lake deposits. The Colton Formation represents a mixed fresh water and saline lacustrine, and deltaic unit formed during the waning of Flagstaff Lake and onset of Lake Uinta, and separates the fully lacustrine Flagstaff and Green River Formations. In the area immediately west and northwest of the study area, lacustrine conditions were continuous across this time interval as Flagstaff Lake transformed into Lake Uinta.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.||Includes illustrations.

Extent

ix, 132 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS