 |
 Trent Leavitt Owner/Broker Life Member Million Dollar Club 19 yrs. Experience in Southern Utah |
 Phone: 435-674-4343 Fax: 435-674-1084 E-mail advanced@infowest.com 1156 E 700 SOUTH, #1 ST. GEORGE, UT 84790  |
 Galen VanSickel Million Dollar Producer 1-800-901-7175 |
The Waterpocket Fold defines Capitol Reef National Park. A nearly 100-mile-long warp in the earth's crust, the fold is a classic monocline: a regional fold with one very steep side in an area of otherwise nearly horizontal rock layers. The Waterpocket Fold formed between 50 million and 70 million years ago when a major geologic shift in western North America reactivated an ancient buried fault. When the fault moved, the overlying rock layers were pushed up, bent, and draped into the monocline. The fold is also known as Capitol Reef: "capitol" for the white domes of Navajo Sandstone that resemble rotundas, and "reef" for the rocky cliffs that are a barrier to travel, like a coral reef.
Almost 10,000 feet of sedimentary strata are found in the Capitol Reef area. These rocks range in age from Permian to Cretaceous, and this geologic layer cake records nearly 200 million years of history. Ancient environments revealed in the rock include rivers and swamps (Chinle and Moenkopi formations), Sahara-like deserts (Navajo and Wingate Sandstone), and shallow ocean (Mancos Shale). Cathedral Valley's freestanding monoliths are carved out of Entrada Sandstone, which was originally deposited as sandy mud on a tidal flat. Some of the cathedrals are capped by thin, hard beds of the Curtis Formation, a greenish-gray marine sandstone.
