1. COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT
A Presentation
by Jaime Sandberg
For GEO-111

2. Physical Geographical Sub-topic 1
Fluvial Deposition
in Arid Lands

3. Physical Geographical Sub-topic 2
Fluvial Erosion
in Arid Lands

4. Physical Geographical Sub-topic 3
Coastal
Processes

5. The Uncompahgre Highland
rises to mountainous heights…
Devil’s Kitchen

6. then is worn down over millions of years to a nearly
level plain. (These ancient crystalline rocks - granite,
gneiss, schist - which were at the core appear today
in the canyon floors.) …
Coke Ovens

7. Great bodies of water follow, depositing layer upon
layer of soft, sedimentary rocks as distant mountains
give themselves up, grain by grain, to be reformed.
Balancing Rock

8. The Canyon Floor contains dark
purple Proterozoic rock

9. The Kayenta Formation
caps the cliffs with
resistant silica-cemented
rocks…
Rock-fall
deposits cover
most of the red
Chinle
Formation at the
base of the cliffs
of Wingate
Sandstone…
Inside Devil’s Kitchen
Devil’s Kitchen in No Thoroughfare Canyon
showing erosional remnants of caps of Kayenta
Formation on pedestals of the Wingate
Independence Monument Sandstone…

10. Classifying the Deposits of the Monument
http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i-2740/i-2740.pdf .

11. How Thick Are They?
http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i-2740/i-2740.pdf .

12. Layers in time
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/coloradoplateau/colorado_strat.htm

14. Bibliography
• “Colorado National Monument,” National Park Service, accessed December 7, 2011.
http://www.nps.gov/colm/index.htm .
•
• “Colorado National Monument,” Frommers, accessed December 7, 2011.
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/grandjunction/1468024512.html .
•
• Robert B. Scott, Anne E. Harding, William C. Hood, Rex D. Cole, Richard F. Livaccari, James
B. Johnson, Ralph R. Shroba, and Robert P. Dickerson, “Geologic Map of Colorado National
Monument and Adjacent Areas, Mesa County, Colorado,” Geologic Investigations Series, I-
2740, 2001. http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i-2740/i-2740.pdf .
•
• Judith Kohler, “Colorado National Monument: A pocket-size Grand Canyon,” Summit Daily
via Associated Press, January 9, 2011.
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20110109/NEWS/110109839 .
•
• “Should Colorado National Monument become national park?” Denver Post via Associated
Press, March 26, 20111.
• http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_17707430?source=rss .
•
• Stewart Green, “John Otto Climbs Independence Monument,” accessed December 7, 2011.
http://climbing.about.com/od/historyofclimbing/ss/OttoAndIndy_2.htm .