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Rock Canyon in Utah

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Rock Canyon is an excellent site for geologic research and has been investigated by geologists from around Utah and neighboring states. With outstanding extrusions of quartzite, tillite and limestone, it’s a favored destination for hikers, rock climbers and scientists. The quartzite is considered the most unique feature of Rock Canyon as it’s one of the few clear and distinct examples of the sedimentary processes involved with a shallow marine setting. The tillite beneath the quartzite draws attention to the ancient glaciers to the past. In conjunction with the active Wasatch Fault found at its doorstep, Rock Canyon is an important place in Utah for geologists. To begin, the mouth of the canyon features a hilly landscape with scars from landslides created from the uplifting of land by the Wasatch Fault. The fault, responsible for the creation of the Wasatch Mountains 25 million years ago, is a normal fault (Eldredge, 2014). Unlike some faults, vertical movement of the terrain is limited and slippage only occurs every several hundred or thousand years. Signs of the fault at work can be seen through the mouth of the canyon with the orange Tintic Quartzite which is dated back to the Cambrian Age. Layered beneath the quartzite is tillite from the Precambrian Age. To the west and separate from the Quartzite and tillite by the Wasatch Vault are limestone sections from the Missippian Age. (Rigby, Hintze, 1968, pg 23). The earliest known local history of Rock Canyon

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