Box Canyon is a

box canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to ...

in Ouray County,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States.

Description

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

camp was established in the canyon that helped the city of Ouray establish itself as a permanent community. Box Canyon is home to Box Canyon Falls, a

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

, with

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

walls that extend almost past the falls. Access to the canyon is through a short, foot trail to the base of the falls or a steep trail leading to the top of the falls. A fee is required to use the trails to the canyon.

Geology

Box Canyon contains an

Angular Unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

. The Elbert Formation sits on the Uncompahgre Formation which represents a geologic age difference of approximately 1.3 billion years.

References

External links

Canyons and gorges of Colorado Landforms of Ouray County, Colorado {{Colorado-geo-stub

Description

Geology

See also

References

External links