The Crystal Peak Dolomite is a

geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

in the Wah Wah Mountains of western

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. It preserves

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

dating to the

Middle Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

period.Crystal Peak Dolomite
at

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.org

Background

This geographic stratum is named for its dolomite (used to describe a sedimentary carbonate rock composed predominantly of the mineral dolomite). It is named for exposures at the Crystal Peak section southwest of Smooth Canyon,

Millard County, Utah Millard County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 12,503. Its county seat is Fillmore, and the largest city is Delta. History The Utah Territory legislature created the county o ...

in the Great Basin province. It separates the Watson Ranch Quartzite tongue of Swan Peak Quartzite from the younger

Eureka Quartzite The Eureka Quartzite is an extensive Paleozoic marine sandstone deposit in western North America that is notable for its great extent, extreme purity, consistently fine grain size of Quartzite, and its tendency to form conspicuous white cliffs v ...

. The stratum generally consists of brown, gray to black, usually fine- to medium-grained, but may be coarse-grained, dolomite. Thin bout thickquartz

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

occur about from base. The layer is thick in Smooth Canyon. The stratum is fossiliferous and it has been shown to contain orthocone cephalopods and corals identified as '' Eofletcheria sp.''.Hintze, 1951 The thickness has been measured between thick in Tule Valley, Utah to thick in Desert Range Experiment Station, Utah; it is thick at Crystal Peak. It is classified as Middle Ordovician age. The Crystal Peak equivalent has been recognized in the

Lehman Formation The Lehman Formation is a geologic formation in Utah. It preserves fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, s ...

in the

Snake Range The Snake Range is a mountain range in White Pine County, Nevada, United States. The south-central portion of the range is included within Great Basin National Park, with most of the remainder included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest ...

of Nevada, but was not specifically identified in adjoining eastern Nevada.

References

Bibliography

* L.F. Hintze. 1951. Lower Ordovician detailed stratigraphic sections for western Utah. Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey Bulletin 39:99

External links

* * {{cite book, title=The Great American Carbonate Bank (Memoir 98), author=American Association of Petroleum Geologists; Shell Exploration & Production, date=20 January 2013, isbn=9780891813804, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qr0qAgAAQBAJ&dq=crystal+peak+dolomite&pg=PA832, accessdate=13 January 2016 Ordovician geology of Utah Ordovician System of North America Ordovician southern paleotropical deposits Dolomite formations Limestone formations Shallow marine deposits Paleontology in Utah

Background

See also

References

Bibliography

External links