Strike Valley North, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Strike Valley South, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

The Waterpocket Fold is a geologic landform that extends from southern Wayne through

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his hum ...

and ending in northern Kane counties of southern

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 it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

.''Utah Atlas & Gazeteer,'' DeLorme, 9th ed., 2014, pp. 44, 52, 60-1 The geologic structure, formed during the

Laramide orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the ...

, is a south-southeast trending fold in which the east side is dropped relative to the west side. This monoclinal fold extends for nearly in the semi-arid plateau of the central part of the state. The structure defines the

Capitol Reef National Park Capitol Reef National Park is an American national park in south-central Utah. The park is approximately long on its northsouth axis and just wide on average. The park was established in 1971 to preserve of desert landscape and is open all ye ...

in southern

. The feature can be observed in three scenic routes in the park. The park's Scenic Drive leads to a famous landmark known as the Golden Throne. The northern portion of the Waterpocket Fold lies north and east of the town of Fruita, west and just southeast of the Middle Desert. Utah State Route 24 crosses the fold east of Fruita. Notom Road runs south through Notom and runs parallel to the east (downdropped) side of the structure to its intersection with

Utah State Route 276 State Route 276 is a state highway in remote portions of San Juan County, eastern Garfield County, and Kane County, in the southeast of the U.S. state of Utah. The route is used as an access to Lake Powell, serving the small resort towns of Tic ...

just north of

Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...

. The southern end of the structure extends to the Colorado River just southwest of Halls Crossing. Notom Road, Capitol Reef NP

References

External links

*
Photo gallery of the Fold

Remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...

tutorial at

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

Capitol Reef National Park Landforms of Garfield County, Utah Landforms of Kane County, Utah Landforms of Wayne County, Utah Geology of Utah {{Utah-geo-stub

See also

References

External links