Introducing Ourselves to the Green River Formation

Ephraim, Utah.  Research Day 2 (July 11).

Field work began on one of the cuestas north of Ephraim, commonly called White Hill. This particular cuesta rises to a height of 6,381 ft in elevation — a good climb for our first day out in the field in the dry Utah heat. We used our first official day as a day of reconnaissance, examining several quarries located on White Hill and also examining a rather large tuff exposed around the cuesta. Phil is planning on conducting research primarily in the quarries in an attempt to stratigraphically correlate the Green River Formation locally, while Bill is going to research the multiple tuff beds present in the formation.

Below, Phil (left) and Bill (right) are eager to begin work in one of the quarries located on White Hill. Although only 8:00 am, the morning temperatures are in the mid-70s, but they will rise to the mid-90s by the afternoon.

The guys are hard at work examining the various lithologies, which range from lime mudstones to boundstones and everything in between.

View of the largest tuff that was erupted into the Green River lake. In places, the tuff is up to 4 ft thick and represents a moment in geologic time.