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2 Billion Years and Jesse Ewing’s Fault by Me & Bucky (2.5/3)
N40° 55.697 W109° 08.496 (WGS84) UTM 12T E 656468 N 4532459 Use waypoint: GC17TD5 Size:  Not chosen Hidden on 12/5/2007
In UT, United States Difficulty:  Terrain: 
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The easiest way to reach this Earthcache is to head east for about 18 miles on Browns Park Road from its intersection with U.S. Highway 191 about 0.6 mile north of the Utah/Wyoming border. Parking is at a small pulloff at N 40 55.863 W 109 08.588. From here, you will walk down the road in Jesse Ewing Canyon for about 2/10 of a mile. Please take care walking down the road to this site. The road is rather steep and winding, and potentially you will be sharing the road with traffic. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you DO NOT STOP WITH YOUR VEHICLE on the road in front of this Earthcache. Also please note that while this road is plowed in the winter, there still may be snow & ice on the surface in winter months due to the narrowness and aspect of the canyon.
In this section of Jesse Ewing Canyon between the parking area and the fault, you will see some of the oldest exposed rocks in the State of Utah. As you begin your walk down the hill, you will be walking through the Red Creek Quartzite. This formation is from the Archean/Paleoproterozoic time period, and is around 2.0 – 2.3 Billion years old!
The Fault. N 40 55.697 W 109 08.496
At the site of the given coordinates is a fault between the Red Creek Quartzite to the north and the Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation to the south. The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation is currently thought to be the basal formation of the Uinta Mountain Group and is on the order of 770 Million years old. It consists of a combination of alluvial and subaqueous depositions.
To receive credit for this Earthcache look at the fault at this location, and the rocks on either side of it, then answer the following:
1) Describe one of the two primary visual differences between the Red Creek Quartzite and the Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation.
2) After you have emailed me the answer to this question, post at least 1 picture of you with your GPS receiver with the Red Creek Quartzite or Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation in the background.
The above information was compiled from the following sources:
Brehm, A., and Dehler, C. 2005. Reevaluation of the Neoproterozoic Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation, Eastern Uinta Mountain Group, Northeastern Utah. Poster session for the 2005 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2005AM/finalprogram/abstract_97715.htm
Dehler, C.M., Pederson, J.L., Sprinkel, D.A., and Kowallis B.J., eds. Geologic Description of the Eastern Uinta Mountains from Vernal to Browns Park to Sheep Creek Canyon in Road Guide to the Geology of the Uinta Mountains for the 2005 Utah Geological Association Field Conference. 2005 Utah Geological Association Publication 33.
Hintz, L.F. 2005. Utah’s Spectacular Geology, How It Came to Be.
Sanderson, I.D., and Willey, M.T. 1986. The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation, an interpreted fan deposit in the basal Uinta Mountain Group (Middle Proterozoic), Utah: The Mountain Geologist, v.23, No. 3. http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=5516136
