Usually, genetically associated with the desert ranges the lofty Utah mesas belong not to the Great Basin province, but to an entirely different orographic type, the Colorado Dome. Upon the north flank of the latter they recline as remnantal patches of great sections of soft deposits which elsewhere have been completely stripped off the indurated Paleozoics that constitute the foundation of the broad arch. The High Plateaux appear to be their belated preservation to Tertiary extravasation of lavas that serve as protecting caps for the unconsolidated strata beneath. Were it not for these remnantal tablelands long and exciting chapters in the history of the Cordilleran region would be lost beyond possible rescue.
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science
©1921 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.
"Geological Age of the Terrepleins of Utah's Plateaux,"
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 28(1), 54-56.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol28/iss1/10