The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateaus Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. There are eight distinct physiographic divisions within the Continental United States. Physiographic regions of the US InteriorSee legend For purposes of description The Four Corners is a region of the United States consisting of southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona and southeast The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 The province covers an area of 337,000 km² (130,000 mi. ²) within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Utah, and northern Arizona. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. About 90% of the area is drained by the Colorado River and its main tributaries; the Green, San Juan and Little Colorado. The Colorado River (' Aha Kwahwat in Mojave) is a River in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The San Juan River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 400 mi (644 km long in the western United States. The Little Colorado River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 315 mi (507 km long in the U ^[1]

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 3 Geology 4 Energy Generation 5 Natural Resources 6 Protected lands 7 Further reading 8 Gallery 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

Geography

The province is bounded by the Rocky Mountains, Uinta Mountains, Wasatch Mountains, Rio Grande Rift, Mogollon Rim and the Basin and Range. The Four Corners is a region of the United States consisting of southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona and southeast Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. The Uinta Mountains (juːˈɪntə are a high chain of mountains in northeastern Utah and extreme northwestern Colorado in the United States The Wasatch Range is a Mountain range that stretches about from the Utah- Idaho border south through central Utah in the western United States The Rio Grande runs a north-south course in New Mexico and Colorado The Mogollon Rim (mʌɡɨˈjɒn by local residents is a topographical and geological feature running across the U Basin and range is a geologic term for a type of Topography characterized by a series of separate and parallel mountain ranges with broad valleys interposed extending Isolated ranges of the Southern Rocky Mountains such as the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and the La Sal Mountains in Utah intermix into the central and southern parts of the Colorado Plateau. See also Rocky Mountains The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southern portion The San Juan Mountains are a rugged Mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. The La Sal Range (or La Sal Mountains) is located in Grand and San Juan counties near the eastern border of the state of Utah, and rising The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. It is composed of seven sections:

• Uinta Basin Section
• High Plateaus Section
• Grand Canyon Section
• Canyon Lands Section
• Navajo Section
• Datil-Mogollon Section^[2]
• Acoma-Zuni Section^[2]

As the name implies, the High Plateaus Section is, on average, the highest section. The Uintah Basin, also spelled Uinta Basin, is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger The Grand Canyon The Canyon Lands Section of the Colorado Plateaus is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger The Navajo Section is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic The Datil-Mogollon Section is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus The Acoma-Zuni Section is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic North-south trending normal faults that include the Hurricane, Sevier, Grand Wash, and Paunsaugunt separate the section's component plateaus. In Geology a fault, or fault line, is a planar rock fracture which shows evidence of relative movement This fault pattern is caused by the tensional forces pulling apart the adjacent Basin and Range province to the west, making this section transitional.

Occupying the southeast corner of the Colorado Plateau is the Datil Section. Thick sequences of mid-Tertiary to late-Cenozoic-aged lava covers this section. The chuprichondira geological time interval covers roughly the time span between the demise of the non- avian Dinosaurs and beginning of the most recent Ice Age, approximately The Cenozoic (also Caenozoic or Cainozoic) Era (ˌsiːnəˈzoʊɪk/ /ˌsɛn- (meaning "new life" ( Greek ( kainos) "new" Lava is molten rock expelled by a Volcano during an eruption When first expelled from a volcanic vent it is a Liquid at Temperatures

Development of the province has in large part been influenced by structural features in its oldest rocks. Part of the Wasatch Line and its various faults form the western edge of the province. Faults that run parallel to the Wasatch Fault that lies along the Wasatch Range form the boundaries between the plateaus in the High Plateaus Section. The Wasatch Range is a Mountain range that stretches about from the Utah- Idaho border south through central Utah in the western United States The Uinta Basin, Uncompahgre Uplift, and the Paradox Basin were also created by movement along structural weaknesses in the region's oldest rock.

In Utah, the province includes several higher fault-separated plateaus:

• Aawapa Plateau
• Aquarius Plateau
• Kaiparowits Plateau
• Markagunt Plateau
• Paunsaugunt Plateau
• Sevier Plateau

The mostly flat-lying sedimentary rock units that make up these plateaus are found in component plateaus that are between 1500 m (5000 ft. In Geology a fault, or fault line, is a planar rock fracture which shows evidence of relative movement In Geology and Earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting The Aquarius Plateau is a physiographic region within Garfield and Wayne counties in south-central Utah. The Kaiparowits Plateau is a large high-altitude landform located in southern Utah, in the southwestern United States. The Markagunt Plateau is an 800 square mile plateau located in the southwest corner of Utah between Interstate 15 and U The Paunsaugunt Plateau (pronounced "PAWN-suh-gant" is dissected Plateau, rising to an elevation of 7000 ft-9300 ft (2100 m-2800 m in southwestern Utah Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock types (the others being igneous and Metamorphic rock) ) to over 3350 m (11,000 ft. ) above sea level. Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface A supersequence of these rocks is exposed in the various cliffs and canyons (including the Grand Canyon) that make up the Grand Staircase. The Grand Canyon For the similarly named structure on the RMS Titanic, see Grand Staircase of the Titanic For the stairs in the White House see Grand Increasingly younger east-west trending escarpments of the Grand Staircase extend north of the Grand Canyon and are named for their color:

• Chocolate Cliffs,
• Vermillion Cliffs,
• White Cliffs,
• Gray Cliffs, and the
• Pink Cliffs.

Within these rocks are abundant mineral resources that include uranium, coal, petroleum, and natural gas. A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition a highly ordered atomic structure and specific Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane, Study of the area's unusually clear geologic history (which is laid bare due to the arid and semiarid conditions) has greatly advanced that science.

A rain shadow from the Sierra Nevada far to the west and the many ranges of the Basin and Range means that the Colorado Plateau receives 15 to 40 cm (6 to 16 in. For the Australian television series see Rain Shadow (TV series. The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U ) of annual precipitation. Higher areas receive more precipitation and are covered in forests of pine, fir, and spruce.

History

Anasazi lived in the region from around 2000 to 700 years ago. "Anasazi" directs here For the X-Files episode see Anasazi (The X-Files.

U.S. Army Major and geologist John Wesley Powell explored the area in 1869 and 1872 despite having lost one arm in the American Civil War. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. John Wesley Powell ( March 24, 1834 - September 23, 1902) was a U Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South Using fragile boats and small groups of men the Powell Geographic Expedition charted this largely unknown region of the United States for the federal government. The Powell Geographic Expedition was a groundbreaking 19th century U

Construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s and the Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s changed the character of the Colorado River. Hoover Dam, also sometimes known as Boulder Dam, is a Concrete Arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the Glen Canyon Dam is a Dam on the Colorado River at Page Arizona, USA operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Dramatically reduced sediment load changed its color from reddish brown (Colorado is Spanish for "colored" referring to its red color) to mostly clear. The apparent green color is from algae on the riverbed's rocks, not from any significant amount of suspended material. Algae ( sing. alga are a large and diverse group of simple typically Autotrophic organisms ranging from Unicellular to Multicellular forms The lack of sediment has also starved sand bars and beaches but an experimental 12 day long controlled flood from Glen Canyon Dam in 1996 showed substantial restoration. A shoal or sandbar (also called sandbank) is a somewhat Linear Landform within or extending into a body of Water, Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Similar floods are planned for every 5 to 10 years.

Geology

One of the most geologically intriguing features of the Colorado Plateau is its remarkable stability. Relatively little rock deformation such as faulting and folding has affected this high, thick crustal block within the last 600 million years or so. In Geology a fault, or fault line, is a planar rock fracture which shows evidence of relative movement See also Folding The term fold is used in Geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces such as Sedimentary In contrast, provinces that have suffered severe deformation surround the plateau. Mountain building thrust up the Rocky Mountains to the north and east and tremendous, earth-stretching tension created the Basin and Range province to the west and south. Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. Basin and range is a geologic term for a type of Topography characterized by a series of separate and parallel mountain ranges with broad valleys interposed extending

The Precambrian and Paleozoic history of the Colorado Plateaus is best revealed near its southern end where the Grand Canyon has exposed rocks with ages that span almost 2 billion years. The Precambrian ( Pre-Cambrian) is an informal name for the supereon comprising the eons of the Geologic timescale that came before the current The Paleozoic or Palaeozoic Era (from the Greek palaio (παλαιο "old" and zoe (ζωη "life" meaning "ancient life" The Grand Canyon The oldest rocks at river level are igneous and metamorphic and have been lumped together as "Vishnu Basement Rocks;" the oldest ages recorded by these rocks fall in the range 1950 to 1680 million years. An erosion surface on the "Vishnu Basement Rocks" is covered by sedimentary rocks and basalt flows, and these rocks formed in the interval from about 1250 to 750 million years ago: in turn, they were uplifted and split into a range of fault-block mountains. Fault-block or fault mountains are produced when normal ( near vertical) faults fracture a section of continental crust Erosion greatly reduced this mountain range prior to the encroachment of a seaway along the passive western edge of the continent in the early Paleozoic. At the canyon rim is the Kaibab Formation, limestone deposited in the late Paleozoic (Permian) about 270 million years ago.

A 12,000 to 15,000 ft. 3700 to 4600 m) high extension of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains called the Uncompahgre Mountains were uplifted and the adjacent Paradox Basin subsided. The Geology of the Rocky Mountains reveals a discontinuous series of Mountain ranges with distinct geological origins Almost 4 mi. (6. 4 km) of sediment from the mountains and evaporites from the sea were deposited (see geology of the Canyonlands area for detail). Evaporites (iˈvæpəraɪt are water-soluble Mineral sediments that result from the Evaporation of bodies of surficial Water. The exposed geology of the Canyonlands area is complex and diverse 12 formations are exposed in Canyonlands National Park that range in age from Pennsylvanian

Most of the formations were deposited in warm shallow seas and near-shore environments (such as beaches and swamps) as the seashore repeatedly advanced and retreated over the edge of a proto-North America (for detail, see geology of the Grand Canyon area). A swamp is a Wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water The geology of the Grand Canyon area exposes one of the most complete sequences of rock anywhere representing a period of nearly 2 billion years of the Earth 's history The province was probably on a continental margin throughout the late Precambrian and most of the Paleozoic era. The continental margin is the zone of the Ocean floor that separates the thin Oceanic crust from thick Continental crust. The Paleozoic or Palaeozoic Era (from the Greek palaio (παλαιο "old" and zoe (ζωη "life" meaning "ancient life" Igneous rocks injected millions of years later form a marbled network through parts of the Colorado Plateau's darker metamorphic basement. By 600 million years ago North America had been leveled off to a remarkably smooth surface.

Throughout the Paleozoic Era, tropical seas periodically inundated the Colorado Plateau region. Thick layers of limestone, sandstone, siltstone, and shale were laid down in the shallow marine waters. During times when the seas retreated, stream deposits and dune sands were deposited or older layers were removed by erosion. Over 300 million years passed as layer upon layer of sediment accumulated.

It was not until the upheavals that coincided with the formation of the supercontinent Pangea began about 250 million years ago that deposits of marine sediment waned and terrestrial deposits dominate. Pangaea, Pangæa or Pangea (pænˈdʒiːə from παν pan, meaning entire, and Γαῖα Gaea, meaning Earth in In late Paleozoic and much of the Mesozoic era the region was affected by a series of orogenies (mountain-building events) that deformed western North America and caused a great deal of uplift. The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. Orogeny (Greek for "mountain generating" is the process of natural Mountain building and may be studied as a tectonic structural event as a geographical event and A mountain is a Landform that extends above the surrounding Terrain in a limited area with a peak Eruptions from volcanic mountain ranges to the west buried vast regions beneath ashy debris. Short-lived rivers, lakes, and inland seas left sedimentary records of their passage. Streams, ponds and lakes created formations such as the Chinle, Moenave, and Kayenta in the Mesozoic era. A stream is a body of Water with a current, confined within a bed and stream-banks A pond is a body of water smaller than a Lake, both being examples of Terrain features Although the term pond is universally used to describe waterbodies that A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the Later a vast desert formed the Navajo and Temple Cap formations and dry near-shore environment formed the Carmel (see geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area for details). A desert is a Landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine known exposed formations all visible in Zion National Park in the U

The area was again covered by a warm shallow sea when the Cretaceous Seaway opened in late Mesozoic time. The Western Interior Seaway, also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea, was a huge inland Sea The Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited in the warm shallow waters of this advancing and retreating seaway. Several other formations were also created but were mostly eroded following two major periods of uplift. Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind

The Laramide orogeny closed the seaway and uplifted a large belt of crust from Montana to Mexico, with the Colorado Plateau region being the largest block. The Laramide orogeny was a period of Mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago and ended Montana ( is a state in the Western United States. One-third of the state in the western part contains numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named of the northern The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Thrust faults in Colorado are thought to have formed from a slight clockwise movement of the region, which acted as a rigid crustal block. A thrust fault is a type of fault, or break in the Earth's crust with resulting movement of each side against the other in which a lower stratigraphic position is pushed up The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. The Colorado Plateaus Province was uplifted largely as a single block, possibly due to its relative thickness. This relative thickness may be why compressional forces from the orogeny were mostly transmitted through the province instead of compacting it. Pre-existing weaknesses in Precambrian rocks were reactivated by the compression. It was along these ancient faults and other deeply-buried structures that much of the province's relatively small and gently-inclined flexures (such as anticlines, synclines, and monoclines) formed. In Structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core In Structural geology, a syncline is a downward-curving fold, with layers that dip toward the center of the structure monocline is a step-like fold consisting of a zone of steeper dip within an otherwise horizontal or gently-dipping sequence Some of the prominent isolated mountain ranges of the Plateau, such as Ute Mountain and the Carrizo Mountains, both near the Four Corners, are cored by igneous rocks that were intruded about 70 million years ago, during the Laramide orogeny. Ute Mountain (or Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain) is a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in the southwestern corner of The Carrizo Mountains (36°50' N 109°7'W are a small range 15 to 20 km (9 to 12 miles in diameter located on the Colorado Plateau in northeastern Arizona The Four Corners is a region of the United States consisting of southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona and southeast The Laramide orogeny was a period of Mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago and ended

Minor uplift events continued through the start of the Cenozoic era and were accompanied by some basaltic lava eruptions and mild deformation. The Cenozoic (also Caenozoic or Cainozoic) Era (ˌsiːnəˈzoʊɪk/ /ˌsɛn- (meaning "new life" ( Greek ( kainos) "new" Basalt (bəˈsɔːlt ˈbeisɔːlt ˈbæsɔːlt is a common Extrusive Volcanic rock. The colorful Claron Formation that forms the delicate hoodoos of Bryce Amphitheater and Cedar Breaks was then laid down as sediments in cool streams and lakes (see geology of the Bryce Canyon area for details). Hoodoos are tall thin spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of Arid basins and Badlands They are composed of soft Sedimentary A stream is a body of Water with a current, confined within a bed and stream-banks A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the The exposed geology of the Bryce Canyon area in Utah shows a record of deposition that covers the last part of the Cretaceous Period and the first half The flat-lying Chuska Sandstone was deposited about 34 million years ago; the sandstone is predominantly of eolian origin and locally more than 500 meters thick. The Chuska Sandstone caps the Chuska mountains, and it lies unconformably on Mesozoic rocks deformed during the Laramide orogeny. The Chuska Mountains are an elongate range on the Colorado Plateau and within the Navajo Nation. The Laramide orogeny was a period of Mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago and ended

Younger igneous rocks form spectacular topographic features. The Henry Mountains, La Sal Range, and Abajo Mountains, ranges that dominate many views in southeastern Utah, are formed about igneous rocks that were intruded in the interval from 20 to 31 million years: some igneous intrusions in these mountains form laccoliths, a form of intrusion recognized by Grove Karl Gilbert during his studies of the Henry Mountains. The Henry Mountains are located in the southeastern portion of the U The La Sal Range (or La Sal Mountains) is located in Grand and San Juan counties near the eastern border of the state of Utah, and rising The Abajo Mountains, also called the Blue Mountains, are a small mountain range west of Monticello Utah, south of Canyonlands National Park and north A laccolith is an Igneous intrusion (or concordant Pluton) that has been injected between two layers of Sedimentary rock. Grove Karl Gilbert ( May 6, 1843 &ndash May 1, 1918) known by the abbreviated name G The Henry Mountains are located in the southeastern portion of the U Ship Rock (also called Shiprock), in northwestern New Mexico, and Church Rock and Agathla, near Monument Valley, are erosional remnants of potassium-rich igneous rocks and associated breccias of the Navajo Volcanic Field, produced about 25 million years ago. Shiprock, ( Tsé Bit'a'í, "rock with wings" or "winged rock" is a rock formation rising nearly above the high-desert plain on the Navajo Nation El Capitan, also called Agathla by the Navajo people, is a peak south of Monument Valley, Arizona, over 1500 feet (457 meters high Monument Valley is located on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona (around) The Hopi Buttes in northeastern Arizona are held up by resistant sheets of sodic volcanic rocks, extruded about 7 million years ago. More recent igneous rocks are concentrated nearer the margins of the Colorado Plateau. The San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, south of the Grand Canyon, are volcanic landforms produced by igneous activity that began in that area about 6 million years ago and continued until 1064 C. The San Francisco Peaks are a Volcanic Mountain range located in north central Arizona, United States, just north of Flagstaff Flagstaff (Kinłání is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States The Grand Canyon E. , when basalt erupted in Sunset Crater National Monument. Mount Taylor, near Grants, New Mexico, is a volcanic structure with a history similar to that of the San Francisco Peaks: a basalt flow closer to Grants was extruded only about 3000 years ago (see El Malpais National Monument). Mount Taylor ( Diné: Tsoodził) is a Stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. Grants is a city in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States. El Malpais National Monument is off I-40 in western New Mexico, USA near These young igneous rocks may record processes in the earth's mantle that are eating away at deep margins of the relatively stable block of the Plateau.

Tectonic activity resumed in Mid Cenozoic time and started to unevenly uplift and slightly tilt the Colorado Plateaus region and the region to the west some 20 million years ago (as much as 3 kilometers of uplift occurred). Streams had their gradient increased and they responded by downcutting faster. Stream gradient is the ratio of drop in a Stream per unit distance usually expressed as feet per Mile or Meters per Kilometer Downcutting, also called erosional downcutting or downward erosion or vertical erosion is a geological process that deepens the channel Headward erosion and mass wasting helped to erode cliffs back into their fault-bounded plateaus, widening the basins in-between. Headward erosion is a Fluvial process of Erosion that lengthens a Stream, a Valley or a Gully at its head and also Mass wasting, also known as slope movement, is the geomorphic process by which Soil, Regolith, and rock move downslope under Some plateaus have been so severely reduced in size this way that they become mesas or even buttes. A mesa ( Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic for "table" is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs A butte (bjut is an isolated Hill with steep often vertical sides and a small flat top smaller than Mesas Plateaus and tables In some Monoclines form as a result of uplift bending the rock units. monocline is a step-like fold consisting of a zone of steeper dip within an otherwise horizontal or gently-dipping sequence Eroded monoclines leave steeply tilted resistant rock called a hogback and the less steep version is a cuesta.

Great tension developed in the crust, probably related to changing plate motions far to the west. Zion National Park is a United States National Park located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale Utah. As the crust stretched, the Basin and Range province broke up into a multitude of down-dropped valleys and elongate mountains. Basin and range is a geologic term for a type of Topography characterized by a series of separate and parallel mountain ranges with broad valleys interposed extending Major faults, such as the Hurricane Fault, developed that separate the two regions. The dry climate was in large part a rainshadow effect resulting from the rise of the Sierra Nevada further west. For the Australian television series see Rain Shadow (TV series. The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U Yet for some reason not fully understood, the neighboring Colorado Plateau was able to preserve its structural integrity and remained a single tectonic block. Eventually, the great block of Colorado Plateau crust rose a kilometer higher than the Basin and Range. As the land rose, the streams responded by cutting ever deeper stream channels. The most well-known of these streams, the Colorado River, began to carve the Grand Canyon less than 6 million years ago in response to sagging caused by the opening of the Gulf of California to the southwest. The Colorado River (' Aha Kwahwat in Mojave) is a River in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately The Grand Canyon " Sea of Cortez " redirects here For the book by John Steinbeck, see The Log from the Sea of Cortez.

The Pleistocene epoch brought periodic ice ages and a cooler, wetter climate. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets This increased erosion at higher elevations with the introduction of alpine glaciers while mid-elevations were attacked by frost wedging and lower areas by more vigorous stream scouring. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. Pluvial lakes also formed during this time. A pluvial lake is a Lake that experiences significant increase in depth and extent as a result of increased precipitation and reduced Evaporation. Glaciers and pluvial lakes disappeared and the climate warmed and became drier with the start of Holocene epoch. The Holocene is a Geological epoch which began approximately 10000 years ago (about 8000 BC

Energy Generation

. Carbon County is a County located in the US state of Utah. As of 2000 the population was 20422 and by 2005 had been estimated to have decreased

Electrical power generation is one of the major industries that takes place in the Colorado Plateau region. Most electrical generation comes from coal fired power plants. Coal fired power plants provide more than 50% of consumed electricity in the United States. Cleaner burning technologies continue to make coal fired power one of the cheapest ways to generate electricity. ^[3]

Natural Resources

Petroleum

The rocks of the Colorado Plateau are a source of oil and a major source of natural gas. Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane, Major petroleum deposits are present in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado, the Uinta Basin of Utah, the Piceance Basin of Colorado, and the Paradox Basin of Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. San Juan Basin is a Drainage basin and geologic Structural basin in the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States; its New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. The Uintah Basin, also spelled Uinta Basin, is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The Piceance Basin is a geologic structural basin in northwestern Colorado, in the United States. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States.

Uranium

The Colorado Plateau holds major uranium deposits. (See Uranium mining in Utah and Uranium mining in the United States). Uranium mining in Utah, a state of the United States, has a history going back more than 100 years Uranium mining in the United States declined drastically in the 1980s but has revived since 2001 due to higher Uranium prices

Coal

Major coal deposits are being mined in the Colorado Plateau in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America.

Protected lands

This relatively high semi-arid province produces many distinctive erosional features such as arches, arroyos, canyons, cliffs, fins, natural bridges, pinnacles, hoodoos, and monoliths that, in various places and extents, have been protected. An arroyo (literally brook in Spanish) also called a wash or draw, is a usually dry creek bed or Gulch that temporarily For the song see CANYONMID. For the band see Canyon (band. A canyon (rarely cañon) or gorge In Geography and Geology, a cliff is a significant vertical or near vertical rock exposure "Natural Bridges" redirects here for the US National Monument see Natural Bridges National Monument. Hoodoos are tall thin spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of Arid basins and Badlands They are composed of soft Sedimentary A monolith is a geological feature such as a Mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock or a single piece of rock placed as or within a monument Also protected are areas of historic or cultural significance, such as the pueblos of the Anasazi culture. Pueblos are traditional communities of Native Americans in the southwestern United States of America. "Anasazi" directs here For the X-Files episode see Anasazi (The X-Files. There are nine U.S. National Parks, a National Historical Park, sixteen U.S. National Monuments and dozens of wilderness areas in the province along with millions of acres in U.S. National Forests, many state parks, and other protected lands. The National Park Service ( NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation A National Monument in the United States is a Protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States A wilderness area is a region where the land is in a natural state where impacts from human activities are minimal—that is as a Wilderness. "National forest" redirects here for the National Forest in England see National Forest England; for those in Brazil see List of Brazilian National Forests In fact, this region has the highest concentration of parklands in North America. Lake Powell, in foreground, is not a natural lake but a reservoir impounded by Glen Canyon Dam. Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. Glen Canyon Dam is a Dam on the Colorado River at Page Arizona, USA operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

National parks (from south to north to south clockwise):

• Petrified Forest National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Zion National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Capitol Reef National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Arches National Park
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
• Mesa Verde National Park
• Chaco Culture National Historical Park

National Monuments (alphabetical):

• Aztec Ruins National Monument
• Canyon De Chelly National Monument
• Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
• Cedar Breaks National Monument
• Colorado National Monument
• Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument
• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
• El Malpais National Monument
• El Morro National Monument
• Hovenweep National Monument
• Navajo National Monument
• Natural Bridges National Monument
• Rainbow Bridge National Monument
• Sunset Crater National Monument
• Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
• Walnut Canyon National Monument
• Wupatki National Monument

Wilderness areas:

Kachina Peaks Wilderness Strawberry Crater Wilderness Kendrick Mountain Wilderness Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness Pauite Wilderness Grand Wash Cliffs Wilderness Mount Logan Wilderness Mount Trumbull Wilderness Kanab Creek Wilderness Cottonwood Point Wilderness Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Saddle Mountain Wilderness Mount Baldy Wilderness Escudilla Wilderness Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness

Flat Tops Wilderness Uncompahgre Wilderness Mount Sneffels Wilderness Lizard Head Wilderness Weminuche Wilderness South San Juan Wilderness Cebolla Wilderness West Malpais Wilderness Bisti-De-Na-Zin Wilderness Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness Ashdown Gorge Wilderness Box Death Hollow Wilderness Dark Canyon Wilderness High Uintas Wilderness

Other notable protected areas include: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Dead Horse Point State Park, Goosenecks State Park, the San Rafael Swell, the Grand Gulch Primitive Area, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Goblin Valley State Park and Barringer Crater. Petrified Forest National Park is along Interstate 40 between Holbrook and Navajo, in the United States. Grand Canyon Grand Canyon National Park is one of the United States' oldest national parks and is located in Arizona. Zion National Park is a United States National Park located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale Utah. Bryce Canyon National Park (ˈbraɪs is a National park located in southwestern Utah in the United States Capitol Reef National Park is a United States National Park, in south-central Utah. Canyonlands National Park is located in the American state of Utah, near city of Moab and preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons Arches National Park is a US National park in southern Utah. It is known for preserving over 2000 natural sandstone arches, including the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a United States National Park located in western Colorado, and managed by the National Park Service. Mesa Verde National Park is a US National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park and it is a portion of a UNESCO World Heritage Site hosting the densest The Aztec Ruins National Monument preserves ancestral Pueblo structures in north-western New Mexico, United States, located close to the town of Aztec Canyon de Chelly National Monument was established April 1, 1931, as a unit of the National Park Service and is located in northeastern Arizona Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is located in the southwestern region of the U Cedar Breaks National Monument is a US National Monument located in the U Colorado National Monument (often simply referred to as The Monument) is a part of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument (sometimes referred to as Parashant National Monument The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument contains 19 million Acres (7571 km² of land in southern Utah, the United States. El Malpais National Monument is off I-40 in western New Mexico, USA near El Morro National Monument is located on an ancient east-west trail in western New Mexico Hovenweep National Monument straddles the Colorado-Utah border west of Cortez Colorado, United States. Navajo National Monument is located within the northwest portion of the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. Natural Bridges National Monument is a US National Monument located in about 50 miles north west of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah, in Rainbow Bridge National Monument is administered by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, southern Utah, USA. Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is located in the US state of Arizona Walnut Canyon National Monument is a United States National Monument located about southeast of downtown Flagstaff Arizona, just off Interstate 40 The Wupatki National Monument is a National Monument located in north-central Kachina Peaks Wilderness is a Wilderness area located approximately north of Flagstaff within the Coconino National Forest in the U Kendrick Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area in the US State of Arizona. The Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness is a Wilderness area located in northwestern Arizona and southwestern Utah, USA, within the arid The Mount Logan Wilderness is a 14650 acre (59 km² US wilderness area in the Arizona Strip. The Mount Trumbull Wilderness is a 7880 acre (31 km² wilderness area located on the Uinkaret Plateau in the Arizona Strip. Kanab Creek Wilderness is a Wilderness area located along the Mohave / Coconino County line in the U The Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is a 109400 acre (442 km² wilderness area located in northern Arizona and southern Utah, USA The Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness (BRCW is located in western Colorado and eastern Utah, USA, within the arid Colorado Plateau region The Flat Tops Wilderness Area is the second largest US Wilderness Area in Colorado. The Uncompahgre Wilderness (formally called the Big Blue Wilderness is a U The Mount Sneffels Wilderness is a wilderness area in southwest Colorado managed by the Uncompahgre National Forest. The Lizard Head Wilderness is a wilderness area in southwest Colorado. The Weminuche Wilderness is a wilderness area in southwest Colorado managed by the San Juan National Forest on the west side of the Continental Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness is a Wilderness area located in the Dixie National Forest in the U The Ashdown Gorge Wilderness is located in southwestern Utah, USA, within the arid Colorado Plateau region The Dark Canyon Wilderness in the heart of southeast Utah's canyon country is named for its high steep walls that narrow in the lower section so that they block the light in the morning The High Uintas Wilderness is a protected wilderness area located in northeastern Utah covering the Uinta Mountains, encompassing parts of Summit Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA is a recreation and conservation unit of the National Park Service (USA that encompasses the area around Dead Horse Point State Park is a Utah state park adjacent to Canyonlands National Park, featuring a dramatic overlook of the Colorado River. Goosenecks State Park is located near the southern border of the state of Utah in the western United States. The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, USA about 30 miles (50 km west of Green River Utah. Kodachrome Basin is a small state park in the US State of Utah. Meteor Crater is a Meteorite Impact crater located approximately 43 miles east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern

Further reading

• Donald L. Baars, Red Rock Country: The Geologic History of the Colorado Plateau, Doubleday (1972), hardcover, ISBN 0-385-01341-8
• Donald L. Baars, Traveler's Guide to the Geology of the Colorado Plateau, University of Utah Press (2002), trade paperback, 250 pages, ISBN 0-87480-715-8
• W. Scott Baldridge, Geology of the American Southwest: A Journey Through Two Billion Years of Plate-Tectonic History, Cambridge University Press (2004), 280 pages, ISBN 0-521-01666-5
• Geology of National Parks: Fifth Edition, Ann G. Harris, Esther Tuttle, Sherwood D. , Tuttle (Iowa, Kendall/Hunt Publishing; 1997), pages 2-3, 19-20, 25 ISBN 0-7872-5353-7
• Physical Geology: Eight Edition, Plummer, McGeary, Carlson, (McGraw-Hill: Boston; 1999), page 320 ISBN 0-697-37404-1
• Earth System History, Steven M. Stanley, (W. H. Freeman and Company; 1999), pages 511-513, 537 ISBN 0-7167-2882-6
• USGS - Geologic Provinces of the United States: Colorado Plateau Province (some adapted public domain text)
• Annabelle Foos, Geology of the Colorado Plateau, National Park Service PDF Accessed 12/21/2005.

Gallery

Rabbit Valley, Colorado near Interstate 70.	View of the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains near Grand Junction, Colorado.	Four Corners Plaque where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet.	Red rock "fin" on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. The Navajo Nation ( Diné in the Navajo language) is a semi- autonomous Native American homeland covering about 26000 square miles (67339 square
"Window Arch" at Arches National Park, Utah. Arches National Park is a US National park in southern Utah. It is known for preserving over 2000 natural sandstone arches, including the	Red rock mesa in Arizona.	Spring in northwestern New Mexico.	San Rafael Swell in central Utah.

See also

References

External links

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