
Over view of the site above. Just off I-70, exit 149. The lat-long of the pin above are:
38deg 55.545' N
110deg 22.711' W
Above are highlighted 3 of the known inverted stream channels. The long one to the lower left I did not visit but we were able to see from our vantage point at A. A was the one we spent the most time at. It is a thin (~2 m thick) body of sand on top of a thick shale deposit. B we spent the shortest amount of time at and the actual areal extent is not very easy to discern on the aerial image so I just highlighted the approximate location.
An inverted channel is where a stream deposits sand along the base of the channel and mud along the floodplain. Several million years pass, this all gets buried and lithified (made into rock) at a later date. Then sometime in the future this is re-exposed and starts to weather. Since the mudstone of the floodplain erodes a lot easier than the sandstone of the stream channel the streams begin to become elevated in comparison to the surrounding terrain, producing what we see here.
Stop A:
Looking at the side of one of the larger sandstone blocks you can see characteristic trough cross-bedding indicative of fluvial systems. The current in this picture is to the left which is south (picture taken facing west).
In the above photo you can see what are called deformation bands, where during compaction of the sediment the layers were deformed where softer rock underlies well cemented rock causing little tiny "faults" to be produced.
Stop B:
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