Split Mountain Overlook EarthCache
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There are several ways to access this location. The easiest is to go to Jensen Utah on U.S. 40, and take the road at the eastern end of the Green River Bridge north for 1.6 miles to a dirt road leading up and to the right. Take this road and follow your GPS receiver to the site. A 4WD or high clearance vehicle is highly recommended for travel on this road. It will not be accessible during wet weather.
The aim of this Earthcache is two-fold: to measure the height of the overlook above the Green River using only your GPS receiver, and to give a little history of the geology of Split Mountain.
Looking north from this site into Dinosaur National Monument gives you a spectacular view of Split Mountain, where the Green River has cut a gorge 2800 feet deep through the hard rock of the Morgan Formation and Weber Sandstone. Why did the river cut through these hard limestones and sandstones when the softer Moenkopi Formation, formed from siltstones and shale, is located just to the west of Split Mountain and would seem to have been a more inviting target for the river course?
Split Mountain, a part of the Uinta Mountains, arose and was in place long before the Green River assumed its present course. Approximately 30 million years ago, erosion of the western Uinta Mountains buried the eastern part of the range in layers of sand, gravel, and cobbles. After this material lithified, it would come to be called the Bishop Conglomerate.
When the Green River assumed its present course about 6 million years ago, it found its way across the buried mountain. As the river flowed southward, it began cutting into the blanket of softer materials. The region began to rise, and constrained by its banks, the Green River cut into the harder rock below and carved the Split Mountain Gorge. This is just one of many examples of superimposed drainage in the Uinta Mountains.
At this site, you are looking over the cut formed by the Green River after its journey through Split Mountain. The Green River at this point is at an elevation of 4,755 feet above sea level.
To receive credit for this Earthcache, you must:
1) Determine your height above the Green River at this location (if your GPSr doesn’t can’t determine elevation, you may have to use a topo map).
Please consider posting photos of yourself, or the local geology, when you log this EarthCache. Photos can be an additional rewarding part of your journey, but posting them is not a requirement for logging this EarthCache, and is strictly optional.
The above information was compiled from the following sources:
Hansen, W. 2005. The Geologic History of the Uinta Mountains.
Hintz, L.F. 2005. Utah’s Spectacular Geology, How It Came to Be.
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