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Places
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Landforms
of the Colorado Plateau
Reefs, Monoclines, and Hogsbacks
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| The curved, sloping rock wall defines the outer edge
of an "anticline", or dome-shaped uplift of originally horizontal
sedimentary rock formations. Oil and gas are sometimes found in anticlinal
domes. Eventually erosion tears the dome apart from the inside out,
leaving only the outer shell of harder rock. These sloping shelves
are also called hogsbacks. Photo from Capitol Reef National Park ©
1996 Ray Wheeler. |
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| Factory Butte & North Caineville Reef from San Rafael
Reef in the San Rafael Swell in central Utah. Photo © 1999
Ray Wheeler. |
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| North Caineville "Reef" is a classic "hogsback",
where flat sedimentary rock formations have been tilted strongly,
and the top part of a fold has been eroded away. Photo from the San
Rafael Swell in central Utah © 1999 Ray
Wheeler. |
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