Abstract
This paper, based on surveys made chiefly in 1943 and 1944, describes the geography and geology of central Kane County, Utah, an area of about 570 square miles. The region is semiarid, utilized almost entirely as forage ground for sheep and cattle.
The oldest rocks exposed are the Hermit shale and the Kaibab limestone of Permian age. Above these lie the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous formations characteristic of the Colorado plateaus. Igneous and metamorphic rocks are absent. The regional north and northeast dips of the sedimentary beds have been interrupted by the broad Kaibab upwarp, the strongly accentuated East Kaibab monocline, and the Paunsaugunt fault, which have disturbed all the formations exposed. The physiographic history of the region records two long cycles of regional denudation and shorter periods of alternating aggradation and degradation. Conspicuous topographic features are the White Cliffs and their outlying mesas and peaks, the Vermilion Cliffs, the Shinarump Cliffs, the Kaibab Plateau, the Coxcomb, House Rock Valley, and two broad surfaces of erosion—Wygaret Terrace and Kimball Valley.
