52 SEDIMENTARY GROUPS OF THE PLATEAU PROVINCE. 



of the Colorado. The Paria, Kanab and Rio Virgen, with their many tribu- 

 taries that head in the Pink Cliffs above and to the north, have cut many 

 canons and canon valleys through these escarpments, and here the structural 

 geology and stratigraphy are plainly revealed; not only of the White Cliff 

 Group but also of the Vermilion Cliff and Shinarump Groups. The sec- 

 tion which I shall give of these three groups was made along the course 

 of the Kanab in the winter of 1871. 



The escarpment known as the White Cliffs presents to the mid-day sun 

 a bold wall of pure white or golden sandstone reflecting its rays with a shim- 

 mering, brilliant light. At such a time the traveler toiling over the and sand- 

 dunes below, sees before him to the east or west a long stretch of pink and 

 vermilion hills hills of shifting sands, with no promise of spring or brook 

 at which his thirst may be quenched; the precipice of the Vermilion Cliffs 

 to the south, and the White Cliffs a wall of fire to the north. A more con- 

 spicuous or well denned topographic feature could not well be imagined. 



On top of the wall and usually a little back from the edge the lime- 

 stones which form the base of the Flaming Gorge Group is seen. This lime- 

 stone has been traced from point to point along the intermediate country 

 for the entire distance from Flaming Gorge to the White Cliffs. 



The following is a section of the White Cliff, Vermilion Cliff, and Shina- 

 rump Groups' from the base of these limestones to the summit of the Upper 

 Aubrey Group. 



