PHYSIOGRAPHY OF BISHOP CONGLOMERATE 603 



Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado which will indicate the general 

 location of the region and its relation to the near-by important 

 physiographic and geographic features. Fig. 2 is a more detailed 

 map of a portion of the area outlined in Fig. i and shows all the 

 various topographic, hydrographic, and cultural features referred 

 to in the following discussion. 



Referring now to the detailed map it will be noted that the 

 entire area is drained by tributaries of Green River. Bitter Creek, 

 one of the largest of these entering from the east, drains all but 

 the extreme southern and western part. Red Creek takes the 

 waters of the southern part directly south to Green River, and 

 Sage Creek, flowing northwest, carries the drainage of the western 

 part directly to the river. 



The climate is semi-arid, with an average rainfall of from ten 

 to fifteen inches per year. The topography is typically that of a 

 semi-arid region of moderate relief; low areas, corresponding to 

 belts of soft rock, are followed by steep scarps with dip slopes. 

 Each zone of harder rocks is represented by a more or less pro- 

 nounced scarp, depending on the resistance, thickness, and dip of 

 the component layers. One of these scarps formed by a series of 

 heavy-bedded sandstones is over 1,000 feet in height. 



The plateau. — The most conspicuous feature of the topography 

 within the area of the detailed map is a high, even-topped plateau 

 lying at an elevation of from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the bottoms 

 of the major stream valleys. This is everywhere capped by a 

 gravel-deposit partly consolidated at the base into a resistant con- 

 glomerate which, on account of its resistance to erosion, is respon- 

 sible for the preservation of the plateau while the surrounding 

 country was worn down. From its northern extremity at the 

 northwestern base of Aspen Mountain the plateau extends 

 southward for a distance of fourteen miles to Miller Mountain 

 where it ends abruptly in a steep scarp facing southward to the 

 basin of Red Creek. The plateau varies in width from less than 

 a mile to eight or ten miles. The largest remnant extends south- 

 ward from Aspen Mountain to Miller Mountain as indicated, but 

 there is a long arm running northwest from Miller Mountain 

 between the valleys of Sage and Little Bitter creeks for a distance 



