THE DISTEIBUTION OF THE CEETACEOUS. 
31 
shore-line in southwestern Nevada. All that we can say at present is that 
a belt of remnants of littoral Tertiary strata is known to extend for more 
than 70 miles southwest from the flank of the Markdgunt. Whether 
any more of them lie beyond this limit must be determined by future investi- 
gation. 
Turning now to the southern escarpments of the High Plateaus, not a 
solitary remnant of Tertiary strata lies south of the brinks of the MarkA- 
gunt and Paunsdgunt. But upon the Kaiparowits, 25 miles east of the 
Paunsdgunt, is a solitary outlier of Tertiary strata upon the summit of the 
Kaiparowits Peak. From this point southeastward not a vestige of the Ter- 
tiary is known until we reach New Mexico. This wide interval discloses 
strata of all ages from the base of the Trias to the summit of the Cretace- 
ous, and beds of the latter age form a very large proportion of the surface 
of the country. But if the Tertiary once extended over the whole region 
every trace of it has probably disappeared. It is indeed a general fact that 
the Tertiary remnants of the Plateau Country are found in abundance 
around the margin of the lake in which they were deposited, but never in 
the central portions of its expanse. 
THE CEETACEOUS. 
The platform immediately below the Pink Cliffs is picturesque rather 
than grand. Rough rolling ridges of yellow sandstone, long sloping hill- 
sides, and rocky promontories clad with large pines and spruces, surround 
the valleys. These rocks are of Cretaceous age. Upon the southward 
slopes of the Pauns^gunt and Mark4gunt Plateaus, they nowhere present 
the serried fronts of cliffs, but break down into long irregular slopes much 
like those of common hill countries. In those superficial and merely scenic 
aspects which make the terraces so impressive, the Cretaceous is for the 
most part notably deficient; but in those deeper studies, which are of most 
significance to the geologist, it holds an importance not inferior to that of 
any other formation. It is never wanting at its proper place in the terraces, 
but always displays a vast series of sandstones and clay shales, varying 
