By: REVEALUVU
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Uploaded: 12 Jan 2019
Last Updated: 12 Jan 2019

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From (http://utahgeology.com/bin/roadguides.php?hw=hw6) Blackhawk Formation is the major coal producing rock unit in central and eastern Utah. It erodes to low ledges and slopes alternating with more massive light colored sandstone cliffs. The thicker sandstone units are barrier island accumulations and coal accumulated in coastal marshes and swamps behind these islands (fig. 1. 13). The prominent white-capped sandstone behind the tipple, on the east side of the canyon is an example of one such barrier island deposit. The top of this sandstone is exposed in the road cut on the west of the highway (figs. 1. 14, 1.15) and is overlain by a coal scam approximately 3 feet thick that accumulated in the marsh behind the island. The coal was buried by the marsh-filling stream deposits as the barrier coastline was crowded eastward by sediments being dumped in from the mountains to the west. A lower and older barrier island and coal sequence is exposed in the deep double road cuts to the south (fig. 1. 15). High roadside exposures of the lower part of the Blackhawk Formation at the scenic turnout near the now-abandoned town of Castlegate at Mile 53.4. The lower sandstone beyond the cars is the Lop of the Aberdeen Sandstone and is overlain by the Aberdeen Coal, here approximately three feet thick. Additional lenticular lagoonal sandstone, coal, and argillaceous Carbonaceous accumulations that are typical of the late swamp filling occur higher in the roadcuts. The bleached upper part of the Aberdeen Sandstone is typical of some of the major barrier island sandstones that are overlain by coal