By: magic-gigapans
Image: Jeffrey Rollins, Mid-Atlantic Geo-Image Collection
License: Creative Commons Non Commercial ⧉

Uploaded: 29 Apr 2020
Last Updated: 2 Jun 2020

256 megapixels
25,592 x 9,988 pixels
85.3 in X 33.3 in at 300dpi

44.574200, -108.070476 - Facing South Looking out across the southern portion of the Sheep Mountain Anticline's backlimb (the gently dipping limb of an asymmetrical fold), one can observe the effects of differential weathering on uniformly dipping strata. Here, the limestones and dolostones of the upper Phosphoria Fm. act as a "cap rock", protecting the easily weathered rust colored beds of silt and mudstones that constitute the formations lower portion. The thick, brightly colored beds below are of the Tensleep Sandstone, which composes the majority of the exposures lining the mountain's peak. The strata here dip southwest at roughly 18 to 20 degrees, a pattern that can be seen to continue in the Triassic Chugwater Fm. further south, and the younger Mesozoic strata beyond.