Long Gone Lake
As you walk up Golden Canyon, you travel through an ancient, changing landscape. Look closely at the rocks exposed in the canyon walls. The conglomerate layers containing large boulders have given way to light-colored deposits of silt and clay. Such fine-grained sediment typifies debris deposited at the bottom of a calm lake. These mudstones are thought to be of similar age to the conglomerate described previously. In crossing the boundary between these different rock layers, you have walked across an alluvial fan and into a lake.
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| GLOSSARY | > alluvial fan, canyon, clay, conglomerate, landscape, rock, sediments, silt, , , |
GOLDEN CANYON GEOLOGY TRAIL
Silt and clay deposits at left, conglomerate on right