Joshua M Scofield

GEO-1010-004-804-F16-Kass
11/23/16

American Fork Canyon represents one of two twin peak formations in the
Wasatch Range. Located near Highland, Utah, its mouth opens into the Salt
Lake Valley by the Cedar Hills Golf Club. It measures 1,587 meters, or 5,205
feet at its tallest point. (Machette, 2006) This section of the Wasatch fault
zone bounds the northeastern margin of Utah Valley. It is about 22.5 km (14
mi) long along its trace and, as such, is much shorter than the average
length of segments along the fault zone. (Machette, 2006). The Alpine Loop
Scenic Byway runs the length of the canyon, and plays a heavy role in its
shaping, along with other human constructions. Numerous hiking trails,
camping sites, and small bridges can be seen along the byway, especially
near the mouth, where the Salt Lake Valley is the closest. There are also
several diversions and man-man channels in the small American Fork River,
which runs alongside, and sometimes beneath the byway. Generally shallow
and creek-like, the American fork river empties primarily into a large artificial
water feature on the Cedar Hills Golf Club, though channels have been dug
for it to run through various parks and public areas. The River is generally
too low-energy, and too regulated to carry significant amounts of sediment
from the twin peaks to these parks and features, though there are evidences
of ancient, more powerful water features in certain parts of the canyon, such
as a large, well-preserved fan-delta complex constructed at the end of the
transgressive phase of the Bonneville lake cycle (about 32-14.5 ka; Currey
and Oviatt, 1985) (Machette, 2006).

The sediment around the bases of the twin peaks and all of their various
crests is abundant. The entrance into the Canyon is marked by great hills of
sediment, the most part of it being greyish or black in color, indicating
possible anoxic conditions, or low-silica parent material. Sediment tends to
pile dramatically near the bases of these crests and cliffs because of their
steep, often vertical slopes (Fig. 3, 4, 6). Rock also tends to pile and slope
dramatically near these bases, especially shale. The shale is particularly
susceptible to land sliding, often carrying with it large blocks of bedrock
(Machette, 2006) Such is the case at the Sunbathed Slope, several miles into
the Canyon. (Fig. 1).
The rock in this location tends to be light in color and vary in hue, as
depicted in figure (Fig. 2). They are generally aphanitic, mafic shale, and
some had small, oxidized deposits of material. There were also sporadic
phaneritic samples that may have been limestone, which would not be
uncommon for the area.
The rocks in the Canyon at large record a complex geological history that
includes: (1) deposition of a thick sequence of late Precambrian and
Paleozoic age sedimentary rocks, (2) thrust faulting and folding during the
late cretaceous sevier orogeny, (3) extensional faulting that culminated with
the formation of the Wasatch range uplift, and (5) Pleistocene glaciation.
(Douglas A. Sprinkel, 2010) The presence of limestone, shale, and other
sedimentary rocks would be consistent with this. In fact, limestone is found

in abundance near the Timponogos Cave National Monument, located two

miles from the mouth of the Canyon.
The caves themselves are mostly limestone, and achieved the title of
National Monument after the American Fork Canyon cave, Hansen Cave or
Cave of Buried Rivers, was cleared out of its speleothems, the delicate
cave formations ripped out and hauled off. (McKean, 2016) The rocks
around the cavelimestone or nottend to range in their age. The trail to
the caves ascends from Precambrian rocks a billion years old to
Mississippian rocks 330 million years old. (Chronic, 1990) Which differs
greatly from the loess examined in another part of the canyon:
Trenching at the American Fork Canyon site (fig. 3, see following
discussion) exposed the loess and associated debris flows (Machette,
1988b). An age of 7,290100 14C years B.P. was obtained from loess,
whereas an age of 4,74090 14C years B.P. was obtained from near the top
of the overlying loess-derived debris (Machette, 2006)
There are several mines located in the American Fork Canyon noted here
for the various crystals they produce. The Bog Mine is located near the head
of American Fork Canyon. This mine has produced large crystals of sphalerite
of nice transparent green color. Examples can be seen on display at the
Hutchings Museum in Lehi. Searching and digging in the dump of the mine
can produce numerous fragments of some crystals of sphalerite.
Pyrithoedrons of pyrite and cleavage fragments of galena may also be

found. (Wilson, 1995) and Large masses of pyrite have been collected in
the past from the Yankee Mine area in Mary Ellen Gulch off American Fork
Canyon (Wilson, 1995). Though the canyon itself is not especially
noteworthy for its crystal production.

References
Chronic, H. (1990). Roadside Geology og Utah. Missoula: Mountain Press.
Douglas A. Sprinkel, T. C. (2010). Geology of Utah's parks and Monuments. Salt Lake
City: Utah Geological Association.
Machette, M. N. (2006). SURFICIAL GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE WASATCH FAULT ZONE,,
4-5.
McKean, A. (2016). Rooted in Geology: Grologic Mapping in an Urban Interface. Utah
Geological survey Survey: Notes, 11.
Wilson, J. R. (1995). A Collector's Guide to Rock, Mineral, & Fossil Localities of Utah.
Salt Lake City: Utah Geological Survey.

Fig. 1: The Sunbathed Slope: a part of the valley that rarely falls into the
shadow of the surorunding peaks. Covered in large, light colored shales.

Fig. 2: The three main rock colors found on the Sunbathed Slope. Possible
indication of oxygen conditions? Reminiscent of Neapolitan ice cream.

Fig. 3: Strong evidence of biological erosion. Namely root-wedging.

Fig. 4: The slopes of the peaks and cliffs can often be toothy and dramatic.

Fig. 6: Cliff faces and slopes running at steep parallels

Fig. 5: Shale features prone to sliding