Mesa Verde:Mesa Verde:More Than Just More Than Just Cliff DwellingsCliff Dwellings

Mesa Verde:Mesa Verde:

• Mesa Verde Ruins Found 1880’s• National Park Status in 1906• Major Rock Type: Sandstone• Who Built the Ruins: Ancient Puebloans

Park LayoutPark Layout

Landscape & RuinsLandscape & Ruins

Startographic LayersStartographic Layers

Silt

sandstone______________________________

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Shale

Not Exposed in ParkDakota Sandstone

Slope-former; deep-water deposits, muds, silts, fine sands

Mancos Shale

Cliff-former; massive, fine, cross-bedded sands

Point Lookout Sandstone

Backshore and lagoonal deposits; silts, muds, sand, coal beds

Menefee

Cliff former; Thick accumulations of fine cross-bedded sand ans thin shale beds ob oscillating shoreline

Barker Dome Tongue & Lower Member

Cliff House Sandstone

Mesa Verde

Upper CreataceousMesozoic

Tertiaty

Weathering of alcoves in cliff walls Headward erosion of canyonsUplift and tilting; isolation of Mesa Verde

cuesta by erosionDevelopmetn of pedimentUplift of La Plata and San Juan MountainsUplift of Colorado Plateaus during Laramide

orogeny

Stream deposits, talus loess soil

Pediment gravels, cobbles

QuaternaryCenozoic

Geological EventsMemberFormationGroupPeriodEra

Geologic TimeGeologic Time

Balcony HouseBalcony House

Spruce Tree HouseSpruce Tree House

Cliff PalaceCliff Palace