A Survey of Fossils and Geology of Red Rock Canyon Open pace,Colorado Springs, Colorado

摘要

Red Rock Canyon Open Space (RRCOS) is a 785-acre open space in the western foothills of ColoradoSprings, Colorado. The City of Colorado Springs opened RRCOS to the public in October 2003. Becausethis acreage has been in private ownership since the late 1800s, there has been little documentation offossils or geology within this property. Although continuous with the stratigraphy of nearby Garden of the Gods Park, the geology ofRRCOS shows remarkable differences. Of primary significance are the relatively uninterrupted, upturnedexposures of a sequence of strata comprised of the Fountain Formation, Lyons Sandstone, Morrison andRalston Creek formations, Purgatoire Formation, Dakota Sandstone, the Benton Shale, Niobrara Forma-tion and Pierre Shale. The majority of formations can be seen within a 1.5 kilometer (km) west to easttransect. Lying horizontally over these vertical beds are the Mesa Gravels (equivalent to Verdos Allu-vium). Within these formations several sites of geologic interest to the Colorado Springs community wererecorded, in particular, the spectacular eolian crossbeds within the Lyons Sandstone. Fossils documented through this study include apparent roots within the Fountain Formation, andnumerous tree imprints, leaves, and Ankylosaurid and Iguanodontid tracks in the Dakota Sandstone. TheCodell Sandstone and Niobrara Formation display shark and fish teeth, ammonites, inoceramids, a possi-ble Mosasaur palatine tooth, and tail or fin rays of an Ichthyodectes sp. fish.