House Range
Encyclopedia
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. It is famous for Notch Peak
Notch Peak
Notch Peak is a distinctive summit located on Sawtooth Mountain in the House Range, west of Delta, Utah. The peak and the surrounding area are part of the Notch Peak Wilderness Study Area...
, one of the tallest limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s in the world, and a fossil Lagerstätte
Lagerstätte
A Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
(Wheeler Shale
Wheeler Shale
The Wheeler Shale is a Cambrian fossil locality world famousfor prolific agnostid and Elrathia kingii trilobite remains...
) of Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
age, which has an array of Burgess Shale type fauna
Burgess shale type fauna
A number of assemblages bear fossil assemblages similar in character to that of the Burgess Shale. While many are also preserved in a similar fashion to the Burgess Shale, the term "Burgess Shale type fauna" covers assemblages based on taxonomic criteria only.-Extent:The fauna of the middle...
, including Elrathia kingii
Elrathia kingii
Elrathia is a genus of trilobite species that lived during the Middle Cambrian. E. kingii is one of the most common trilobite fossils in the USAlocally found in extremely high concentrations within the Wheeler Formation in the U.S. state of Utah....
, a trilobite
Trilobite
Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...
that is one of Utah's most famous fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s.
Geography
It is bound by Tule ValleyTule Valley
Tule Valley, also known as White Valley, is a north-south trending endorheic valley within the Great Basin , Great Basin Desert , and Basin and Range Province of west-central Utah...
to the west, Whirlwind Valley and Sevier Desert/Sevier Lake
Sevier Lake
Sevier Lake is an intermittent and endorheic lake which lies in the lowest part of the Sevier Desert, Millard County, Utah. Like Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake, it is a remnant of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. Sevier Lake is fed primarily by the Beaver and Sevier rivers, and the additional inflow...
to the east, and is along trend with the Fish Springs Range to the north. The range has three notable passes: Skull Rock Pass (which US Highway 6/US Highway 50 travels through), Marjum Canyon (which the old US Highway 6 travels through), and Sand Pass (which the Weiss Highway passes through).
The highest point in the House Range is Swasey Peak, at 9586 feet 39.388°N 113.316°W. Other notable peaks include Notch Peak, a frequent climbing and base-jumping hotspot, and the very square Tatow Knob.
The House Range was named in 1859 by James H. Simpson
James H. Simpson
James Hervey Simpson was an officer in the U.S. Army and a member of the United States Topographical Engineers.-Early years:He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 9, 1813, the son of John Simpson and Mary Brunson. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1832 and was...
. It was named by Simpson because "...of its well-defined stratification and the resemblance of portions of its outline to domes, minarets, houses, and other structures."
Geology
The geology of the House Range is dominated by gray CambrianCambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
to Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
carbonate rock
Carbonate rock
Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite and dolostone, which is composed of the mineral dolomite .Calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by...
which was intruded by a pink Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
granitoid
Granitoid
A granitoid or granitic rock is a variety of coarse grained plutonic rock similar to granite which mineralogically are composed predominately of feldspar and quartz. Examples of granitoid rocks include granite, quartz monzonite, quartz diorite, syenite, granodiorite and trondhjemite. Many are...
in the central part of the range. In the Wheeler Amphitheater, away from the intrusion, the Lagerstätte that contains the well-preserved fauna is found in the Cambrian section of the range. Evidence of Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 14,500 years...
's presence is found both in shorelines and white marl
Marl
Marl or marlstone is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and aragonite. Marl was originally an old term loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay...
s at the base of the range. The main structural component to the range is a large basin-bounding fault on the west side.
Stratigraphy
The Swasey Limestone was deposited in the BathyuriscusBathyuriscus
Bathyuriscus is an extinct genus of Cambrian trilobite. It was a nektobenthic predatory carnivore. Specimens have been found in the Marjumian of the USA and in the Middle Cambrian of Australia, Canada , Greenland, Mexico, and the USA...
–Elrathina zone
Trilobite zone
Trilobites are used as index fossils to subdivide the Cambrian period. Assemblages of trilobites define trilobite zones. The Olenellus zone has traditionally marked the top of the Lower Cambrian, and is followed by the Eokochaspis zone....
(contemporaneous with the Burgess Shale
Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...
). This is overlain in turn by the Bolaspidella zone (uppermost Middle Cambrian) Wheeler Shale
Wheeler Shale
The Wheeler Shale is a Cambrian fossil locality world famousfor prolific agnostid and Elrathia kingii trilobite remains...
and Marjum Formation
Marjum formation
The Marjum formation is a Cambrian geological formation that overlies the Wheeler Shale in the House Range, Utah. It is known for its occasional preservation of soft-bodied tissue, and is slightly younger than the Burgess Shale, falling in the Ptychagnostus praecurrens trilobite zone....
, then the Cedaria zone (lowermost Upper Cambrian) Weeks Formation.