BSRG Photo Archive

Coal seam split. The white sandstones in the cliff are marine shoreface parasequences.

Coal seam split. The white sandstones in the cliff are marine shoreface parasequences. The coal was deposited in a raised coastal mire. A rise in sea-level flooded the margin of the mire and resulted in shallow marine deposition. Subsequent coal formation over the top of the sandstone created a coal split. The cliff in the upper part of the photo is a series of coal bearing coastal plain deposits overlain by a coarse grained fluvial sandstone. From the Book Cliffs of eastern Utah.

photo by John Howell