WSP05382

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 6/1/1975
• Title: The Natural Salinity of the Colorado River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Figure 4. Dellcate Arch and Salt Valley, Utah.

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sediments, began squeeze-ups as early as Triassic time, rising in areas of
less resistance, to form saIt islands or shallows in the subsequent Jurassic
and Cretaceous seas. The squeezing up has continued to the present, but
with the deep erosion of the province, the shale and salt plugs now
appear as jumbled masses of clay, gypsum, and salt in elongated valleys,
surrounded by hogbacks or cliffs of younger sandstone. Figure 5 shows
the location of the salt-dome valleys and the outcrops of Paradox
Formation. In Figure 4 one can glimpse a part of Salt Valley through
Delicate Arch.

The prime example of Colorado River waters contaminated by
Paradox salt is that of the Dolores River crossing Paradox Valley, but
other tributaries perform the same function, such as Courthouse Wash
draining the Salt Valley area of Arches National Park, and the runoff of

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