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<br />e: <br />ceo' <br />L'" <br />- <br /> <br />c.:: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />11 <br /> <br />important finds from some of these same formations have been made at locali- <br />ties not far outside the project area; so the potential does exist for major <br />discoveries inside the area. More specific information on the fossils of <br />the Juniper - Cross Mountain Project area is given in the following para- <br />graphs. <br /> <br />The sandstones and conglomerates of the Precambrian Uinta Mountain Group <br /> <br />appear to be totally devoid of fossils; but the shales of that rock unit, <br /> <br />which outcrop just above river level near the center of Cross Mountain <br /> <br />Canyon, contain possible traces of organic activity. If, indeed, these <br />are fossils, they would be the oldest ones known from any locality in <br />Colorado. More study is needed to ascertain the true nature of these <br /> <br />features. <br /> <br />The Cambrian lodore Formation was deposited in a relatively high energy <br /> <br />environment, and contains no fossils except rare linguloid brachiopod <br /> <br />fragments. <br /> <br />The lower few feet of the strata called Madison limestone are probably <br /> <br />Ordovician in age (Jack Dyni, personal communication), and contain abundant <br /> <br />tracks, trails, burrow casts, fucoids, and other traces of 500 million year <br /> <br />old life. These fossils are not unusual. But, of much more interest in <br /> <br />these same lower Madison strata in Cross Mountain Canyon are poorly pre- <br />served fish scales and fish bone fragments. These fossils are quite simi- <br />lar to the extremely significant Ostracoderm fish remains of the Ordovician <br />Harding Formation near Canyon City, Colorado, which have long' been regarded <br /> <br />as the oldest known evidence of vertebrate life on earth. <br />