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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />especially the Cross Mountain Reservoir. This rock unit is terrestrial in <br />C'J <br />~, origin, consisting of interbedded fluvial, aeolian, and lacustrine deposits. <br /> <br />ll~ <br /> <br />... No fossils were found or reported by local residents as having been found <br /> <br />'- <br /> <br />c. <br /> <br />in the Brownsc Park outcrops of the project area. But significant occur- <br />rences of Miocene mammal fossils have been reported (Glen Izet, personal <br />communication) from this formation at localities less than ten miles from <br /> <br />the project area (T6N, R96W and T6N, R97W). Thus, it is highly likely that <br /> <br />such mammal fossils are present in the sediments of the Brown~~ Park Forma- <br /> <br />tion of the project area. Such fossils are especially important, because <br />they help document the evolution of the mammalian vertebrate animals on <br />earth, and because they might even provide clues to human origins. <br /> <br />The youngest fossils reported as having been discovered within the project <br />area are Pleistocene in age (Ice Ages), and were found in terrace gravel <br /> <br />deposits adjacent to the modern Yampa River floodplain. A wooly mammoth <br /> <br />(or mastodon) tooth was found near Sunbeam (Joe Roberts, personal communi- <br /> <br />cation), and part of a bison skull was unearthed' about five miles northeast <br /> <br />of Juniper Hot Springs (Colin Nicholson, personal communication). <br /> <br />Especially Significant Geological and Palentoloqical <br />Features of the Juniper - Cross Mountain Project Area <br /> <br />The following geological and paleontological features of the Juniper - Cross <br /> <br />Mountain Project area, some of which have already been discussed, are re- <br /> <br />garded as especially significant for their scientific value. <br /> <br />1. Cross Mountain Canyon -- This canyon, as an entity, constitutes <br /> <br />an important geological resource for several reasons: <br />