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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />t""'; <br />CO <br />lJ') <br />- <br /> <br />Upstream from the broad floodplain east of Juniper Canyon the Yampa River <br /> <br />c. <br /> <br />also follows a meandering path. But there, in the segment of the river be- <br />tween Craig and Seeley Ranch, the meanders are cut into deep valleys walled <br />by northward-dipping layers of resistant Cretaceous sandstone. Thus, these <br /> <br />meanders are not able to shift laterally as they do on the broad floodplain <br /> <br />to the west, and are said to be "entrenched." These entrenched meanders, <br /> <br />like Juniper and Cross Mountain Canyons. were formed by the superposition <br /> <br />process. Prior to the uplift which initiated the downcutting described <br /> <br /> <br />previously, the Yampa River apparently meandered freeley across the flat <br /> <br />Tertiary sediments which covered the dipping Cretaceous layers. Then, when <br /> <br />downcutting was initiated,the river was trapped in its meandering path <br />and, after removing the flat Tertiary strata, eventually entrenched itself <br />through the resistant sandstone layers as they became uncovered by the <br /> <br />river's erosion. <br /> <br />Another geomorphic process outstandingly displayed in the Juniper - Cross <br /> <br />Mountain Project area is mass wasting - the work of gravity. In Cross Moun- <br />tain Canyon especially, one can see abundant evidence of large landslides <br />and rock falls, which, quite obviously, are still actively occurring. The <br /> <br />Paleozoic and Precambrian rock strata which make up the steep canyon walls <br />are severely jointed vertically; and high on the canyon walls can be seen <br />many fresh scars where large masses of rock and single boulders have broken <br />away along the joint planes and come tumbling down, producing the abundant <br />talus which has accumulated near river level. Besides being an interesting <br />geological phenomenon, this process poses a real threat to the planned <br />Cross Mountain Canyon Dam. Huge landslides have obviously happened within <br />the recent past, and they will surely happen again. <br />