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Like the Point Lookout Sandstone, the Cliff House Sandstone is <br />reported to decrease in grain size in an eastward direction. Ten to fifteen <br />miles East of the project area, the formation is composed of soft dark-gray <br />mudstone and fine silty-shale with an occasional thin lense of fine ,grained <br />sandstone in the lower part. <br />The Cliff 1louse Sandstone has an average thickness of 350 feet <br />throughout most of the project area. It shows a slight Eastward thinning, <br />probably due to the increase in compactable fine sediments. ~ <br />' I <br />Lewis Shale: The Lewis Shale conformably overlies the Cliff House <br />Sandstone and consists of dark gray to black, nearly homogeneous clay shale <br />with scattered concretions of dense argillaceous limestone and with a few thin <br />seams of bentonite in the upper portion. The formation is reported to be about <br />],700 feet thick. The basal contact is very sharp with black flakey clay-shale <br />sitting on gray mudstone or sand shale of the Cliff Hovse Sandstone. <br />Structure: <br />The geologic structure ~f the Hesperus area is characterized by gentle <br />• <br />Southward dips ranginy from 7° to 2° away from the structurally high La Plata <br />Mountains to the North. It is probable that a small amount of faulting is <br />present in the vicinity of the Town of Hesperus. A fault with a displacement <br />of 33 feet has been reported in the old Hesperus mine in Section 14, Township <br />35 North, Ranye ]] West. Another fault, downthrown 30 feet to the East, has <br />been reported in the Monarch Nine about. one mile t.ortheast of Hesperus. <br />Results of exploration drilling conducted in the area have not revealed signi- <br />ficant faulting. <br />Surface Geolog <br />Only the middle member of the Mesa Verde Croup is exposed on the <br />property. The Mine is located on the South side of Hay Gulch with portals <br />driven into the coal bearing Menefee Formation. 7'he Cliff Rouse Formation caps <br />the higher ground on both sides of the gulch. <br /> <br />