Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The wide variety of strata, structural features, and landscapes of Capitol Reef National Park result from its complex, yet discoverable history. Our task was to write and design an informative book on this complexity while making it engaging for the public. We approached the design of this book using Stufflebeam's (2007) CIPP model. The CIPP model uses both summative and formative evaluations in the categories of context, input, process, and product. It provides the framework to methodically investigate the value of a product and identify and correct less effective pedagogical and design elements during its development. We demonstrated the use of the CIPP model as we wrote and illustrated pages of our book. Beginning with context, we identified our target audience, decided how we would provide a book that would serve this cohort, and made a plan for what we would accomplish with Exploring the Diverse Geology of Capitol Reef National Park. The input step involved understanding how to make our goals reality, especially concerning the design of the final book. We researched how the brain learns most effectively and incorporated those ideas into our book. We used principles developed by Clark and Mayer (2011) to reduce extraneous cognitive load. Research by James Hartley (1994) guided the instructional design and typography techniques. The process step helped us stay organized and follow our original plans. Finally, the product step enabled us and others to evaluate our product both formatively and summatively to make necessary alterations and plans for possibly future editions.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

A new geologic map of the Deer Point 7.5' quadrangle located in the southern region of Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah provides stratigraphic and structural detail not previously available. The Deer Point quadrangle was mapped at a scale of 1:24,000 and is the fourth geologic map completed at this scale in Capitol Reef National Park. Twelve Quaternary units and eighteen bedrock formations and members are exposed in the Deer Point quadrangle. Bedrock formations range in age from Triassic to Cretaceous. The details not available on previous geologic maps include: four alluvial terrace units, two lacustrine units, two mass movement units, and members of the Moenkopi, Chinle, and Carmel Formations. Historically the Page Sandstone has been mapped as part of the Navajo Sandstone or the Carmel Formation. This map identifies the Page Sandstone as a separate and independent unit. The Deer Point quadrangle is cross cut by a portion of a Laramide-age, basement cored, NNW-SSE trending asymmetrical anticline called the Waterpocket Fold. Strikes and dips measured throughout the Deer Point quadrangle identify the vergence of the anticline as eastward with a maximum dip of 49˚ on the forelimb and 7˚ on the backlimb. The maximum dip on the forelimb dramatically decreases in the southern quarter of the quadrangle to 15˚.The Utah Geological Survey is mapping the Hite Crossing 30' x 60' quadrangle at a scale of 1:62.500. The Deer Point quadrangle is one of 32 quadrangles that comprise the Hite Crossing quadrangle. The Utah Geological Survey is working to establish erosion rates on the Colorado Plateau. To do this, they are dating alluvial terrace deposits. Within the Deer Point quadrangle four new terrace levels have been identified that could help with this research. Additional research could use these terrace deposits to better understand erosion rates in the Deer Point quadrangle and the broader Colorado Plateau. Numerous mass movement deposits are found within the Deer Point quadrangle. The largest has been named the Red Slide. Several aspects of the Red Slide are identified including classification, breakaway zone, source, deposit size, composition, debris flow path and depositional history. The Red Slide has been classified as a debris flow. The breakaway zone is a concave cliff 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the west of the debris flow's present location. The flow's scarp is no longer identifiable. The source of the debris flow material is the Chinle Formation and Wingate Sandstone. The Red Slide deposit covers an area of over 16.6 million ft2 (~1.5 million m2). The toe of the debris flow is 1 mile (1.6 km) wide. The estimated maximum thickness of the debris flow is sixty meters. The Red Slide is composed of fine-grained, clay- and silt- sized material, and a small amount of angular pebble- to cobble-sized limestone clasts from the Owl Rock Member of the Chinle Formation. Boulder- to sand-sized grains from the Wingate Sandstone are scattered throughout the deposit with the larger grains forming inversely grading packages. The Red Slide likely occurred as a series of large debris flows, not one catastrophic event, although they may have occurred at about the same time.

Elevation, longitudinal profile, and Schmidt hammer data indicate that strath terraces (specifically the lower elevation terraces) mapped in the Fremont River drainage of Capitol Reef National Park are correlative to the terraces of the smaller Pleasant Creek drainage located approximately ten miles to the south. This correlation suggests that drainage development in this area of the Colorado Plateau was strongly dependent upon a regional-scale forcing mechanism (e.g. climate) rather than strictly independent basin-scale processes. Elevations of mapped strath terraces and their associated black volcanic boulder deposits were calculated from geologic maps, Digital Elevation Models (DEM), and Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles of the Fruita and Golden Throne Quadrangles, Wayne and Garfield Counties, Utah. Terraces in both drainages were placed into twenty foot elevation bins and then gathered into larger terrace levels based upon population breaks and the degree of weathering as seen from Schmidt hammer hardness data. Comparison of the two datasets indicate that the two lowest terrace levels of the Fremont River compare well with the two terrace levels of Pleasant Creek both in elevation above the present stream bed and in Schmidt hammer hardness measurements. Our data demonstrate that the Fremont River drainage is likely much older than the smaller Pleasant Creek drainage. Further, correlative terrace data strongly suggests that glacial-interglacial climate forcing played a dominant role in the landscape evolution of both drainages and by inference, the broader Colorado Plateau. Terrace elevation data were compared with recently published cosmogenic ages for several terrace deposits located within the Fremont River drainage. This comparison provides compelling evidence that highest concentrations of preserved terraces may be time correlative with discrete isotopic stages associated with glacial maximum and/or deglacial conditions. Finally, our data also demonstrate that in this area of the Colorado Plateau incision rates are on the order of ~60 to 85 cm/ka, which is on the high end of reported rates from other researchers.

Riedel shear zones are geometric fault patterns commonly associated with strike-slip fault systems. The progressive evolution of natural Riedel shear zones within the Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah is interpreted from the spatial evolution of small-scale, incipient Proto-Riedel Zones (PRZs) to better-developed Riedel shear zones using field mapping and three-dimensional digital modeling. PRZs nucleate as a tabular zone of localized shearing marked by en èchelon deformation bands, each of which is no more than a few mm wide and tens of cm long, and oriented at 55° - 85° to the trend of the zone. With increasing strain, deformation bands and sedimentary markers are sheared ductily through granular flow and assume a sigmoidal form. The temporal and spatial evolution of bands comprising a Riedel shear zone suggests that PRZs nucleate as transitional-compactional deformation bands under localized, supra-lithostatic fluid pressure. Subsequent bands develop under modified regional stresses as conjugate shear fractures within the strain- hardened axis of the PRZ. These antithetic driven systems are not compatible with traditional synthetic driven models of Riedel shear zones. Unlike most synthetic driven examples, these antithetic driven systems are not controlled by preexisting "basement" structures, thus their geometries reflect a primary propagation or secondary passive deformation mechanism.