The Cutler Formation is composed of thick, arkosic, alluvial conglomerate, sandstone, and mudstone shed southwestward from the Uncompahgre Uplift into the Paradox Basin. More basin-ward the Cutler is recognized as a group consisting of differentiable formations. Discrete formations historically have not been distinguished near the uplift, but this study identified several separate successions in the Richardson Amphitheater. Research at the Richardson Amphitheater, ~12 km southwest of the uplift and ~30 km northeast of Moab, Utah, led to a systematic subdivision of the Permian Cutler Formation proximal to the uplift. Likely driven by channel cutting and migration across the alluvial fan, six 10-20 m thick successions are partially exposed. The dominant observed facies are basal conglomerate and channel-fill trough cross-stratified sandstone overlain by finer-grained distal sheetflood and frequently pedogenically altered sandstone. Down-warping of identified successions and the presence of additional sands within the area of flexure suggest that localized salt withdrawal created a sediment depocenter in the Richardson Amphitheater, ~6 km northwest of the Onion Creek salt diapir. The identified salt withdrawal feature is more proximal to the Uncompahgre Uplift than any of the major documented salt structures in the area and was not previously documented. Six measured stratigraphic sections and hundreds of high-precision differential GPS data points outlining major lateral erosional surfaces form the basis for interpretation. Five mapped erosional surfaces (bounding surfaces based upon differential GPS point interpolation) are laterally extensive within the approximately one square kilometer study area, and as such, represent stratigraphically significant surfaces. Within the generated structural geocellular model, stratigraphic data from measured sections informed facies modeling between major surfaces. This outcrop model may serve as an analogue for subsurface systems deposited in similar settings.

The Onion Creek Diapir is one of many salt domes proximal to the Uncompahgre thrust front of the ancestral rockies in the Paradox Basin. It is comprised of Paradox Formation evaporites and large blocks of Honaker Trail Formation carbonates that were deformed by loading of Permian Cutler Formation progradational alluvial to fluvial fans. The history of salt movement in the Onion Creek Diapir is recorded in the near-salt strata. Large salt bodies and their adjacent mini-basins evolve conforming to a complex relationship between salt withdrawal, creating localized accommodation, and sediment deposition. Migrating mini-basin depo-centers, thinned and folded strata, and spatial facies trends reveal the relative rates of diapirism and sedimentation. The study area outcrop, north of the diapir, is divided by significant stratigraphic horizons that help define depositional periods. Six measured sections in the study area reveal higher preservation rates of fine grained floodplain deposits, typically destroyed in alluvial environments, than at locations correlating to stratigraphic levels high in the outcrop suggesting a low accommodation environment evolving into higher accommodation where stacked channel complexes are preserved. Preserved slump folding at the base of the outcrop reveals that although some salt emergence occurred in the earliest depositional period it was not significant enough to preclude sediment deposition or to divert the Cutler fluvial network and destroy floodplain facies. A 3-D digital outcrop, modeled from photogrammetric data, illustrates the development of localized accommodation, attracting fluvial channel in a near-salt, tight axial syncline during the later depositional period. These evidences suggest a greater emergence of the diapir and likely diversion of the Cutler channel complexes.

Rico strata are recognised throughout the Four Corners region of southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. The term Rico has been applied to a group of strata which exhibit a lateral and vertical transition between two contrasting environments, the marine Hermosa and the non-marine Cutler. Two faunal provinces reflect these widely diverse conditions of sedimentation. However, few fossils of diagnostic value have been discovered despite the abundance of fossiliferous strata within the Rico. Rico strata are believed to range between Desmoinesian and Virgilian in age. Lithofacies data on the Rico were assembled from literature, outcrop sections, and various well logs. These data were then compiled on an isopach-lithofacies map. The isopach-lithofacies map shows the thickness trends and the lithologic variations of Rico strata throughout the region of study. The tectonic framework of the region is reconstructed from the isopach-lithofacies map and mechanical analyses of the elastic strata. Clastic material in the Rico increases in average grain size from west to east toward the Uncomphagre Uplift suggest that this area was actively positive during Rico time. The vertical variation of normal marine limestone and clastic red beds in the Rico reflect an alternately transgressing and regressing sea over much of the Four Corners region. This intricate intertonguing of normal marine limestone and clastic red beds probably resulted from deposition in a shallow basin on an unstable shelf. The occurrence of oil, gas, and cement quality limestone in the Rico is examined from an economic aspect. A. brief review of the general geology and geologic history of tile region is also included.