The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation, an Interpreted Alluvial Fan Deposit in the Basal Uinta Mountain Group (Middle Proterozoic), Utah

The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation, a member of the Middle Proterozic Uinta Mountain Group, is here proposed as a formal lithostratigraphic unit. It consists of interbedded dark reddish-brown to dark gray conglomerate with predominant white, pale green, gray, or pink metaquartzite clasts, light to dark brown or reddish-brown quartz arenite, and reddish-brown, red, or maroon shale. This represents the first proposal of a formation in the Uinta Mountain Group in the eastern part of the range and follows by only a few years beginning efforts to establish formations in the group in the western part. The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation locally constitutes the basal member of the Uinta Mountain Group and is here reaffirmed as an alluvial fan deposit, based on a detailed comparison of observed features to those of modern alluvial fans. This interpretation supports the hypothesis that the Uinta Trough is an aulacogen.