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Show fu ' ir v" v J- -Ivi' THE RED FLEET Battleships as they appear from the north. With a little imagination one can even see the gun terrets. These were formed over 60 million years ago. t ALMOST APPEARING as a lake of fire, red and yellow sandstone formation on the road to Red mm. rbA LIKE KNUCKLES on a hand this Navajo formation forma-tion pokes up it its part of adding to the realistic Fleet Reservoir doesn't even hint of their northern nor-thern appearance simulating battleships. look of a battleship near Red Fleet Reservoir. Arches National Monument, Canyonlands National Park and Zions National Park in southern Utah are all renowned for their arches and rock formations, but none have claim to a fleet of sandstone battleships which can be seen north of here. The Red Fleet battleships can be seen to the east of Highway 44 about 10 miles north of Vernal. They are exceptionally evidenced from Windy Point. To a geologist's eye the red battleships bat-tleships are made up of three formations. for-mations. The lower part of the ships is the Moenkopi formation which is made up of red shale. This formation represents a time when the area became marshy after shallow sea water drained from the area millions of years ago. Above the Moenkopi formation for-mation is the Chinle formation composed com-posed of red sandstone, which was formed by rivers flowing through the area when covered by lakes and a pine forest. The yellow sandstone cap on the battleshirjs is the Navaio formation which was formed when the area was a desert covered with sand dunes. All of these formations, buried under other formations, were deposited between 225 million and 180 million years ago, during the Triassic period. The Triassic period is the beginning of the dinosaur age, which could be the reason few remains of dinosaurs are found in these formations. What caused the battleships to jut up as they do is that during the upheaval of the Uinta Mountains, the area on the south of the Uintas were tilted down toward the south and the areas to the north of the Uintas were tilted down toward the north. This occurred between bet-ween 60 and 30 million years ago. The battleships are the erosional remnants of the ridges between canyons and gulleys in the area. The sandstone cap of the Navajo Formation protected the other formations from the erosion. The red color of the rocks in the battleships is probably from the iron oxide in the sediments. Although not a prevalent as in the Petrified Forest in Arizona, this area was once a forest and petrified wood can be found near the battleships. A few fossils of crocodile-like creature have been found in the area, but fossils are more prevalent in the Morrison formation just south around the newly constructed Red Meet Reservoir. Although the Red Fleet Battleships will never be as spectacular as other rock formations in the state, it is ironic that battleships so close to water will never float k I -i ' NUMEROUS COLUMNS of red sandstone cap the top of Red Fleet Battleships. This cap is the reason for the preservation of the formation underneath. At one time this area was under shallow sea water. |