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Show Rocks Of Uintah Basin Reveal Chapters Of Earth's History By Ray E. Colton Petroleum Geologist The search for petroleum bearing bear-ing rocks within the confines of Duchesne county has resulted in the assembling of considerable data on the forms of life which were a part of the three major period of the geologic record. From the rocks geologists have been able to piece together what transpired here millions of years before the advent of man. The three periods represented are as follows: (1) Paleozoic era; (2) Mcsozoic era; (3) Ccnozoic era. A study of the rocks in the 'Uintah Basin reveals that the following forms of life were here during the Paleozoic era; (a) Cambrian period, advance of shelled animals, Trilobites dominant, dom-inant, Brachiopods gaining; (b) Ordovician period, Progress among shell life, Corals and Bry-oza; Bry-oza; (c) Silurian period. First land animals (scorpions), armored armor-ed fjshes prominent in the lakes and seas; (d) Devonian period, shark-like fishes and land flora established; (e) Carboniferous period, amphibians becoming dominant, insects, dense forests of spore-bearing plants; (f) Permian Per-mian period, reptiles advancing. Following the end of the Paleozoic Pal-eozoic era which closed with the end of the-Permian sub period of this gigantic era which had a total antiquity of approximately 1,000,000,000 years, there came the Mesozoic era in geologic sequence, se-quence, and the forms of life existing ex-isting here during the Mesozoic era were as follows: (a) Triassic period, few . small mammals of low order,, dinosaurs becoming prominent;" (b) Jurassic period, flying reptiles, flowering plants advancing, cycads, bony, fishes thriving; (c). Cretaceous period, specialization of the giant dinosaurs, dino-saurs, last of the great reptiles. Following the Mesozoic era there came a period of cold and damp climatic conditions which gradually eradicated the lush tropical vegetation which was contemperaneous with this geologic geo-logic age. The result was that plant eating dinosaurs discussed in article six of this series deprived de-prived of their necessary vegetable vege-table food, began to die off locally. local-ly. The giant flesh eaters having nothing more to eat, soon died off. The Cenozoic era was at hand. This era owing its span and its diversified forms of life, principally prin-cipally of the 'land mammal types, has been divided into two epochs, as follows: (1) Teritiary or "age of mammals;" (2) Quaternary Quat-ernary or "age of man." During the Cenozoic period the following forms of life existed ex-isted here in northeastern Utah: (a) Eocene period, decline of archaic types of life, mammals flourishing; (b) Oligocenc period, specialization of primitive ancestors; ances-tors; (c) Miocene period, grasses and grazing animals, three-toed j horses, camels and rhinos; (d) I Pliocene period, horses begin development; (e) Pleistocene pcr-jiod, pcr-jiod, last of mammoths and mas- todons; (f) Man and his culture begins. |
