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TheBook Cliffs are a series of desert mountains andcliffs in westernColorado and easternUtah in theWestern United States.[1] They are so named because the cliffs ofCretaceoussandstone capping many of the south-facingbuttes appear similar to a shelf of books.[2][1] Theescarpment of the Book Cliffs is approximately 250 miles (400 km) long, and is the longest continuous escarpment in the world, stretching fromHelper, Utah toGrand Junction, Colorado.[3]
The Book Cliffs are one of the world's best places to studysequence stratigraphy. In the 1980s,Exxon scientists used theCretaceous strata of the Book Cliffs to develop the science ofsequence stratigraphy. The Book Cliffs have preserved excellent strata of the foreland basin of the ancientWestern Interior Seaway that stretched north from theGulf of Mexico to theYukon in the Cretaceous Period. Components of deltaic and shallow marine reservoirs are very well preserved in the Book Cliffs.
There are many small streams that contain a variety of trout species.
Large mammals found in the Book Cliffs includecoyotes,mountain lions,bobcats,mule deer, elk, black bears,pronghorn,American bison as an extension of theHenry Mountains bison herd andbighorn sheep. In January 2009,Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials transplanted 31 bison from theHenry Mountains bison herd to the Book Cliffs.[4] The new group joined 14 animals previously released in August 2008 from a private herd on the nearbyUintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.[5] This herd is approximately 100 miles (160 km) north of the Henry Mountains across mostly harsh, desert terrain.
39°10′00″N110°17′33″W / 39.16667°N 110.29250°W /39.16667; -110.29250
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