Castlegate Sandstone

{{short description|Mesozoic geologic formation in the United States}}

{{Infobox rockunit

| name = Castlegate Sandstone

| image =

| caption =

| type = Geological formation

| age = Campanian

| period = Campanian

| prilithology =

| otherlithology =

| namedfor =

| namedby =

| region =

| country =

| coordinates =

| unitof =

| subunits =

| underlies =

| overlies =

| thickness =

| extent =

| area =

| map =

| map_caption =

}}

The Castlegate Sandstone is a Mesozoic geologic formation in the United States. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.

File:Price River Formation.jpg

File:PriceRiver.jpg

Description

Composed of light gray to dark gray, thin bedded to massive, platy, fine to coarse grained, quartzose sandstone. Some conglomerate beds. The sandstone beds of the Castlegate are chiefly gray, unlike the sandstone beds of the underlying Blackhawk Formation, which are commonly some shade of brown. Locally, the Castlegate Sandstone beds are white. Commonly forms cliffs or steep slopes. The sandstone was deposited by rivers during the Late Cretaceous. The Castlegate Sandstone is 130-500 feet (40-155 m) thick.{{Cite web|title=Utah Geological Survey online interactive geologic map.|url=https://geology.utah.gov/apps/intgeomap/|url-status=live|access-date=July 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414161817/http://geology.utah.gov/apps/intgeomap/ |archive-date=2015-04-14 }}

It gets its name from the gate-like passage that used to exist at the type section in Price Canyon.Forrester, J.B., 1918, A short comment on Bulletin 371 of the U.S. Geological Survey: Utah Academy of Sciences Transactions, v. 1, p. 24-31. The western side of the gate was removed during highway improvement, which exposed most of the stratum. Fossil pollen indicate a late Campanian age.Fouch, T.D., Lawton, T.F., Nichols, D.J., Cashion, W.B., and Cobban, W.A., 1983, Patterns and timing of synorogenic sedimentation in Upper Cretaceous rocks of central and northeast Utah, IN Reynolds, M.W., and Dolly, E.D., eds., Mesozoic paleogeography of the west-central United States: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Rocky Mountain Section, Rocky Mountain Paleogeography Symposium, v. 2, p. 305-336.