ABOVE IS THE PATH AND VIEW OF A HIKE MADE ALONG THE COAL PITS WASH. THIS IS LOCATED IN ZION NP, AND CAN BE ACCESSED AT THE ROADSIDE OF HIWAY 9 BEFORE ENTERING ROCKVILLE. IT IS AN EASY HIKE, AND IT YIELDS INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT THE DAMMING OF THE CREEK BY A LAVA FLOW FROM CRATER HILL. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE DAM HAS BEEN BREACHED, AND THE CONGLOMERATE (PLEISTOCENE, BUT WELL-CEMENTED AND INDURATED, AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE HIKE- BY GATE) REMAINS, SOME 50 FEET IN HEIGHT.
Above and below are photos of an outlier basalt cone, which I interpret to be a rejuvenation cone. Recall that on Hawaii, there are late cones which occur on the edge of an island or between two extinct volcanoes- such as Diamond head and Kokohead, or Waikapu on Maui. These I have found are related to HEAT FROM BRITTLE FRICTION, formed long after the initial magma has cooled and shrunk (by noticing settling and rifting). The original rotation of the magma was CCW in the northern hemisphere, but becomes CW when cooling and settling. This happens after a million years or so, when the magma chamber is found to be under an new island in the chain. The cones on Oahu have erupted in Pleistocene time, as has Waikapu on Maui. Now we find a secondary cone near Coal Pits wash, several kilometers from the primary eruption at Crater Hill:
OTHER INFORMATION PERTAINS TO A PREVIOUSLY-INTERPRETED ANTICLINE ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE CREEK ABOUT A MILE NORTH OF THE HIWAY. THIS SLUMP IS SHOWN BELOW AND RELATES THAT IT IS FORMED BY THE EXTENSIONAL REGIME, WHICH OCCURRED WHEN THE VOLCANO WAS COOLING AND ROTATING CW. THIS IS ACCENTUATED BY FINDING THAT THERE IS A H2S STINK FROM A SEEP COMING FROM THE REGION WHERE THE SHEARING OCCURS:
NOW WE FIND THAT THIS IS ALL INTER-CONNECTED. THE REJUVENATION CONE HAS BEEN FORMED AT THE EDGE OF A CIRCULAR CELL, WHICH IS DEFINED BY THE TWO CREEKS WHICH FROM A JUNCTION AT A LOCATION WHERE THERE IS SULPHUR STINK, A WARMER-THAN-USUAL SPRING (50F, COMPARED TO THE 40F WATER TEMPERATURE NEARBY IN THE CREEK), AND AN EXTENSIONAL FEATURE OF SLUMPING TRIASSIC MOENKOPI SANDSTONE:
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