Pleistocene drainage changes in Uncompahgre Plateau-Grand Valley region of western Colorado, including formation and abandonment of Unaweep Canyon: a hypothesis
— Scott Sinnock

This paper presents a model for geomorphic changes that culminate in the present landforms of the Uncompahgre Plateau and Grand Valley region of western Colorado (fig. 1). This model is but one of an infinite number of possible solutions to the problem of geomorphogenesis in the study area; it can be no more.

 

Figures 2, 5 and 7 through 11 present the landform development as a series of schematic cross sections and maps representing a seven-stage evolutionary sequence. The following narrative outlines the evolutionary hypothesis as a continuum of changes and stresses the conditions represented on the figures. More detailed discussion is available in Sinnock (1978). See Figure 1 of companion paper (Sinnock, this guidebook) for a location map of geographic names referred to in the following discussion.