Mesa Verde - the Point Lookout Sandstone

Moving up section, the Point Lookout Sandstone is overlain by the Menefee Formation (shown here exposed in this road cut along the main park access road). The Menefee Formation contains interbedded layers of sandstone, mudstone, and shale with some soft coal (sub bituminous coal to lignite in grade). Coal layers and plant fossils indicate that the sediments of the Menefee Formation were deposited in floodplain and coastal swamp settings, with massive cross-bedded sandstone layers indicating deposition in migrating stream and river channels (Cobban and others, 1994; NPS, 2006). This view is along the North Rim section of the park access road.