POTD August 29, 2013: Notch Peak, House Range, Millard County, Utah

Notch Peak, House Range, Millard County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg

Abundant trilobite fossils, including  Elrathia kingi shown here, can be found  within the Wheeler Shale east of Notch Peak in the House Range.

Many of the dry desert peaks of western Utah tell a story of shallow tropical seas. As much as 500 million years of deep burial, uplift, and erosion have changed layers of organic mud to cliffs and ledges of layered limestone. Closer inspection reveals abundant fossils, evidence of ancient sea life.