Stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the Kirkman Formation and the Diamond Creek Sandstone in the Hobble Creek Area, Utah County, Utah

The Kirkman Formation is approximately 1600 ft (488 m) in the Hobble Creek area in contrast to its 292 ft (89 m) thickness measured just 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the Hobble Creek Area. Calcareous mudstones in the Kirkman Formation, deformed by synsedimentary folding and brecciation, were deposited on an isolated shallow shelf prior to and during the influx of the bi-modal, recycled sand of the Diamond Creek Sandstone. Interbedded silty sublitharenites in the upper Kirkman Formation indicate shallowing regressive conditions that mark the early stages of deposition of the Diamond Creek Sandstone. The bi-modality of the Diamond Creek quartz arenite is considered to be the result of deflation of eolian beach deposits that exist due to the recycling of quartzose terrigenous detritus. Later, orogenic tectonics caused fracturing, folding, jointing and right-lateral strike-slip faulting. Tectonic deformation due to the Late Cretaceous Sevier Orogeny produced the anomalous thickness of the Kirkman Formation. Basin and Range normal faulting later enhanced the thicknesses of the Kirkman Formation and Diamond Creek Sandstone by crosscutting the regional anticline.