Many reports covering various aspects of the area have been cited in the
text by author and year, and these plus a few additional ones are listed
in “Selected References.” A few works of general or special interest
should be mentioned, however.
Between 1926 and 1929 the entire area now included in the park was
mapped geologically in classic reports by Dane (1935) and by McKnight
(1940). These men and their field assistants mapped the area by use of
the plane-table and telescopic alidade without benefit of modern
topographic maps or aerial photographs, except for topographic maps of
the narrow stretch along the Colorado River mapped under the direction
of Herron (1917). Only small sections could be reached by automobile, so
nearly all the area was traversed using horses and mules or by hiking.
This work plus mapping done in nearby areas to the south and to the
north (Stokes, 1952) during the uranium boom of the mid-fifties was used
by Williams (1964) in compiling a geologic map of the Moab quadrangle at
a scale of 1:250,000.
Several early reports on the Colorado River and its potential
utilization contain a wealth of information and many fine photographs,
including two by La Rue (1916, 1925) and one by Follansbee (1929).
You may be interested in brief accounts of the geology of other national
parks and monuments, or other areas of special interest, such as the
reports on the Uinta Mountains by Hansen (1969), Mount Rainier by
Crandell (1969), Yellowstone National Park by Keefer (1971), and ones by
me on Colorado National Monument (Lohman, 1965) and Canyonlands National
Park (1974).
For those who wish to learn more about the science of geology, I suggest
the textbook by Gilluly, Waters, and Woodford (1968).