Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 25, 2026

Palm Spring Formation

The Palm Spring Formation is a Pleistocene Epoch geologic formation in the eastern Colorado Desert of Imperial County and San Diego County County, Southern California.

Last revised
Jul 25, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
282 w
Citations
5
Source
Palm Spring Formation
Stratigraphic range: Lower Pleistocene
TypeGeologic formation
UnderliesVallecito Badlands
OverliesImperial Formation, Ocotillo Formation
Location
RegionColorado Desert, California
CountryUnited States

The Palm Spring Formation is a Pleistocene Epoch geologic formation in the eastern Colorado Desert of Imperial County and San Diego County County, Southern California.

Geology

The Palm Spring Formation is an extensively-exposed delta-plain deposit debouched by the ancestral Colorado River across the subsiding Salton Trough.1 It records the development of the prehistoric Colorado River delta cone into a barrier excluding marine waters from the Salton Trough.2

Fossils

It preserves fossils from the Pleistocene Epoch, during the Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic Era.3

Lower Pliocene sub−period petrified wood is found in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.4 The Lauraceae is represented by petrified Umbellularia, the Salicaceae with petrified Populus and Salix, and the Juglandaceae with petrified Juglans.4

See also

See also

References

References

  1. National Park Service: "The FISH CREEK CANYON ICHNOFAUNA: a PLIOCENE (BLANCAN) Vertebrate Footprint Assemblage from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California"; by Paul Remeika.
  2. San Diego State University.edu: "Environments of deposition, Pliocene Imperial Formation, Southeast Coyote Mountains, Imperial County, California" Archived 2015-10-04 at the Wayback Machine; Bell, Patricia J.; 1980.
  3. Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  4. Remeika, Paul; Fischbein, Irwin W.; Fischbein, Steven A. (1988). "Lower Pliocene petrified wood from the Palm Spring Formation, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 56 (3–4): 183–198. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(88)90057-7.
Further reading

Further reading