Physiography
The Uintah Basin is the most northerly section of the Colorado Plateau sections. The basin is 5,000 to 10,000 ft above sea level and corresponding to this depression is a broad east-west strip of higher plateau that rises sharply above the denuded country to the south. On the south side of the plateau the descent of 3,000 ft, to the general level of eastern Utah on the south, is made in two steps. The first is the Roan Cliffs and the second, the Book Cliffs. Eastward in Colorado the two lines of cliffs are poorly distinguished. The Green River flows southward out of the Uinta Mountains to the north, crossing the Uintah Basin, and flows in a 5,000 ft deep gorge known as Desolation Canyon. The Colorado River crosses the eastern portion of this section, cutting off an area of some 40 miles in diameter in which are preserved fragments of a lofty lava cap forming Grand Mesa and Battlement Mesa.
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