Utah - San Rafael Swell

Uranium prospect in the San Rafael Swell, Utah, off the road to the San Rafael Bridge. It looks to be under the Shinarump Conglomerate at the top of the Chinle Formation, a common setting for such deposits. The discovery of uranium mineralization in sedimentary rocks of the Colorado Plateau was a surprise; it was found due to the US Federal Government's subsidy of uranium exploration and production in the early years of the Cold War. The early 1950s saw a "uranium rush" in this area fully comparable with the earlier rushes for precious metals elsewhere in the West. Telephoto view; map position is of the prospect rather than the camera site.