# Palm Spring Formation

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{{Short description|Geologic formation in California, United States}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name           = Palm Spring Formation
| image          =
| caption        =
| type           = [Geologic formation](/source/Geologic_formation)
| age            = [Lower Pleistocene](/source/Lower_Pleistocene)
| period         = Pleistocene
| prilithology   =
| otherlithology =
| namedfor       =
| namedby        =
| region         = [Colorado Desert](/source/Colorado_Desert), [California](/source/California)
| country        = [United States](/source/United_States)
| coordinates    =
| unitof         =
| subunits       =
| underlies      =Vallecito Badlands
| overlies       = [Imperial Formation](/source/Imperial_Formation), [Ocotillo Formation](/source/Ocotillo_Formation)
| thickness      =
| extent         =
| area           =
| map            =
| map_caption    =
}}

The '''Palm Spring Formation''' is a [Pleistocene Epoch](/source/Pleistocene) [geologic formation](/source/Formation_(geology)) in the eastern [Colorado Desert](/source/Colorado_Desert) of [Imperial County](/source/Imperial_County%2C_California) and [San Diego County County](/source/San_Diego_County%2C_California), Southern [California](/source/California).

==Geology==
The Palm Spring Formation is an extensively-exposed delta-plain deposit debouched by the ancestral Colorado River across the subsiding [Salton Trough](/source/Salton_Trough).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040116070346/http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/paleontology/pub/fossil_conference_6/remeika.htm National Park Service: "The FISH CREEK CANYON ICHNOFAUNA: a PLIOCENE (BLANCAN) Vertebrate Footprint Assemblage from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California"]; by Paul Remeika.</ref> It records the development of the prehistoric [Colorado River](/source/Colorado_River) delta cone into a barrier excluding marine waters from the [Salton Trough](/source/Salton_Trough).<ref>[https://sdsu-dspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.10/3  San Diego State University.edu: "Environments of deposition, Pliocene Imperial Formation, Southeast Coyote Mountains, Imperial County, California"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004143456/https://sdsu-dspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.10/3 |date=2015-10-04 }}; Bell, Patricia J.; 1980.</ref>

===Fossils===
It preserves [fossils](/source/fossils) from the Pleistocene Epoch, during the [Quaternary Period](/source/Quaternary) of the [Cenozoic Era](/source/Cenozoic_Era).<ref>{{cite web|title= Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database|author= ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database))|url= https://www.fossilworks.org/|access-date= 17 December 2021|archive-date= 25 March 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220325060448/http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=home|url-status= dead}}</ref>

Lower Pliocene sub−period [petrified wood](/source/petrified_wood) is found in [Anza-Borrego Desert State Park](/source/Anza-Borrego_Desert_State_Park).<ref name=anzabdsp>{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/0034-6667(88)90057-7 | volume=56 | issue=3–4 | title=Lower Pliocene petrified wood from the Palm Spring Formation, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California | journal=Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology | pages=183–198| year=1988 | last1=Remeika | first1=Paul | last2=Fischbein | first2=Irwin W. | last3=Fischbein | first3=Steven A. }}</ref> The [Lauraceae](/source/Lauraceae) is represented by petrified ''[Umbellularia](/source/Umbellularia)'', the [Salicaceae](/source/Salicaceae) with petrified ''[Populus](/source/Populus)'' and ''[Salix](/source/Salix)'', and the [Juglandaceae](/source/Juglandaceae) with petrified ''[Juglans](/source/Juglans)''.<ref name=anzabdsp/>

==See also==
{{Portal|California|Paleontology}}
* [Ocotillo Formation](/source/Ocotillo_Formation) — ''fluvial-alluvial fan Pliocene formation''
* {{C|Quaternary California}}
* [List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in California](/source/List_of_fossiliferous_stratigraphic_units_in_California)
* [Paleontology in California](/source/Paleontology_in_California)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Weber |first=F. Harold |date=1963 |title=Geology and mineral resources of San Diego County, California |url=https://archive.org/details/geologyandminer03webe |publisher=California Division of Mines and Geology |page=32}}

{{Clear}}
{{Quaternary Footer}}

Category:Pleistocene California
Category:Pleistocene geology
Category:Colorado Desert
Category:Geology of Imperial County, California
Category:Geology of San Diego County, California
Category:Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Category:Pleistocene Series of North America
Category:Geologic formations of California

{{California-geologic-formation-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Palm Spring Formation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Spring_Formation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Spring_Formation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.