The author of this research mapped strata, facies, and permeability trends through a compasite valley-fill standstone in the Fall River Formation, exposed in Red Canyon, South Dakota. Findings demonstrate the complexity of depositions formed in low-accommodation basin settings. The Fall River Formation is a 45-m-thick layer of fluvial-dominated valley fills and shore-zone strata deposited on the stable cratonic margin of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway.

Big Bend Ranch State Park, the largest in the Texas State Parks System, lies in the rugged Big Bend country of West Texas (figs. 1 and 2). The primary attraction of Big Bend country is its scenery, and scenery is geology. The mountains, canyons, plateaus, rivers, waterfalls, and, indeed, every aspect of the natural landscape result directly from geologic processes of rock formation and erosion. In Big Bend country, these processes include mountain building, volcanism, faulting, and erosion. Taken together, they have shaped the land into the rich vistas we enjoy today.