| Palm Spring Formation | |
| Type: | Geologic formation |
| Age: | Lower Pleistocene |
| Period: | Pleistocene |
| Region: | Colorado Desert, California |
| Country: | United States |
| Underlies: | Vallecito Badlands |
| Overlies: | Imperial Formation, Ocotillo 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.
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]
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]