Kanab Plateau

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Kanab Plateau
Kanab Creek Canyon, Arizona (14223845173).jpg
Kanab Plateau
(aerial photo)
USA Arizona location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Kanab Plateau in Arizona
Location Fredonia, Coconino, High Plateas section of Arizona,
Colorado Plateau, Arizona, United States
Coordinates 36°42′35″N112°31′45″W / 36.70972°N 112.52917°W / 36.70972; -112.52917 Coordinates: 36°42′35″N112°31′45″W / 36.70972°N 112.52917°W / 36.70972; -112.52917
Length45 mi (72 km)
Geology Moenkopi Formation-(west of
Kanab Creek), Kaibab Limestone-
(east, older unit) [1]

The Kanab Plateau is a 45-mile (72 km) long [2] plateau located at the north of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States. The plateau is adjacent west of the Kaibab Plateau of the North Rim, with a basin containing the Kanab Creek watershed in between. The basin is the site of the Kanab Creek Wilderness, with Snake Gulch at its north perimeter, and at the base of the Kanab Plateau, forming its southeast border.

Contents

Kanab Creek is a due-south flowing creek, and crosses just southeast of the center of the Kanab Plateau. The creek is also the border of Mohave County to the west, and Coconino County to the east; Coconino County is also south on the border of the Colorado River.

Description

The Kanab Plateau is about 45-mi long, somewhat arc-shaped, as it surrounds Snake Gulch, a northeast tributary to Kanab Creek. The plateau is aligned southwest to northeast, with the same alignment of the small Antelope Valley, to the west and southwest.

The highpoint of the plateau is in the northeast, Cedar Knoll, 5,706 feet (1,739 m)). [3] Cedar Knoll is 11-mi from Fredonia on paved Road 22.

Access

The main access to the north of the Kanab Plateau is from Fredonia adjacent to the north-northeast plateau perimeter. U.S. Route 89A from Jacob Lake at the north of the Kaibab Plateau to the east, crosses the northeast Kaibab Plateau. It climbs up Cooper Ridge to the LeFevre Overlook, and from the overlook, the distance across the northeast plateau section to Fredonia, is about 8-mi. [4]

To the southwest from Fredonia, Arizona State Route 389 parallels the plateau's northwest, (about 10-mi). The unimproved route of Antelope Valley Road exits southwest from Arizona 389 to Antelope Valley's east side at the perimeter of Kanab Plateau's west and southwest. Near the southwest end of the plateau, Road 1023 (22-mi from Arizona 389), exits southeasterly to meet the trailhead of Hack Canyon, about 5-mi [5] from Kanab Creek.

Another paved route, Road 22, crosses Kanab Plateau southeasterly towards Jacob Lake. It crosses diagonally across the plateau, northeast of the center; Jacob Canyon is southwest, and Wildcat Canyon is northeast. The paved route is 23-mi long, terminating with an 8-mi section of unimproved canyon routes west of Jacob Lake. Cedar Knoll-(plateau highpoint), is at the 11-mi point on the route.

Detail from the Snake Gulch pictograph site Rock Family pictograph site, Snake Gulch AZ.jpg
Detail from the Snake Gulch pictograph site

See also

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Kanab Creek Wilderness Protected area in the Kaibab National Forest

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Aquarius Mountains Mountain range in Mohave County, Arizona

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Hurricane Cliffs


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Moccasin Mountains

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Buckskin Mountain (Arizona-Utah)

Buckskin Mountain is a 16-mile (26 km) mountain ridge that spans from Coconino County, Arizona to Kane County, Utah in the United States, that is divided almost equally between the two counties.

Long Valley (Kane County, Utah)

The Long Valley of Utah is a 13-mile (21 km) long valley located in western Kane County. The valley is located in source water regions of waters flowing north, south, and southwest, in the west of the High Plateaus section of the Colorado Plateau; the High Plateaus section also extends into northern Arizona, the region north of the Grand Canyon.

Defiance Plateau Region in the United States

The Defiance Plateau, part of the geologic Defiance Uplift, is an approximately 75-mile (121 km) long, mostly north-trending plateau of Apache County, Arizona, with its east and southeast perimeter, as parts of San Juan and McKinley Counties, New Mexico.

Yellow Knolls

Yellow Knolls, of Arizona, is a prominence in the Virgin River Gorge's east end, located in Mohave County, part of the Arizona Strip of northwest Arizona. Yellow Knolls is located on the north side of Interstate 15, and is also in the south of the Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness.

Aubrey Valley Valley in Arizona

Aubrey Valley is a 35-mile (56 km) long valley located in southwest Coconino County, Arizona with the northwest border of Yavapai County. The valley is located at the southwest border of the Aubrey Cliffs; to the west and southwest, the Yampai Divide and the Seventyfour Plains form flatlands between four bordering mountain ranges at the northwest terminus of the Arizona transition zone.

Toroweap Formation

The Middle Permian Toroweap Formation is a thin, darker geologic unit, between the brighter colored units of the Kaibab Limestone above, and Coconino Sandstone below. It is a prominent unit in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, found through sections of the South Rim, Grand Canyon, and the North Rim, of the Kaibab Plateau; also the Kaibab's southeast extension to Cape Royal, the Walhalla Plateau. The Colorado River of the Grand Canyon makes its excursion from due-south to due-west around the Walhalla Plateau, as it enters the east end of the Grand Canyon's interior, Granite Gorge. The formation is also found in southeast Utah.

Toroweap Fault

The Toroweap Fault of northwest Arizona and southwest Utah is part of a fault system of the west Grand Canyon region, Arizona, USA; also the west perimeter regions of the Coconino and Colorado Plateaus. The Hurricane Fault originates at the Toroweap Fault, in the region of the Colorado River, and strikes as the westerly depression of the Toroweap Fault. The Toroweap strikes northerly from the Colorado at the east of Toroweap Valley, and enters south Utah; from the Colorado River, the Hurricane Fault strikes north-northwest along the west flank of the small, regional Uinkaret Mountains, the west border of Toroweap Valley. The Hurricane Fault, and the Hurricane Cliffs strike into southwest Utah as part of the west, and southwest perimeter of the Colorado Plateau. The Hurricane Cliffs are made of Kaibab Limestone, an erosion resistant, cliff-forming rock unit.

Isis Temple

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Grand Canyon Supergroup Sequence of sedimentary strata

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Tanner Graben

Located directly downstream of the Little Colorado River confluence with the Colorado River, the Tanner Graben, in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA is a prominence and cliffside rock formation below the East Rim. Tanner Graben is located riverside, on the Colorado River, on a north-northwest bank at Mile 68.5, and lies opposite Tanner Canyon. The Tanner Rapid, created by Tanner Creek lies at the riverside foot of the graben. The graben is a pronounced feature because of the black Cardenas Basalt that forms the middle section of the graben, presumably free of debris accumulation by its cliff face steepness, and winds, and airflow drainage that course through the Colorado River's canyons; unprotected side canyons of Cardenas Basalt show accumulations as a slope-forming geologic unit, with little showing of black basalt.

White Rim Sandstone

The White Rim Sandstone is a sandstone geologic formation located in southeastern Utah. It is the last member of the Permian Cutler Group, and overlies the major Organ Rock Formation and Cedar Mesa Sandstone; and again overlies thinner units of the Elephant Canyon and Halgaito Formations.

Peacock Mountains Mountain range in Mohave County, Arizona

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References

  1. Roadside Geology of Arizona, Halka Chronic, c. 1983, pp. 179–180, 229–232.
  2. Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas, c. 1998, pp. 28–29, 62–63.
  3. Arizona Recreation Atlas, p. 62.
  4. Arizona Recreation Atlas, p. 62.
  5. Arizona Recreation Atlas, p. 62.