Moenave Formation

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Moenave Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Jurassic,
ca. 200  Ma
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Moenave Formation.jpeg
Moenave Formation outcrop in Zion National Park
Type Geological formation
Unit of Glen Canyon Group
Lithology
Primary siltstone and sandstone
Location
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
ExtentFlag of Arizona.svg  Arizona,
Flag of Nevada.svg  Nevada and
Flag of Utah.svg  Utah
Eubrontes, a dinosaur footprint in the Moenave Formation at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, southwestern Utah. Eubrontes01.JPG
Eubrontes, a dinosaur footprint in the Moenave Formation at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, southwestern Utah.

The Moenave Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation, in the Glen Canyon Group. It is found in Utah and Arizona.

Contents

The Moenave was deposited on an erosion surface on the Chinle Formation following an early Jurassic uplift and unconformity that represents about ten million years of missing sedimentation. [1] Periodic incursions of shallow seas from the north during the Jurassic flooded parts of Wyoming, Montana, and a northeast–southwest trending trough on the Utah/Idaho border. [2] The Moenave was deposited in a variety of river, lake, and flood-plain environments, near the ancient Lake Dixie. [1]

The oldest beds of this formation belong to the Dinosaur Canyon Member, a reddish, slope-forming rock layer with thin beds of siltstone that are interbedded with mudstone and fine sandstone. [3] The Dinosaur Canyon, with a local thickness of 140 to 375 feet (43 to 114 m), was probably laid down in slow-moving streams, ponds and large lakes. [4] Evidence for this is in cross-bedding of the sediments and large numbers of fish fossils.

The upper member of the Moenave is the pale reddish-brown with a thickness of 75 to 150 feet (23 to 46 m) and cliff-forming Springdale Sandstone. [4] It was deposited in swifter, larger, and more voluminous streams than the older Dinosaur Canyon Member. [3] Fossils of large sturgeon-like freshwater fish have been found in the beds of the Springdale Sandstone. [3] The next member in the Moenave Formation is the thin-bedded Whitmore Point, which is made of mudstone and shale. [3] The lower red cliffs visible from the Zion Human History Museum (until 2000 the Zion Canyon Visitor Center) and the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site, discovered on February 26, 2000, are accessible examples of this formation. [5]

Paleofauna

Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, with only one species-level taxon, Protosuchus richardsoni, based on body fossils.

Glen Canyon Group

The 4 members of the Glen Canyon Group , from youngest (top member) to oldest (bottom member), are:

  1. Navajo Sandstone — early Jurassic [7]
  2. Kayenta Formation — early Jurassic [8]
  3. Moenave Formation — early Jurassic
  4. Wingate Sandstone — early Jurassic [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Canyon Group</span> Group of geologic formations in the Colorado Plateau, USA

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayenta Formation</span> Jurassic sandstone formation of the southwestern United States

The Kayenta Formation is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Traditionally has been suggested as Sinemurian-Pliensbachian, but more recent dating of detrital zircons has yielded a depositional age of 183.7 ± 2.7 Ma, thus a Pliensbachian-Toarcian age is more likely. A previous depth work recovered a solid "Carixian" age from measurements done in the Tenney Canyon. More recent works have provided varied datations for the layers, with samples from Colorado and Arizona suggesting 197.0±1.5-195.2±5.5 Ma, while the topmost section is likely Toarcian or close in age, maybe even recovering terrestrial deposits coeval with the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. This last age asignation also correlated the Toarcian Vulcanism on the west Cordilleran Magmatic Arc, as the number of grains from this event correlate with the silt content in the sandstones of the upper layers.

The Twin Mountains Formation, also known as the Twin Mak Formation, is a sedimentary rock formation, within the Trinity Group, found in Texas of the United States of America. It is a terrestrial formation of Aptian age, and is notable for its dinosaur fossils. Dinosaurs from this formation include the large theropod Acrocanthosaurus, the sauropod Sauroposeidon, as well as the ornithopods Tenontosaurus and Convolosaurus. It is the lowermost unit of the lower Cretaceous, lying unconformably on Carboniferous strata. It is overlain by the Glen Rose Formation. It is the lateral equivalent of the lower part of the Antlers Formation.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castlegate Sandstone</span> Mesozoic geologic formation in the United States

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The Toutunhe Formation is a Late Jurassic geological formation in China, specifically dating to the Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian stages. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The lower portion of the formation consists of grey to reddish mudstone with medium to coarse grained cross bedded sandstone, while the upper portion consists primarily of brown-red-purple mudstone, interbedded with fine to medium grained laminated sandstone.

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References

  1. 1 2 Biek, Robert F.; Grant C. Willis, Micheal D. Hylland, and Hellmut H. Doelling (August 2003). "Geology of Zion National Park, Utah". In Paul B. Anderson (editor). Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments. Bryce Canyon Natural History Association and Utah Geological Association. ISBN   1-882054-10-5
  2. Graham, J. (2006). Zion National Park Geologic Resource Evaluation Report (PDF). Denver, Colorado: National Park Service. pp. 27–35. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2006/014. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Harris, Ann G.; Tuttle, Esther; Tuttle, Sherwood D. (1997). Geology of National Parks (5th ed.). Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing. pp. 30–42. ISBN   0-7872-5353-7.
  4. 1 2 GORP contributors. "Zion National Park Geology". GORP / Orbitz Away LLC. Archived from the original on 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  5. NPS contributors. "Zion: Geologic Formations". National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  6. Marsh, Adam D.; Milner, Andrew R. C.; Harris, Jerald D.; De Blieux, Donald D.; Kirkland, James I. (2021). "A non-averostran neotheropod vertebra (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the earliest Jurassic Whitmore Point Member (Moenave Formation) in southwestern Utah". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (1): np. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1897604.
  7. Anonymous (2011b) Navajo Sandstone Archived 2006-09-23 at the Wayback Machine , Stratigraphy of the Parks of the Colorado Plateau Archived 2010-12-24 at the Wayback Machine . U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. last accessed August 18, 2013
  8. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Jurassic, North America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 530-532. ISBN   0-520-24209-2.
  9. Lucas, S. G., A. B. Heckert, J. W. Estep, and O. J. Anderson. 1997. Stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group, Four Corners region. Pages 81-107 in Anderson, O. J., B. Kues, and S. G. Lucas, editors. Mesozoic geology and paleontology of the Four Corners Region. New Mexico Geological Society, Socorro, NM. New Mexico Geological Society, 48th Field Conference.