Road Canyon Formation Stratigraphic range: Kungurian-Roadian ~ | |
---|---|
Type | Formation |
Underlies | Word Formation |
Lithology | |
Primary | Limestone |
Other | Shale, siltstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 30°24′N103°18′W / 30.4°N 103.3°W Coordinates: 30°24′N103°18′W / 30.4°N 103.3°W |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 1°24′N33°12′W / 1.4°N 33.2°W |
Region | Texas |
Country | United States |
Extent | Glass Mountains |
Type section | |
Named for | Road Canyon |
Named by | R.L. King |
Year defined | 1931 |
The Road Canyon Formation is a geologic formation in Texas. [1] It preserves fossils dating back to the Permian period.
The formation is the defining unit for the Roadian stage of the Permian period.
The Permian Basin is a large sedimentary basin in the southwestern part of the United States. The basin contains the Mid-Continent Oil Field province. This sedimentary basin is located in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. It reaches from just south of Lubbock, past Midland and Odessa, south nearly to the Rio Grande River in southern West Central Texas, and extending westward into the southeastern part of New Mexico. It is so named because it has one of the world's thickest deposits of rocks from the Permian geologic period. The greater Permian Basin comprises several component basins; of these, the Midland Basin is the largest, Delaware Basin is the second largest, and Marfa Basin is the smallest. The Permian Basin covers more than 86,000 square miles (220,000 km2), and extends across an area approximately 250 miles (400 km) wide and 300 miles (480 km) long.
Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the cities of Amarillo and Canyon. As the second-largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly 120 mi (190 km) long and has an average width of 6 mi (9.7 km), but reaches a width of 20 mi (32 km) at places. Its depth is around 820 ft (250 m), but in some locations, it increases to 1,000 ft (300 m). Palo Duro Canyon has been named "The Grand Canyon of Texas" both for its size and for its dramatic geological features, including the multicolored layers of rock and steep mesa walls, which are similar to those in the Grand Canyon. It is part of Palo Duro Canyon State Park.
The Delaware Basin is a geologic depositional and structural basin in West Texas and southern New Mexico, famous for holding large oil fields and for a fossilized reef exposed at the surface. Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park protect part of the basin. It is part of the larger Permian Basin, itself contained within the Mid-Continent oil province.
In the geologic timescale, the Roadian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is the earliest or lower of three subdivisions of the Guadalupian Epoch or Series. The Roadian lasted between 272.95 and 268.8 million years ago (Ma). It was preceded by the Kungurian and followed by the Wordian.
The Kaibab Limestone is a resistant cliff-forming, Permian geologic formation that crops out across the U.S. states of northern Arizona, southern Utah, east central Nevada and southeast California. It is also known as the Kaibab Formation in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The Kaibab Limestone forms the rim of the Grand Canyon. In the Big Maria Mountains, California, the Kaibab Limestone is highly metamorphosed and known as the Kaibab Marble.
Texas contains a wide variety of geologic settings. The state's stratigraphy has been largely influenced by marine transgressive-regressive cycles during the Phanerozoic, with a lesser but still significant contribution from late Cenozoic tectonic activity, as well as the remnants of a Paleozoic mountain range.
Oak Creek Canyon is a river gorge located in northern Arizona between the cities of Flagstaff and Sedona. The canyon is often described as a smaller cousin of the Grand Canyon because of its scenic beauty. State Route 89A enters the canyon on its north end via a series of hairpin turns before traversing the bottom of the canyon for about 13 miles (21 km) until the highway enters the town of Sedona.
The Ishbel Group is a stratigraphic unit of Permian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It is present in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. First defined by A. McGugan in 1963, it is named for Mount Ishbel of the Sawback Range in Banff National Park, and parts of the group were first described in the vicinity of the mountain at Ranger Canyon and Johnston Canyon.
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.
Isis Temple is a prominence in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, Southwestern United States. It is located below the North Rim and adjacent to Granite Gorge. The prominence lies north of the north bank of the west-flowing Colorado River and is just north of Granite Gorge. The Trinity Creek and canyon flow due south at its west border; its north, and northeast border/flank is formed by Phantom Creek and canyon, a west tributary of Bright Angel Creek; the creeks intersect about 3 mi (4.8 km) southeast, and 1.0 mi (1.6 km) north of Granite Gorge. The Isis Temple prominence, is only about 202 ft (62 m) lower than Grand Canyon Village, the main public center on Grand Canyon’s South Rim.
The Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian,, Supai Group, is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found at the southwest-to-south Colorado Plateau. Cliff-forming interbeds (sandstone) are noticeable throughout the group, as well as the largest cliff-former the topmost member Esplanade Sandstone. The Supai Group is especially exposed throughout the Grand Canyon in northwest Arizona, as well as local regions of southwest Utah. It outcrops southeastwards in Arizona at Chino Point, Sycamore Canyon, and famously at Sedona as parts of Oak Creek Canyon. In the Sedona region, it is overlain by the Hermit Formation, and the colorful Schnebly Hill Formation.
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.
The Cherry Canyon Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian Age of the Permian Period.
The Bell Canyon Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian Age of the Permian Period.
The Bone Spring Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin in Texas and New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Leonardian Age of the Permian Period.
The Hueco Formation is a geologic formation in west Texas and southern New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the early Permian period.
The Hueco Canyon Formation is a geologic formation in Texas. It preserves fossils dating back to the Permian period.
The San Andres Formation is a geologic formation found in New Mexico and Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the late Leonardian (Kungurian) Age) of the Permian Period.
The Coyote Butte Limestone (OR085) is a geologic formation in Oregon. It preserves fossils dating back to the Sakmarian to Kungurian stages of the Permian period, spanning an estimated 23 million years. The formation occurs in isolated buttes to the north; Triangulation Hill, and south; type locality and name giver Coyote Butte and Tuckers Butte, on either side of the Grindstone and Twelvemile Creeks in Crook County, Oregon.
The Castile Formation is a geologic formation in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. It was deposited in the Ochoan Stage of the Permian period.