San Rafael Group

Last updated
San Rafael Group
Stratigraphic range: Middle Jurassic
Entrada to Salt Wash.jpg
San Rafael Group on the east side of the San Rafael Swell. Entrada at the base, overlain by the Curtis, then Summerville, and capped by the Morrison (Tidwell and Salt Wash Members).
Type Group
Underlies Morrison Formation
Overlies Glen Canyon Group
Thickness490 meters (1,610 ft)
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Mudstone, limestone
Location
Coordinates 39°10′26″N110°27′58″W / 39.174°N 110.466°W / 39.174; -110.466
Region Four Corners
Country United States
Type section
Named for San Rafael Reef
Named byGilluly and Reeside
Year defined1928
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San Rafael Group (the United States)
USA Utah relief location map.svg
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San Rafael Group (Utah)
San Rafael Group strata exposed east of the San Rafael Swell, north of Hanksville. Sequence from orange cliff in foreground to cliff top in background Entrada Formation, Curtis Formation, Summerville Formation, capped by the (pink) Tidwell Member of the Morrison Formation. Curtis to Tidwell N Hanksville.jpg
San Rafael Group strata exposed east of the San Rafael Swell, north of Hanksville. Sequence from orange cliff in foreground to cliff top in background Entrada Formation, Curtis Formation, Summerville Formation, capped by the (pink) Tidwell Member of the Morrison Formation.

The San Rafael Group is a geologic group or collection of related rock formations that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. As part of the Colorado Plateau, this group of formations was laid down in the Middle Jurassic during the Bajocian, Bathonian and Callovian Stages. [1]

Contents

Description

The group consists of Jurassic beds younger than the Navajo Sandstone and older than the Morrison Formation. These show marine influence in their formation in the northwestern exposures at San Rafael Swell, with formations composed of limestone, mudstone, gypsum, and silty sandstone. Further east, the group becomes more continental in character, with the Entrada Formation resembling the underlying clean sandstones of the Glen Canyon Group. [2] [3] The group is up to 490 meters (1,610 ft) thick. [3]

Subunits

Subunits by basin:

Black Mesa Basin: [4]

Great Basin province: [5] [6]

Peterson concluded that the Henrieville Sandstone was simply the bleached upper zone of the Entrada Sandstone and recommended abandoning the formation. [4]

Palo Duro Basin/Sierra Grande Uplift: [7]

Paradox Basin: [4]

Piceance Basin: [8] [9]

Plateau Sedimentary Province: [4]

San Juan Basin: [10]

southern San Juan Basin: [11]

History of investigation

There is no designated type locality for the group. It was named for exposures in the San Rafael Swell in Emery County, Utah by James Gilluly and J.B. Reeside in 1928. They divided the group into (ascending): Carmel Formation, Entrada Sandstone (new), Curtis Formation (new), and Summerville Formation (new). [2] Areal extent limits were established by Herbert E. Gregory and Raymond Cecil Moore in 1931. [3] Smith in 1954 revised and divided the group into Entrada, Todilto, and Thoreau (new) formations in the San Juan Basin. [12]

In 1959 another revision, this time by Griggs and Read, divided it into Entrada and Bell Ranch (new) formations in the Palo Duro Basin and Sierra Grande Uplift. [7] The Carmel-Navajo contact was revised by Wright and others in 1962 [8] and the Carmel-Entrada contact was revised by Phoenix in 1963. [13] Thompson and Stokes created an overview and named the Henrieville Sandstone in 1970. [5] The Temple Cap Sandstone was revised and the Page Sandstone added (new) by Peterson and Pipiringos in 1979. [6] A revision by O'Sullivan in 1980 divided the group into Carmel, Entrada, and Wanakah formations in Paradox Basin. O'Sullivan revised the upper contact in 1984. [9]

In 1988 Peterson revised earlier work and divided the group into Page, Carmel, and Entrada formations in the Black Mesa Basin; divided it into Page, Carmel, Entrada and Romana (new) formations in the Plateau Sedimentary Province; and divided it into Page, Carmel, Entrada, Curtis, and Summerville formations in Paradox Basin. [4] Condon in 1989 revised the group in San Juan Basin and divided it into Entrada and Wanakah formations in southeastern area; divided it into Entrada, Wanakah, and Cow Springs formations in south-central area; and divided it into Entrada and Cow Springs Sandstones in southwestern area. [10]

Related Research Articles

Entrada Sandstone

The Entrada Sandstone is a formation in the San Rafael Group found in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona, and southeast Utah. Part of the Colorado Plateau, this formation was deposited during the Jurassic Period sometime between 180 and 140 million years ago in various environments, including tidal mudflats, beaches, and sand dunes. The Middle Jurassic San Rafael Group was dominantly deposited as ergs in a desert environment around the shallow Sundance Sea.

Morrison Formation Rock formation in the western United States

The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.

Navajo Sandstone Geological formation in the southwestern U.S.

The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.

Cutler Formation Geologic formation in the Four Corners, US

The Cutler Formation or Cutler Group is a rock unit that is exposed across the U.S. states of Arizona, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. It was laid down in the Early Permian during the Wolfcampian epoch.

Moenkopi Formation Geologic feature in the Southwestern United States

The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a group in Arizona. Part of the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range, this red sandstone was laid down in the Lower Triassic and possibly part of the Middle Triassic, around 240 million years ago.

Chinle Formation Geological formation in the western US

The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. The Chinle is controversially considered to be synonymous to the Dockum Group of eastern Colorado and New Mexico, western Texas, the Oklahoma panhandle, and southwestern Kansas. The Chinle is sometimes colloquially named as a formation within the Dockum Group in New Mexico and in Texas. The Chinle Formation is part of the Colorado Plateau, Basin and Range, and the southern section of the Interior Plains.

Glen Canyon Group Group of geologic formations in the Colorado Plateau

The Glen Canyon Group is a geologic group of formations that is spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, north west New Mexico and western Colorado. It is called the Glen Canyon Sandstone in the Green River Basin of Colorado and Utah.

Carmel Formation

The Carmel Formation is a geologic formation in the San Rafael Group that is spread across the U.S. states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, north east Arizona and New Mexico. Part of the Colorado Plateau, this formation was laid down in the Middle Jurassic during the late Bajocian, through the Bathonian and into the early Callovian stages.

Group (stratigraphy) A group of geologic formations

In geology, a group is a lithostratigraphic unit, a part of the geologic record preserved in rock strata. Groups are generally divided into individual formations. Groups may sometimes be combined into supergroups.

Summerville Formation Geologic formation in Four Corners region, US

The Summerville Formation is a geological formation in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah of the Southwestern United States. It dates back to the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic.

Mancos Shale Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States

The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States.

Todilto Formation Geologic formation in New Mexico

The Todilto Formation is a geologic formation in northern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. It preserves fossils dating back to the Callovian stage of the middle Jurassic period.

Burro Canyon Formation A geologic formation in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah

The Burro Canyon Formation is an Early Cretaceous Period sedimentary geologic formation, found in western Colorado, the Chama Basin and eastern San Juan Basin of northern New Mexico, and in eastern Utah, US.

Curtis Formation

The Curtis Formation is a geologic formation in Utah. It preserves fossils dating back to the Callovian age of the Jurassic period.

Rock Point Formation

The Rock Point Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Triassic.

Mesaverde Group Group of geologic formations in the western United States

The Mesaverde Group is a Late Cretaceous stratigraphic group found in areas of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, in the Western United States.

Zuni Sandstone Geologic formation in New Mexico, US

The Zuni Sandstone is a geologic formation in west-central New Mexico. It marks the southernmost limit of Jurassic fluvial and lacustrine sedimentary formations, which pinch out to leave a single sandstone body.

Bluff Formation Geologic formation in the western United States

The Bluff Formation is a geological formation found in the Four Corners area. It was deposited in the late Jurassic Period.

The Beclabito Formation is a late Jurassic sedimentary geologic formation, found in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona.

Wild Horse Butte

Wild Horse Butte is a 5,760-foot (1,756-meter) elevation summit located in Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County, Utah. Wild Horse Butte is situated 2.3 mi (3.7 km) west of Mollys Castle, and the top of this geological feature rises over 800 feet above its surrounding terrain, with precipitation runoff from Wild Horse Butte entering the Colorado River drainage basin. John C. Frémont's fifth expedition (1853–1854) stopped at Wild Horse Butte in January 1854, when Solomon Nunes Carvalho recorded a daguerreotype image of this butte.

References

  1. Ejembi, John I.; Potter-McIntyre, Sally L.; Sharman, Glenn R.; Smith, Tyson M.; Saylor, Joel E.; Hatfield, Kendall; Ferré, Eric C. (1 October 2021). "Detrital zircon geochronology and provenance of the Middle to Late Jurassic Paradox Basin and Central Colorado trough: Paleogeographic implications for southwestern Laurentia". Geosphere. 17 (5): 1494–1516. doi:10.1130/GES02264.1. ISSN   1553-040X.
  2. 1 2 Gilluly, James; Reeside, J.B. Jr. (1928). "Sedimentary rocks of the San Rafael Swell and some adjacent areas in eastern Utah". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 150-D. doi:10.3133/pp150D.
  3. 1 2 3 Gregory, H.E.; Moore, R.C. (1931). "The Kaiparowits region, a geographic and geologic reconnaissance of parts of Utah and Arizona". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 164. doi:10.3133/pp164.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Peterson, Fred (1988). "Stratigraphy and nomenclature of Middle and Upper Jurassic rocks, western Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona, IN Revisions to stratigraphic nomenclature of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of the Colorado Plateau". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1633-B: B13-56. doi:10.3133/b1633AC.
  5. 1 2 Thompson, A.E.; Stokes, W.L. (1970). "Stratigraphy of the San Rafael Group, southwest and south central Utah". Utah Geological and Mineral Survey Bulletin (87).
  6. 1 2 Peterson, Fred; Pipiringos, G.N. "Stratigraphic relations of the Navajo Sandstone to Middle Jurassic formations, southern Utah and northern Arizona". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 1035-B. doi:10.3133/pp1035B.
  7. 1 2 Griggs, R.L.; Read, C.B. (1959). "Revisions in stratigraphic nomenclature in Tucumcari-Sabinoso area, northeastern New Mexico". American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 43 (8): 2003–2007. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  8. 1 2 Wright, J.C.; Shawe, D.R.; Lohman, S.W. (1962). "Definition of members of Jurassic Entrada Sandstone in east-central Utah and west-central Colorado". American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 46 (11): 2057–2070. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  9. 1 2 O'Sullivan, R.B. (1984). "The base of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in east-central Utah". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1561. doi:10.3133/b1561.
  10. 1 2 Condon, S.M. (1989). "Revisions of Middle Jurassic nomenclature in the southeastern San Juan Basin, New Mexico". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1808E: E1–E21. doi:10.3133/b1808EF.
  11. Cather, Steven M. (2020). "Jurassic stratigraphic nomenclature for northwestern New Mexico" (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Special Publication. 14: 145–151. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  12. Smith, C.T. (1954). "Geology of the Thoreau Quadrangle, McKinley and Valencia (now Cibola) Counties, New Mexico". New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Bulletin. 31. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  13. Phoenix, David A. (1963). "Geology of the Lees Ferry area, Coconino County, Arizona". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1137. doi:10.3133/b1137.