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The resulting Grand Canyon Supergroup of sedimentary units is composed of nine varied geologic formations that were laid down from 1.2 billion and 740 million years ago in this sea. [11] Good exposures of the supergroup can be seen in eastern Grand Canyon in the Inner Gorge and from Desert View, Lipan Point and Moran point. [12] [note 1]
Figure 1. A geologic cross section of the Grand Canyon. [5]The Tonto Group is a name for an assemblage of related sedimentary strata, collectively known by geologists as a Group, that comprises the basal sequence Paleozoic strata exposed in the sides of the Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon Supergroup is a Mesoproterozoic to a Neoproterozoic sequence of sedimentary strata, partially exposed in the eastern Grand Canyon of Arizona. This group comprises the Unkar Group , Nankoweap Formation , Chuar Group and the Sixtymile Formation , which overlie Vishnu Basement Rocks .
First, the Unkar Group, as the bottom unit of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, lies directly upon deeply eroded granites, gneisses, pegmatites, and schists that comprise Vishnu Basement Rocks. Second, an angular unconformity, with a dip of less than 10°, separates the base of the Nankoweap Formation from the underlying Unkar Group.
These channels were later filled by sediments that are now assigned to the Surprise Canyon Formation. [11] The Supai Group was originally regarded as a single formation, [3] but further study showed that there were three disconformities within this set of beds that could be traced throughout the Grand Canyon. The Supai was raised to group rank ...
The Vishnu Basement Rocks is the name recommended for all Early Proterozoic crystalline rocks (metamorphic and igneous) exposed in the Grand Canyon region. They form the crystalline basement rocks that underlie the Bass Limestone of the Unkar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup and the Tapeats Sandstone of the Tonto Group .
The major sedimentary rock units exposed in the Grand Canyon range in age from 200 million to 600 million years and were deposited in warm shallow seas and near-shore environments. The nearly 40 identified rock layers of Grand Canyon form one of the most studied geologic columns in the world.
The Surprise Canyon Formation is a geologic formation that consists of clastic and calcareous sedimentary rocks that fill paleovalleys and paleokarst of Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian) age in Grand Canyon.