DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Hubert Work. Secretary 

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

George Otis Smith. Director 

Professional Paper 150 

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO 

GENERAL GEOLOGY 

1927 

W. C. MENDENHALL, CHIEF GEOLOGIST 

UNITED STATES 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON 

1928 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 

By L. F. NoBLE 

INTRODUCTION 

Of the Paleozoic formations in the plateau province 

of Arizona and Utah the Kaibab limestone, the 

youngest formation of the succession, is perhaps the 

best known. It is probably the most widely distributed Paleozoic formation in the province, its outcrops 

covering a large part of northern Arizona and appearing at many places in southern Utah. In southern 

Nevada, beyond the western boundary of the province, 

it is exposed in several mountain ranges, in one of 

which it extends to the border of California. At the 

Grand Canyon it is one of the chief elements in the 

landscape, constituting the surface of the Kaibab and 

Coconino Plateaus, through which the deepest part of 

the canyon is cut, and forming the first cliffs that drop 

away at the rim of the canyon. Its abundant fossil 

fauna and its position at the top of the Permian 

series beneath a widespread unconformity of erosion 

furnish interesting problems for the paleontologist and 

stratigrapher. At many places it is of considerable 

economic importance for the deposits of gypsum and 

lime that it contains. 

The Kaibab liillestone was named by Darton/ who 

states: 

The upper limestone of the Carboniferous in northern 

Arizona has heretofore been known as the "Aubrey" limestone, but as Aubrey has now been adopted by the United 

States Geological Survey for the group of which this limestone 

forms a part, a distinct name is required for it. Accordingly 

Kaibab has been selected, from the Kaibab Plateau, on the 

north side of the canyon, which is capped by the formation 

in typical development over a very large area. 

Inasmuch as the formation not only makes the entire 

surface of the Kaibab Plateau but is magnificently 

exposed in cross section in the wall of the Grand 

Canyon all around the south end of the plateau, the 

name given to it by Darton is eminently appropriate. 

Curiously, however, although the Kaibab Plateau is 

the type locality for the Kaibab limestone, no detailed 

section of the formation has been made anywhere in 

the plateau. Consequently no type section of the 

formation is on record. 

During a stratigraphic reconnaissance of the region 

north of Colorado River in Arizona and Utah in the 

summer of 1922,2 Prof. H. E. Gregory and I had 

occasion to visit the Kaibab Plateau, and I took the 

opportunity to obtain a section of the Kaibab limestone in this, the type locality. Our search in the 

t Darton, N.H., A reconnaissance of parts of northern New Mexico and northern 

Arizona: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 435, p. 28, 1910. 2 Gregory, H. E., and Noble, L. F., Notes on a geological traverse from Mohave, 

Calif., to the mouth of San Juan River, Utah: Am. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., vol. 5, pp. 

229-238, 1923. 

plateau for a place where unquestionably all the formation is exposed was rewarded in Kaibab Gulch, 

8 miles southwest of the abandoned settlement of 

Paria. Kaibab Gulch, which lies in Utah about 6 

miles north of the Arizona boundary, is a deep canyon 

cut entirely across the northern part of the Kaibab 

Plateau. The gulch enters the plateau abruptly from 

the west, crosses it in a course that is slightly south 

of east, and emerges at the point where the strata 

along the eastern margin of the plateau depart from 

their horizontal attitude and dip eastward in the east 

Kaibab fold. Here, where the gulch crosses the fold, 

a magnificent section of the Kaibab limestone with a 

part of the Hermit shale below it and a part of the 

Moenkopi formation above it is exposed along the bed 

of the stream. 

So far as we could ascertain the region around and 

just north of Kaibab Gulch is the only area within or 

along the borders of the Kaibab Plateau where both 

the upper and the lower contacts of the Kaibab limestone are exposed. Elsewhere the characteristic red 

shale and sandstone that are unmistakably recognizable as belonging to the lower part of the overlying 

Moenkopi formation have been removed by erosion, 

so that it is impossible to tell how much of the top 

part of the Kaibab limestone remains. Owing to this 

uncertainty the many fine exposures of the limestone 

in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon around the south 

end of the plateau and the exposures in the escarpment of the west Kaibab fault along the western border of the plateau are considered inappropriate for a 

type section, although many of these exposures reveal 

the beds of the formation in every detail from the 

base upward and are far more accessible than the exposures in Kaibab Gulch. The section in Kaibab 

Gulch is therefore proposed as the type section of the 

Kaibab limestone, because it is the only section in the 

type area that is known to be complete. 

The location of the section in Kaibab Gulch and of 

other sections of the Kaibab limestone and the formations imn1ediately above and below it that have 

been measured within a radius of 90 miles of the 

Kaibab Gulch section is shown on Figure 1. The distance and direction of each section from Kaibab Gulch, 

the formations included in each, and the report in 

which each measurement appears, if published, are 

given in a table below the map. 

Kaibab Gulch is shown on the Kanab topographic 

-map published by the United States Geological Survey, but its name is not printed on the map. It may 

be identified as a deep canyon coming from the west 

41 
42 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

u 

Q) 

· c 

<0 

I) 

PLATE.AU 

1/1° 

qi..---'----1--'----.J..._-..J._ __________ I...Jqo Mile$ 

and intersecting the eastern boundary of the quadrangle at a point 

6 miles north of the southeast 

corner. 

SECTION IN KAIBAB GULCH 

The section measured in Kaibab 

Gulch includes the entire exposed 

FIGURE 1.-Index map of parts of Utah and Arizona showing location of columnar section (dot numbered 1) 

in Kaibab Gulch given in Plate 12 and location of other sections of Carboniferous and Triassic strata in the 

area covered by the map. The location of each section is designated by a numbered dot 

. thickness of the Kaibab limestone, a 

small part of the overlying formation, and a part of the underlying 

formation. The overlying formation, as elsewhere in the Grand Canyon region, is the Moenkopi. The 

underlying formation, however, is 

not the one that is found in contact 

with the Kaibab limestone elsewhere. 

At all other places in the Grand Canyon region where its lower contact is 

exposed the Kaibab rests upon the 

Coconino sandstone, but at Kaibab 

Gulch it rests upon the Hermit 

shale, the formation next older than 

the Coconino. The absence of the 

Coconino sandstone is a unique feature of the section. The contacts 

of the Kaibab limestone with the 

overlying Moenkopi formation 

and with the underlying Hermit 

shale are shown in Plate 13, A, B, 

and 0. 

No. 

on 

map 

Locality · 

Approximate 

distance 

from 

Kaibab 

Gulch 

(miles) 

Direction 

from 

Kaibab 

Gulch 

1 Kaibab Gulch, Kaibab Plateau ______ __ ----------------------

2 Lees Ferry, Colorado River __________ _ 

3 Canyon of Kanab Creek, 22 miles 

south of Kanab. 

4 Jumpup Canyon, near Kanab Creek __ 

5 Hacks Canyon, near Kanab Creek ____ _ 

6 Bass trail, Grand Canyon ___ ----------

7 Virgin River Canyon. Four sections 

designated 9, 10, 11, and 12 by the 

authors. 

8 Circle Cliffs __ -------------------------

9 Rock Canyon. Two sections desig- nated 6 and 7 by the authors. 

10 Hurricane Cliff, 6 miles south of Hurri- cane. Section designated 8 by the 

authors. 11 Hurricane Cliff, 18 miles south of Hurricane. Section designated 4 by the 

authors. 

12 Cedar Mountain, Grand Canyon _____ _ 

13 Toroweap Canyon, near 'Grand Canyon. 

14 San Juan River, near Zahns Camp .••. 

30 s. 52° E__-

38 S.56°W .. 

50 s. 38° w --

53 s. 46° w __ 

68 N.81° W .. 

70 N. 43° E .. 

70 S.84°W __ 

72 N. 89° W __ 

75 S. 80° W __ 

75 S. 10° E ... 

85 S.47°W __ 

85 N. 81° E .. 

Formations measured 

Moenkopi formation (base), Kaibab 

limestone (Coconino sandstone absent), Hermit shale (top) Moenkopi and overlying Mesozoic 

formations, Kaibab limestone, Coconino sandstone. 

Kaibab limestone (base), Coconino 

sandstone, Hermit shale (top). Kaibab limestone (base), Coconino 

sandstone, Hermit shale, Supai formation (top). Kaibab limestone, Coconino sandstone, Hermit shale, Supai formation (top). Kaibab limestone, Coconino sandstone, Hermit shale, Supai and 

underlying Paleozoic formations. Moenkopi formation (base), Kaibab , limestone (top). 

Kaibab limestone, Coconino (?) sand- stone (top). Moenkopi formation (base), Kaibab 

limestone, Coconino (?) sandstone, 

Supai (?) formation (top). Moenkopi formation (base), Kaibab 

limestone, Coconino (?) sandstone, 

Supai (?) formation (top). Kaibab limestone (base), Coconino 

sandstone and Supai formation (undifferentiated). 

Shinarump conglomerate, Moenkopi formation, Kaibab limestone (top). Kaibab limestone, Coconino sandstone, Hermit shale, Supai formation. 

Moenkopi and overlying Mesozoic formations (Kaibab limestone absent), 

Coconino sandstone. 

Author and report 

Noble, L. F., this report. 

Longwell, C. R., Miser, H. D., Moore,R. C., Bryan, Kirk, 

and Paige, Sidney, Rock formations in the Colorado 

Plateau of southeastern Utah and northern Arizona: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 132, p. 16, 1923. 

Noble, L. F ,, and Gregory, H. E., unpublished data. 

Noble, L. F., this report. 

Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, Stratigraphic sections in southwestern Utah and northwestern 'Arizona: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 129, p. 69, 1922. · Noble, L. F., A section of the Paleozoic formations of the 

Grand Canyon at the Bass trail: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131, pp. 23-73, 1922. 

Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., pp. 72-73. 

Longwell, Miser, Moore, Bryan, and Paige, op. cit., pp. 

20-21. 

Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., pp. 70-71. 

Idem, pp. 71-72. 

Idem, p. 70. 

Noble, L. F., op. cit. (Prof. Paper 131), pp. 71-72. 

Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., pp. 69-70. 

Longwell, Miser, Moore, Bryan, and Paige, op. cit., p. 17. 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 43 

Thecolumnarsection (pl. 12) shows diagrammatically 

the topographic profile of the beds, their sequence 

and general lithology, and the subdivisions into which 

the writer has grouped them. The number at the 

right of each bed or set of beds in the columnar section 

is the number used to designate the same bed or set 

of beds in the detailed section given in the text. In 

the columnar section the strata are represented as 

horizontal, but actually they dip eastward at angles 

ranging from 10° to 20°. The section was measured 

in a traverse along the bed of the gulch by ascending 

the walls to measure each set of strata at the place 

where it was best exposed, then locating at the next 

favorable place the stratum last measured and 

resuming measurement at that stratum. The length 

of the traverse necessary to obtain the complete 

section, following the windings of the gulch, was 

about a mile. The measurements were made with a 

Locke level. They are not as accurate as they would 

have been if the strata were horizontal and were 

exposed in a single vertical section, as in the wall of 

the Grand Canyon; nevertheless the windings of the 

gulch afforded so many exposures in cliff faces parallel 

with the strike that the writer believes the error was 

not great. 

The section is given below in two forms-a general 

section showing the major subdivisions and a detailed 

section with comments on the several beds. The 

Moenkopi formation was measured and described by 

Professor Gregory; the Kaibab limestone and the 

Hermit shale by me. 

Section in Kaibab Gulch 

General section 

Moenkopi formation (Lower Triassic): 

Dark reddish-brown shale and thin-bedded sandstone with here and there a thin irregular bed of 

conglomerate at the base. All higher Moenkopi 

Feet 

strata have been removed by erosion__________ 12 

Unconformity. 

Kaibab limestone (Permian) : 

A. Very irregular beds of coarse breccia-conglomerate, interstratified with buff shale and calcareous sandstone and capped by massive 

beds of buff limestone. The limestone forms 

a strong cliff; the shales and sandstones form 

a slope broken by irregular cliffs of breccia__ 77 

B. Massive gray crystalline limestone, cherty and 

fossiliferous, containing a bed of sandstone 

in the middle and passing at top into alternating beds of chert and buff earthy limestone. 

The beds of gray crystalline limestone form 

strong cliffs; the alternating beds of chert and 

buff limestone above the gray limestone form 

a steep ledgy slope______________________ 326 

C. Buff and reddish fine-grained sandstone, poorly 

consolidated and irregularly bedded, interstratified with beds of sandy breccia and 

travertine; forms slope _________________ .;._ 150 

Kaibab limestone (Permian)-Continued. Feet 

D. Massive buff siliceous limestone, oherty and 

somewhat fossiliferous, containing some calcareous sandstone near the middle and a 

well-defined bed of hard fine-grained buff 

cross-bedded sandstone near the base. All 

beds except the calcareous sandstone in the 

middle of the member form strong cliffs____ 119 

E. Alternating beds of arenaceous limestone and 

irregularly bedded fine-grained buff sandstone. One thin bed of limestone, in the 

middle of the member, is very fossiliferous. 

The member forms a steep ledgy slope, 

broken by small cliffs_____________________ 45 

Hermit shale (Permian): 

Red -sandy shale and fine-grained massive friable 

red sandstone, which exhibits concretionary 

structure; base of formation concealed; beds 

717 

form slope ________ .;. ------------------------ 55 

Detailed section 

Feet 

Moenkopi formation: 

1. Sandstone, dark reddish-brown, thin bedded, each 

bed consisting of overlapping laminae; foliation 

surfaces show abundant mud cracks and ripple 

marks; weathering forms "slab talus"________ 3 

2. Shales, dark reddish brown, very unevenly bedded, 

sun baked, glistening foliation surfaces________ 4 

3. Conglomerate, gray and brown, composed essentially of fiat pebbles of limestone and red shale; 

in some places forms a definite bed 4to 8 inches 

thick; in other places lenses of conglomerate 

are embedded in yellow lime shale and brown 

sandy shale through a vertical distance of 3 

to 5 feet; in still other places the conglomerate is underlain or even replaced by thin 

layers or aggregates of quartz. Contact with 

underlying limestone is sharp and somewhat 

uneven; appears to represent a surface of 

erosion __________________________________ ~-5 

Unconformity. 

.Kaibab limestone: 

A. 1. Massive buff limestone containing a little 

chert; fossiliferous, but all forms seen were 

too poorly preserved to be determinable; 

weathered surfaces of the rock feel sandy or 

12 

gritty________________________________ 2 

2. Chert__________________________________ ~ 

3. Massive buff limestone like No. 1; contains 

many cavities, formed probably by the 

solution of fossils. Calcite fills many cavities and occurs in veins. Fossils occur 

sparingly, but all those seen were too poorly 

preserved to be determinable. Chert not 

abundant-------------------~--------- 12 

4. Chert and sand_________________________ 1 

5. Massive buff limestone like No. 3; appears 

to form one solid bed__________________ 9 
44 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

Kaibab limestone-Continued. Page 

A. 6. Buff shale, soft, sandy, and very thinly 

laminated. The laminae are wavy and 

many are as thin as paper; some are reddish. A few layers of calcareous sandstone 

averaging one-fourth inch thick are interbedded with the shale__________________ 2 

7. Dense fine-grained sandy buff limestone____ .72 

8. Buff shale, like No. 6; basal 4 feet consists 

entirely of sandy mud; upper 3 feet contains a few ,72-inch layers of fine-grained 

calcareous buff sandstone _________ -_---- 7 

9. Massive bed of coarse breccia; forms strong 

cliff; rests upon an uneven surface, which 

exhibits considerable relief, the breccia 

bed ranging in thickness from 4 to 14 feet 

in a horizontal distance of 100 feet. Most 

of the breccia fragments are chert but some 

are limestone and s~ndstone; they are of all 

sizes up to 6 inches in diameter; all are angular. The matrix is buff sand ___ ______ 4-14 

10. Irregular bed consisting partly of sandy 

breccia and partly of calcareous sandstone. Contacts with overlying and 

underlying beds are uneven____________ 1-4 

11. Buff calcareous sandstone with thin partings 

of shale at the bottom and lenses of chert 

at the top; bedding planes wavy________ 5 

12. Massive buff calcareous sandstone; thickness ranges fr_om 1 to 3 feet in a horizontal 

distance of 100 feet____________________ 1-3 

13. Greenish sandy shale; laminae wavy; thickness ranges from 1 to 3 feet in a horizontal 

distance of 100 feet. Contacts with 

overlying and underlying beds uneven___ 1-3 

14. Conglomerate composed of chert and sandstone fragments embedded in a matrix of 

sand, which exhibits gnarly, contorted 

structure; thickness ranges from 1 to 3 

feet in a horizontal distance of 100 feet. 

Contacts with overlying and underlying 

beds uneven_________________________ _ 1-3 

15. Irregular bed composed entirely of hard 

chert. Contacts with overlying and 

underlying beds uneven, wavy__________ 1 

16. Partly concealed interval forming a gentle 

debris-covered slope; the few outcrops consist of buff soft calcareous sandstone_____ 10 

B. 1. Buff crystalline limestone forming a small 

cliff _________________________________ _ 

2. Beds of buff earthy limestone alternating 

with beds composed almost entirely of 

chert nodules; much of the chert is white. 

The altern_ations are very regular, the 

limestone beds averaging 6 inches in thickness and the chert beds 3 inches. The 

beds form a ledgy slope. This unit resembles alternating beds of chert and calcareous sandstone that occur at the top of the 

Kaibab limestone in the southern rim of 

the Grand Canyon near Cedar Mountain 

(locality 12: see fig. 1) ________________ _ 

77 

2 

55 

Kaibab limestone-Continued. 

B. 3. Very fossiliferous, very cherty, gray to buff 

crystalline limestone. The chert is in 

large lumps, which are scattered irregularly 

through the rock and most of which are 

several inches in diameter. The bedding 

planes of the limestone are obscure, but 

the beds appear to be very thick, some as 

much as 20 feet. The rock forms an almost vertical cliff. This unit resembles 

and corresponds in position to the Kaibab 

beds that form pinnacles of erosion at 

many places along the north rim of the 

Grand Canyon _______________________ _ 

4. Chert and fine-grained sand forming a ledge_ 

5. Very massive bed of hard, dense, fine-grained 

buff sandstone, practically a quartzite; 

forms strong cliff; weathered surfaces exhibit cross-bedded structure; contains a 

few tiny rounded pebbles, the largest of 

which does not exceed a quarter of an 

inch in diameter; otherwise the rock resembles in composition the Coconino sandstone of the Kaibab division of the Grand 

Canyon. The cement appears to be all 

siliceous. The sandstone rests with wavy, 

uneven contact upon a bed of chert and 

sand ________________________________ _ 

6. Very cherty, very fossiliferous, gray crystalline limestone, weathering buff; forms 

.strong cliffs. The beds of limestone average about 5 feet in thickness and are separated by beds of chert and sand, most of 

which are less than 1 foot thick, but some 

of which are as much as 4 feet. Chert occurs throughout the limestone in nodules 

and in bands. Cavities lined with quartz 

crystals are fairly abundant. The fauna 

of the unit is of the familiar normal Kaibab ' 

Feet 

85 

10 

14 

type (the "Productus ivesi fauna")_____ 140 

7. Gray crystalline limestone in massive beds, 

separated by thin beds of sandstone with 

wavy, irregular contacts; forms strong 

cliff; contains a small quantity of chert 

in bands and nodules. Fossils and cavities lined with quartz crystals occur sparingly . The limestone beds average 4 feet 

in thickness___________________________ 20 

C. I. Soft sandstone; bedding contorted. Contacts with overlying and underlying beds are uneven, wavy _____________________ _ 

2. Gray crystalline limestone, texture sugary __ 

3. Irregularly bedded hard sandy limestone; under surface very uneven; this and the two 

overlying beds make small cliffs _______ _ 

4. Soft buff contorted sandstone; contains 

lenses of red shale averaging less than an 

inch thick; makes a slope and alcove; outcrops partly concealed ________________ _ 

5. Irregularly bedded porous sandy limestone 

seamed with calcite; the rock is in part 

travertine; bedding wavy throughout; 

rests upon an uneven surface; forms a cliff _________________________________ _ 

326 

1 

1 

3 

15 

7 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 

Kaibab limestone-Continued. 

C. 6. Soft buff sandstone; bedding exceedingly 

contorted; contains a few brecciated beds 

and some sandy travertine; rests upon 

an irregular surface; forms a slope and 

alcove _______________________________ _ 

7. Gray sandy limestone, in part travertine; 

makes a small cliff ____________________ _ 

8. Beds of breccia and travertine interstratified with irregularly bedded yellowishbuff sandstone; make a cliff. The upper 

2 feet is entirely travertine. The breccia 

consists of sandstone fragments of all sizes 

up to 4 feet in diameter embedded in a 

matrix of contorted calcareous sand. All 

beds are very irregular and in all of them 

the bedding is contorted and wavy _____ _ 

9. Beds of breccia and soft sandstone like No.8; 

make a slope; much of the breccia resembles fanglomerate _________ ------- __ 

10. Brownish-buff fine-grained calcareous sandstone in beds up to 1 foot thick; almost a limestone __________________________ _ 

11. Reddish sandstone; forms slope; outcrops 

partly concealed __________ ___________ _ 

12. Buff hard fine-grained sandstone, composed 

of tiny transparent quartz grains, which 

sparkle in the sunlight; material resembles 

that of the Coconino sandstone of the 

Grand Canyon; forms a small cliff ______ _ 

13. Reddish soft fine-grained sandstone _______ _ 

14. Buff to brown porous calcareous brecciated 

sandstone seamed with calcite; largely 

travertine; forms a small cliff __________ _ 

15. Red soft sandstone; bedding gnarly and 

contorted; outcrops largely concealed ___ _ 

16. Buff to brown calcareous sandstone seamed 

with calcite; forms small cliff; bedding 

irregular, gnarly _____________________ _ 

17. White soft fine-grained sandstone; bedding 

irregular, gnarly; rests upon a wavy surface 

exhibiting relief of a foot or more in a 

distance of 50 feeL~-------------------

18. Red soft fine-grained sandstone; outcrops 

largely concealed _____________________ _ 

· 19. Breccia; angular fragments of sandstone, 

shale, limestone, and chert of all sizes up 

to several feet in diameter embedded in a 

matrix of gnarled and contorted yellowishbuff sand. Much of the deposit is cemented with carbonate of lime and exhibits the 

characteristic porous structure of travertine ________________________________ _ 

20. Largely concealed; the few outcrops seen 

consist of brownish-buff soft sand _____ _ 

21. Gnarly buff calcareous sandstone _________ _ 

22. Concealed; probably soft sandstone ______ _ 

23. Breccia in travertine, like No. 19 _________ _ 

D. 1. Platy gray limestone in beds averaging one- fourth inch thick ____ ___ ___ ___________ _ 

2. Dense siliceous buff limestone in beds 

ranging from 1 to 3 feet thick. Bands of 

chert nodules abundant __________ _____ _ 

Feet 

8 

3 

8 

17 

6 

3 

2 

8 

2 

15 

2 

2 

12 

5 

12 

3 

12 

3 

150 

4 

10 

Kaibab limestone-Continued . 

D. 3. Dense siliceous limestone like No. 2; forms 

two massive beds each 9 feet thick; contains many cavities lined with quartz 

crystals; contains also nodules of chert, 

but the chert is not conspicuously abundant ___________________________ _ 

4. Massive arenaceous limestone exhibiting 

gnarly contorted bedding on weathered 

surfaces ___ __________________________ _ 

5. Buff arenaceous limestone or calcareous 

sandstone forming a single massive bed; 

bedding planes level and even. This and 

the five overlying beds of D unite in 

forming a sheer high cliff ______________ _ 

6. Soft calcareous sandstone; bedding irregu·lar, 

gnarly; forms alcove __________________ _ 

7. Arenaceous limestone; most beds exhibit 

faint cross-bedding on weathered surfaces, 

but some exhibit gnarly bedding; makes a steep ledgy slope _____________________ _ 

8. Buff limestone in massive beds from 6 

inches to 4 feet thick; forms a strong cliff; 

weathered surfaces feel sandy or gritty. 

Thin platy partings of calcareous sandstone separate most of the beds. The 

limestone contains a large amount of chert, 

most of which is in rounded masses or 

nodules of all sizes up to a foot in diameter, but some of it occurs in bands. 

Fossils, chiefly large brachiopods, are 

abundant, and the rock contains many 

cavities formed by the solution of fossils. 

Most of the cavities are lined with quartz 

crystals. This limestone resembles the 

massive siliceous limestone in the lower 

part of the Kaibab at Bass trail, Grand 

Canyon _____________________________ _ 

9. Massive bed of chert; forms an alcove _____ _ 

10. Massive bed of hard fine-grained buff sandstone; forms strong cliff. The rock is 

vesicular, and weathered surfaces are 

cavernous. Basal 3 feet strongly and 

conspicuously cross-bedded; remainder 

of bed contorted, gnarly. The sand 

grains consist of quartz and are tightly 

packed together; most of them are transparent and rounded. The cementing 

material appears to be carbonate of lime, 

but some of it may be silica. The rock 

sparkles in the sunlight like the typical 

Coconino sandstone of the Grand Canyon. 

The lower part of the bed contains lenses of 

fine conglomerate, whose constituent 

pebbles are tiny sheaflike aggregates of 

radially disposed quartz crystals. Most 

of these aggregates are less than a quarter 

of an inch in diameter, but some are 

as much as 1 inch. They appear to 

represent weathered quartz geodes _____ _ 

11. Buff shaly sandstone, soft, poorly exposed; 

forms alcove ___________ ---------------

12. Gray crystalline limestone in massive beds 

ranging from 4 inches to 2 feet thick. 

Rock hard and more or less vesicular; 

forms strong cliff_ _ _ . ___ - _ --- ___ - - _- - -

45 

Feet 

18 

7 

12 

10 

16 

22 

1 

9 

2 

8 

119 
46 ·sHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

Kaibab limestone--Continued. Feet 

E. 1. Buff gnarly sandstone; soft; forms alcove; 

weathered surfaces are cavernous. The 

basal 2 inches of the bed is a conglomerate 

consisting of chert fragments that average 

a quarter of an inch in diameter_________ 8 

2. Alternating ·beds of buff sandy shale in 

paper-thin laminae and buff chert. One 

chert bed is 6 inches thick______________ 2 

3. Buff hard fine-grained arenaceous limestone or calcareous sandstone; seamed 

with calcite; exhibits faint cross-bedded 

structure on weathered surfaces_________ 2 

4. Lumpy and gnarly fine-grained sandstone; 

soft; forms alcove_____________________ ~ 

5. Buff hard fine-grained arenaceous limestone 

or · calcareous sandstone; seamed with 

calcite; forms a cliff____________________ 2 

6. Alternating beds of gray chert and buff sand. 

The chert beds average an inch thick; 

some of them are composed of solid chert, 

others are bands of elongated nodules____ 2 

7. Buff hard. fine-grained arenaceous limestone 

or calcareous sandstone; forms cliff______ 2 

8. Irregularly bedded buff soft fine-grained 

sandstone; structure contorted and gnarly_ 5 

9. Sandy buff crystalline limestone; . hard; 

weathers into nodular lumps; very fossiliferous, but all fossils seen were too 

poorly preserved to be determinable_____ ~ 

10. Buff calcareous shale_____________________ ~ 

11. Sandy buff limestone, somewhat cherty; 

fossiliferous but fossils very poorly preserved_______________________________ ~ 

12. Soft lumpy sandstone, very irregularly 

bedded; largely a conglomerate or breccia 

of sandstone lumps embedded in a matrix 

of churned-up sand____________________ a 

1a. Buff sandy calcareous shale_______________ 1 

14. Yellowish-buff hard fine-grained evenly 

bedded sandstone_____________________ 2 

15. Buff soft fine-grained sandstone; bedding 

gnarly and contorted__________________ 5 

16. Buff fine-grained hard arenaceous limestone 

or calcareous sandstone; laminae very thin, 

horizontal; makes a small cliff__________ 1 

17. One-inch parting of calcareous shale in 

paper-thin laminae. 

18. Arenaceous limestone or calcareous sandstone, like No. 16_____________________ 2 

19. Two-inch parting of calcareous shale, like 

No. 17. 

20. Arenaceous limestone or calcareous sandstone, like No. 16_____________________ 1 

21. Same kind of rock as No. 20, but even more thinly lamina ted_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 

22. Arenaceous limestone or calcareous sandstone, like No. 16_____________________ 2 

2a. Six-inch parting of calcareous shale, like 

No. 17. 

24. Arenaceous limestone or calcareous sandstone, like No. 16_____________________ 1 

45 

Total thickness of Kaibab limestone__ 717 

Hermit shale: Feet 

1. Buff and greenish-buff slightly sandy clay shale 

containing stringers of gypsum. Brownish 

streaks of limonite occur along the stringers 

and between laminae of the shale. Some of 

the gypsum stringers are as much as half an 

inch thick. The shale resembles a consolidated playa mud. 

2. Greenish-buff massive fine-grained sandstone 

exhibiting marked concretionary structure; 

in weathering splits off in concentric shells 

along the concretionary surfaces; differs only 

in color from the concretionary red sandstone 

(a) lying beneath it. The greenish-buff sandstone (2) and the . topmost foot of the underlying red sandstone (3) appear to constitute 

a sort of mud-ball conglomerate_____________ 1 

a. Very fine grained massive red sandstone, essentially a consolidated sandy mud; exhibits 

marked concretionary structure and weathers 

into rounded surfaces or into huge balls that 

shell off in layers, like an onion. This concretionary structure is exactly like that characteristic of the upper part of the Hermit 

shale in the Kaibab division of the Grand 

Canyon. The material of which the sandstone is composed does not differ in any 

respect from that which constitutes the shale 

and sandstone beds of the Hermit shale in 

the Grand Canyon. The sandstone contains 

a few buff streaks, but the difference in color 

bears no relation to bedding. The roci 

exhibits no partings or bedding planes and is 

not cross-bedded_________________________ 7 

4. Very massive bed, like No. 3; -upper portion 

contains buff streaks and blotches___________ 22 

5. Red sandy · shale; not conspicuously different 

from the overlying sandstone in composition 

but is laminated and soft, whereas the sandstone exhibits no bedding planes and is 

relatively compact________________________ 7 

6. Massive red concretionary sandstone, like No. a_ a 

7. Red soft sandy shale, like No.5--------------- 8 

8. Massive red concretionary sandstone, like No. a_ 4 

Talus, extending downward to the bed of Kaibab 

Gulch and concealing all underlying rocks. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER SECTIONS 

SECTION AT BASS TRAIL 

55 

In 1916 I measured a. detailed section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at the Bass 

trail, in the Shinumo region, to supersede the generalized and inadequate reconnaissance section given in 

my report on the Shin umo quadrangle. 3 This detailed 

section is described in a report published in 1922.4 

The part of it that includes the Kaibab limestone, 

Coconino sandstone, and Hermit shale is reprinted 

below for comparison with the section in Kaibab 

Gulch. The locality (No. 6, fig. 1) is 65 miles southwest of Kaiba.b Gulch. 

a Noble, L. F., The Shinumo quadrangle, Grand Canyon district, Ariz.: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 549, pp. 6(}-73, 1914. 

4 Noble, L. F., A section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at the 

Bass trail: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131, pp. 23-73, 1922. 
1--

w 

w 

lL 

w 

z 

0 

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w 

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<( 

[) 

HERMIT 

SHALE 

B e d oF 

Gulch 

L R EY 

1--700 

-600 

-

-500 

!--400 

-300 

-200 

F 

1--!00 

f--so 

=I 

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PROFE I AL PAPER 150 PLATE 12 

2 

5 

B 326 feet 

Massive grf!Y crystall1i1e !/mestone, cherty and IOssilt"lerous, 

containing a bed or sandstone 

in the m/ddle and passing at 

top Into alternating beds oF 

chert and burrearthy limestone , The beds orgr"!Y crystalline 

limestone fOrm stron8 eli/IS 

the ekerneting beds or chert and buff kmestone 

(2) above the gray limestone 

fOrm a steep leazy slope 

.r I 0 Fl "'~ ~· -.~- -~~-.~ 7 

' 1-3 

~ ~A-t·:"" 8 C 150 feet /<·:.:o: ._-;-;.;1_.:~ .:-::: ~ i'.: 

,....:e-:.t->-.>:;_:c_,:-: ~-~ ·:i:; 9 Buff end reddtsh fine-8rained sandstone, poor(y conso!tdated and 

lrregularfy bedded, inrerstrati/ied 

with beds or san& brecct8 and 

travertine. '' / ·.·.· 

10 

13 

•14- A-:::·:.:: ... ·> \'/)~· :.\< .: :' ··>:·:;i:":_: · ::~:~· ·: ::)·;y· .. :: IS rorn?s .slope 

(} I . ( Sof't san<:t./.s-. U>r78 

D 119 feet 

Massr've buiT siliceous limestone, cher~ and somew-het ross1kferou~ 

conte/nln§ some celcareous sandstone near the 177/ddle and a well defined bed or hard flne-gre 1ned hu!Tcross-hedded sandstone n eer the b8se 

All beds except the calcereous .sandstone In the m tddle of" the rnetnber 

fOrm stronc!f cl/f"fS 

. I 

£ Altern8tJn!f beds of"' ar enaceous h'rnestone 8nd /rre8vlerfy bedded flne -gra1ned 

E 45 feet buff sandstone. Two thin beds oF !J'rnestone ;n the 177tddle oF the member are 

vety IOss J!//erous. The member fOrms e steep led.![y slope hroken o/ small cltllS 

s 

-6 

7 

Red san</y shele and flne -tfralned m assive frlahle red .sandstone which exhlbt'ts concretion8ry 

stru ct-ure; base oF /Ormation concealed Beds lOrn? slope 

COLUMNAR E TIO F THE KAIBAB Ll E I IB AH 

With a part. of the overlying Moenkopi f nnat.ion 11nd of th uod rlyiog Uermit. shale 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 150 PLATE 13 

A. KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH, LOOKING WESTWARD UP THE GULCH FROM A POINT 

NEAR THE MOUTH 

m, Moenkopi formation; a, h, subdivisions A and B of Kaibab limestone. The strata dip toward the observer, and the bed of the gulch descends in the same direction hut at a lower angle, so that suc- cessively lower strata are encountered in ascending the gulch. The summit of the Kaibab lime- stone (shown in B) is crossed at the mouth of the ~u!ch, and the base (shown in C) about a mile above the mouth. Thus a traverse of the bed of the gulch yields a complete section of the formation 

B. CONTACT BETWEEN MOENKOPI FORMATION AND KAIBAB LIMESTONE AT THE 

MOUTH OF KAIBAR GULCH 

m, :Moenkopi f ormation; a , limestone at top of subdivision A of Kaibab limestone 

C. CONTACT BETWEEN KAIBAB LDfESTONE AND HERMIT SHALE IN KAIBAB GULCH 

d, e, Subdivisions D and E of Kaibab limestone; h, Hermit shale 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 150 PLATE 14 

A 

B 

A, B. UNCONFORMITY BETWEEN HERMIT SHALE AND SUPAI FORMATION IN 

CANYON OF LOWER KANAB CREEK NEAR JUMPUP CANYON, UTAH 

k, Kaibab limestone; c, Coconino sandstone; h, Hermit shale; s, Supai formation. In A the hill of sandstone of the Supai formation in the lower right corner projects 30 feet above the base of the Hermit shale in the hollow at the left of the hill. In B the base of the Hermit shale in the steep- sided hollow at the right is 40 feet below the summit of the sandstone of the Supai formation at the left of the hollow 

C. CANYON OF LOWER KAIBAB CREEK, UTAH 

Looking south near mouth of Jumpup Ca!§!.)'ii!f. showing broad platform ("The Esplanade") on the summit of the Supai formation at the h~rizon of the unconformity shown in A and B. k, Kaibab limestone; c, Coconino sandstone; h, Hermit shale; s, Supai formation; ig, inner gorge of Kanab Creek. In structure. composition, and moje of weathering the cross-bedded sandstone at the top of the Supai sandstone shown in the view is strikingly similar to the Navajo sandstone exposed in Glen Canyon of Colorado River. A water pocket in the sandstone of the Supai is shown in the lower right corner 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, . UTAH 47 

Section at Bass trail 

General section 

Kaibab limestone (Permian): 

A. Gray crystalline limestone, very fossiliferous and 

somewhat cherty, passing at base and top into 

alternating beds of very cherty limestone and 

buff calcareous sandstone; forms cliffs and 

Feet 

steep slopes_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 292 

B. Buff and reddish fine-grained sandstone, poorly 

consolidated and irregularly bedded, containing beds of sandy breccia near top; forms 

~ope~----------------------------------- 136 

C. Buff sandstone and limestone in alternating beds, 

passing at top into massive siliceous limestone; 

upper portion forms a strong cliff; central 

portion forms cliffs and ledges; lower portion 

forms a slope____________________________ 134 

Coconino sandstone (Permian): 

Pale-buff, uniformly fine-grained sandstone, characterized by cross-bedding on a huge scale; presents the appearance of a single massive bed; 

forms the strongest and highest cliff in the upper 

562 

wall of the canyon_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 330 

Hermit shale (Permian) : 

Deep brick-red sandy shale and fine-grained friable 

sandstone; characterized in upper portion by 

concretionary structure; beds form slope_______ 332 

Unconformity. 

Detailed section 

Kaibab limestone: 

A. 1. Limestone, buff, compact; effervesces strongly 

with dilute hydrochloric acid; caps a small 

cliff on the rim of the Grand Canyon at the 

head of Bass trail. Bass Camp, on the 

Coconino Plateau, at the head of the trail, 

is built on this stratum. Higher beds, 

which form the surface of the plateau just 

east of the camp, are not included in this 

section_______________________________ 2 

2. Limestone, buff, siliceous; texture compact, 

chalky; contains small cavities lined with 

tiny crystals __________________________ _ 

3. Sandstone, buff, fine grained, calcareous; 

effervesces with acid ___________________ _ 

4. Alternating thin beds of variegated chert and 

fine-grained calcareous sandstone _______ _ 

5. Limestone, gray, crystalline, very cherty, fossiliferous. The chert occurs in nodules and 

in bands; in places it constitutes half of 

the rock. Aside from the abundance of 

chert the limestone resembles No. 6 ______ _ 

6. Limestone, gray, hard, crystalline, somewhat 

cherty, very fossiliferous; effervesces 

strongly with aCid. Beds differ greatly in 

thickness; some afe a few inches thick 

others several feet. The chert occurs i~ scattered nodules and in bands but is not 

a conspicuous feature of the rock ________ _ 

7. Alternating beds of fine-grained buff calcareous sa_11d~tone, buff limestone, and chert; 

form small conspicuous cliff ____________ _ 

8. Limestone, gray, hard, crystalline, somewhat 

cherty, fossiliferous; resembles No.6 ____ _ 

6 

5 

25 

40 

126 

10 

60 

Kaibab limestone-Continued. Feet 

A. 9. Sandstone, lemon-buff, fine grained, calcareous; bedding irregular, gnarly; forms a 

gentle slope covered in most places by 

talus ____________ --~---------------- 10 

10. Limestone, thin bedded, very cherty; effervesces with acid. The chert constitutes 

more than half of the rock and occurs in 

parallel bands whose average thickness is 2 

inches________________________________ 8 

292 

B. 1. Sandstone, buff, massive, fine grained, calcareous; effervesces weakly with acid_______ 4 

2. Breccia composed chiefly of angular fragments· of evenly bedded buff fine-grained 

sandstone embedded in a matrix of fine 

lemon-buff sand; contains a few fragments 

of siliceous limestone. The fragments 

range in diameter from less than an inch to 

more than 4 feet. The contact of the 

breccia with the underlying sandstone is 

wavy and irregular, exhibiting in places 

inequalities of several feet _____________ :._ 17 

3. Sandstone, buff, fine grained, friable. The 

component grains are quartz, as in other 

sandstones of the Kaibab, but are very 

loosely cemented, so that the rock crumbles 

to ·sand when struck with the hammer_____ 1 

4. Sandstone, like No. 3 but bright red________ 2 

5: Buff sandstone, like No. 3_________________ 8 

6. Bright-red sandstone, like No.4___________ 2 

7. Lemon-buff sandstone, like No. 3_ _ _ _ _ _____ 5 

8. Bright-red sandstone, like No. 4; contains a 

l-inch layer of pale-green sandstone in the 

centrdpart ______________________ :_____ 7 

9. Sandstone, lemon buff, fine grained, friable; 

bedding irregular, gnarly; contact with 

underlying sandstone slightly wavy and 

irregular_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 

10. Sandstone, bright red, shaly; bedding gnarly; 

contact with underlying breccia wavy and 

irregular, exhibiting inequalities of 2 feet or 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

more_________________________________ 3 

·Breccia composed of angular fragments of finegrained sandstone averaging 4 inches in 

diameter. Very little matrix between the 

fragments. The contact with the underlying sandstone is irregular, exhibiting inequalities of several feet________________ 4 

Reddish-buff loosely consolidated fine.;.grained 

sandstone in indistinct but fairly even beds, 

some of which display gnarly structure; 

forms debris-covered slope; exposures poor. 

The upper 3 feet of the sandstone is bright 

red and thinly laminated________________ 12 

Sandstone, like No. 12, but more compact, 

forming a weak cliff; gnarled and twisted 

structure very pronounced; color lemonbuff to reddish buff_____________________ 10 

Sandstone, like No. 12, very soft, forming a 

gentle slope that is covered nearly everywhere by talus; no good exposures obtainable; white, lemon-buff, greenish, and 

bright red; in some places the color is in 

blotches or streaks; in other places a single 

color characterizes each bed_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 58 

136 
48 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

Kaibab hmestone-Continued. Feet 

C. 1. Limestone, buff, dense, siliceous; in heavy, 

massive beds; forms a strong cliff; contains 

much chert in bands and nodules and 

many small cavities lined with crystals of 

quartz or calcite. In app~arance the rock 

suggests silicified chalk. Some beds effervesce weakly with acid_______________ 48 

2. Limestone, like No. 1 but in thinner beds (1 

foot or less), which are separated by thin 

partings of buff fine-grained shaly sandstone; forms a steep !edgy slope__________ 12 

3. Limestone like No. 1; forms a cliff__________ 16 

4. Shaly sandstone, lemon-buff, soft, thin bedded, 

fine grained; makes alcove under over- hanging cliff of No. 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 

5. Limestone, buff, in heavy beds with thin 

sandy partings; not notably siliceous; ef- -

fervesces strongly with acid; forms cliff____ 8% 

6. Shaly sandstone, like No. 4; makes alcove 

under overhanging cliff of No. 5__________ 3 

7. Limestone, like No. 5 but in thinner beds (1 

or less); forms slope ___ ----------------- 11 

8. Limestone, buff, dense, siliceous, in heavy 

beds; contains many crystal-lined cavities 

apparently formed by the solution of 

brachiopods; does not effervesce with acid_ 5% 

9. Limestone, like No. 7, in beds separated by 

very thin partings of sand_______________ 5 

10. Sandstone, buff, fine grained_______________ 5 

11. Limestone, like No. 7, but in a single bed____ 1% 

12. Sandstone, buff, fine grained_______________ 6 

. 13. Limestone, buff, siliceous, fossiliferous; does 

not effervesce with acid; contains many 

small cavities lined with calcite crystals___ 1% 

14. Alternating beds of lemon-buff fine-grained 

sandstone and buff limestone; beds aver- age 3 inches thick__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ P 

15. Limestone, buff, not notably siliceous; effervesces strongly with acid______________ % 

16. Sandstone, lemon-buff, fine grained_________ 2 

17. Sandstone, red, fine grained. The base of 

this layer truncates inclined laminae of 

the underlying Coconino sandstone, which 

dip 15° s ______________________________ ~ 

134 

Coconino sandstone: Pale-buff fine-grained sandstone,---

cross-bedded on a huge scale; appears like 

single massive bed; forms highest cliff in 

upper wall of canyon. The base of the 

sandstone is marked by an abrupt change 

from buff sandstone to underlying red 

shale, and the contact is an even line. In 

places the under surface of the sandstone 

shows impressions of sun cracks. For 25 

feet above the base the cross bedding is 

on a small scale, and horizontal layers alt0rnate with cross-bedded layers; then the 

coarse cross-bedding begins and continues 

upward until the sandstone is truncated by 

the level base of the Kaibab__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 330 

Hermit shale: 

1. Sandstone, red, soft, fine grained, massive, with 

a thin layer of green shale at the top. Exhibits well-marked concretionary structure; 

the concretions are spheroidal forms which 

range from half an inch to 4 feet in diameter 

and consist of the general mass of the rock; 

in weathering the rock splits off in concentric 

shells along the concretionary surfaces______ 5 

Hermit shale-Continued. Feet 

2. Sandstone, fine grained, massive; resembles the 

Coconino sandstone in texture and composition but is not cross-bedded; lower half buff; 

upper half red with buff blotches____________ 6 

3. Concretionary sandstone, like No. 1, in massive 

layers____________________________________ 16 

4. Shale, deep red, thinly laminated, sandy_______ 24 

5. Beds of soft massive concretionary red sandstone 

like No. 1 alternating with thinner beds of 

deep-red shale like No. 4; sandstones and 

shales not conspicuously different in composition__________________________________ 28 

6. Shale, deep red, sandy______________________ 16 

7. Sandstone, pink, hard, very fine grained; contains cracks and cavities filled with crystals 

of calcite (dog-tooth spar); rock itself does not 

effervesce with acid; forms small prominent 

cliff______________________________________ 6 

8. Shale, soft, brick-red, thinly laminated, sandy__ 28 

9. Sandstone, brick-red, friable, massive; forms 

weak cliff _____________________________ -___ 2 

All underlying beds of shale are like No. 8; 

all underlying beds of sandstone like No. 9. 

The beds designated shale and sandstone aotually differ little in composition; both consist 

essentially of sandy mud colored red by a 

strong ferritic pigment. The beds designated 

sandstone are massive and relatively compact, 

as contrasted with the beds designated shale, 

which are thinly laminated and soft. Both 

types of rock are friable . 

10. Shale, containing beds of massive friable sandstone near the toP----------------~------- 33 

11. Sandstone in massive beds; contains a 1-foot 

layer of shale in the middle part; forms weak 

cliffs_____________________________________ 8 

12. Shale______________________________________ 11 

13. Sandstone; forms weak cliff___________________ 10 

14. Shale______________________________________ 33 

15. Alternating lenticular beds of intraformational 

conglomerate and red fine-grained sandstone 

averaging 1 foot in thickness; beds display 

indistinct sun cracks and rain prints; form 

weak cliff. The conglomerate consists chiefly 

of flattened pebbles of fine-grained sandstone 

or sandy shale less than 1 inch in diameter, 

embedded in a matrix of red sandy mud but 

contains some nodular or concretionary fragments of limestone________________________ 6 

16. Shale______________________________________ 11 

17. Sandstone__________________________________ 3 

18. Shale______________________________________ 40 

19. Sandstone__________________________________ 2 

20. Shale______________________________________ 6 

21. Sandstone; forms weak cliff__________________ 5 

22. Sha~-------------------------------------- 16 

23. Sandstone; forms weak cliff__________________ 5 

24. Shale______________________________________ 12 

332 

A comparison shows that the section at Kaibab 

Gulch and the section at the Bass trail are remarkably 

alike, notwithstanding the fact that they are 65 miles 

apart. The major subdivisions of the Kaibab limestone seen at the Bass trail are at once recognizable in 

the section at Kaibab Gulch, each subdivision at either 

place consisting of beds that are similar in lithology 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 49 

and succession and exhibit a similar topographic 

profile to those that make up the corresponding subdivision at the other place. Many beds at corresponding horizons in the two localities are lithologically identical. The chief differences between the 

two sections are the absence of the Coconino sandstone at Kaibab Gulch and the fact that the topmost 

subdivision of the Kaibab limestone (subdivision A of 

the Kaibab Gulch section) apparently is not represented at the Bass trail. Moreover, all the subdi-

·visions of the Kaibab are somewhat thicker at Kaibab 

·Gulch than they are at Bass Canyon, and most of 

-them include a somewhat greater variety of beds. 

There can be no reasonable doubt that the 55 feet 

-of red shale and sandstone exposed beneath the 

Kaibab limestone in Kaibab Gulch is equivalent to a 

part of the Hermit shale of the Bass Canyon section. 

The evidence upon which this correlation is based is 

-the peculiar and distinctive character of the beds at 

the top of the Hermit shale; At the Bass trail, as 

may be seen in the detailed section, many beds in the 

upper 79 feet (units 1 to 5) of the Hermit shale exhibit 

.a well-marked concretionary structure that appears 

.only on weathered surfaces of the rock. A similar 

structure is characteristic of the upper part of the 

-formation at other localities where I have examined 

:it in detail-at Hermit Basin, the type locality; 5 

and at Jumpup Canyon in the valley of lower Kanab 

Creek. · (See p. 54.) Inasmuch as the localities are 

-widely separated, it is evident that the concretionary 

-structure is a persistent and widespread feature of the 

upper part of the Hermit shale. Now the red sandy 

-shale and sandstone beneath the Kaibab limestone in 

Xaibab Gulch are identical in composition and appear-

.ance with the rocks that constitute the Hermit shale 

at the Bass trail ap.d at the type locality in Hermit 

:Basin, and they exhibit the concretionary structure just 

.-described. They can not possibly represept the Coco-

:nino sandstone, a buff cross-bedded sandstone, whose 

appearance and lithologic character are distinctive 

and unmistakable, and they do not resemble the rocks 

.. characteristic of the upper part of the Supai formation, 

which are chiefly hard cross-bedded sandstones. I 

have therefore assigned them to the Hermit shale and 

-correlated them with the upper part of that formation 

as exposed at the Bass trail. The thickness of the 

Hermit shale at Kaibab Gulch is of course unknown, 

because the base is not exposed there. 

The series of beds that constitutes subdivision C, 

the lowest subdivision of the Kaibab lim~stone at the 

Bass trail, corresponds closely in lithology., succession, 

and topographic expression to the series that constitutes subdivisions D and E of the section at Kaibab 

6Noble, L. F., A section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at the 

.Bass trail: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131, pl. 19, 1922. 

Gulch and is almost certainly its stratigraphic equivalent. When I measured the section at the Bass trail 

I could have divided subdivision C into two units, 

which in lithology and topographic profile would be as 

distinct from each other as subdivisions D and E at 

Kaibab Gulch. The lower part of subdivision Cat the 

Bass trail consists of beds 9 to 17, described in the 

detailed section (p. 48). This series of alternating 

sandstone and limestone, which is 28 feet thick at the 

Bass trail, closely resembles the series of alternating 

sandstone and limestone that constitutes subdivision E 

at Kaibab Gulch and is45 feet thick. At both localities 

the sandstones range from buff and pink to a peculiar 

shade of lemon-yellow and are · fine-grained, soft, and 

for the most part thinly laminated, and the limestones 

are buff, thin bedded, and more or less siliceous. In 

general the sandstones are somewhat more irregularly 

bedded at Kaibab Gulch than at the Bass trail, and 

the limestones are rather more sandy, but these differences are not essential. At both localities these beds 

form a slope which is in strong topographic contrast 

with the cliffs formed by the massive limestone above 

them. In view of all these facts I have correlated 

the slope-forming part of subdivision C at the Bass 

trail with subdivision E at Kaibab Gulch. 

At the Bass trail a thin bed of very fossiliferous 

limestone (No. 13) occurs in the lower middle part 

of the slope-forming unit of subdivision C. At 

Kaibab Gulch two very thin beds of similar fossiliferous limestone (Nos. 9 and 11), separated by a 6-inch 

parting of calcareous shale, occur in the lower part of 

subdivision E. No other beds in the two units 

appear to contain fossils at either locality. Although 

the distance between the localities is much too great 

for correlation of individual thin beds, the occurrence 

of the fossiliferous beds at approximately the same 

horizon in the two sections suggests that these fossiliferous beds are stratigraphically equivalent and 

serves further ·to emphasize the lithologic similarity 

of the two sections. · 

The upper part of subdivision C at the Bass trail 

consists of beds 1 to 8 described in the detailed 

section (p. 48), is 106 feet thick, and is composed 

almost entirely of limestone. The topmost bed 

(No. 1) is a massive buff siliceous limestone containing bands and nodules of chert and many small 

cavities lined with crystals of quartz or calcite. This 

bed, which is 48 feet thick, is very hard and forms a 

strong cliff. Below it is a bed (No. 2) composed of 

layers of similar limestone separated by thin partings 

of shaly sandstone. This bed, which is 13 feet thick, 

forms a steep ledgy slope. Below the slope-forming -

bed is a set of beds (Nos. 3 to 8) consisting chiefly of 

massive buff cherty and vesicular limestone like No. 1 

but including a few thin interbedded layers of sand-
50 SHORTER CONTUIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, ·1 927 

stone. This set of beds, 46 feet thick, makes a series 

of cliffs broken at intervals by narrow ledges at the 

horizons where partings of sand occur. 

Subdivision D of the Kaibab Gulch section, like the 

cliff-forming unit at the . Bass trail just described, 

consists chiefly of limestone that makes strong cliffs, 

includes also a few beds of sandstone, and is 119 feet 

thick. Most of the limestone is similar in composition 

and appearance to that which constitutes the cliffforming unit at the Bass trail, for it is buff, massive, 

siliceous, more or less cherty, and vesicular, containing many small cavities lined with quartz crystals. 

Indeed, the limestones are so alike at both localities 

that, aside from differences in thickness,. the lithologic 

description of any one of beds 2, 3, or 8 at Kaibab 

Gulch might be applied without change to any one 

of beds 1, 3, or 8 at the Bass trail. 

Accordingly I 'have correlated the upper or cliffforming unit of subdivision C at the Bass trail with 

subdivision D at Kaibab Gulch. Although the 

distance between the localities makes definite correlation ofindividual beds impossible, it is probable that 

the limestone bed, No. 1, which makes a cliff at the 

top of the cliff-forming unit of subdivision C at the 

Ba~s trail, is roughly equivalent to the limestone 

beds, Nos. 1 to 5, which make a cliff at the top of 

subdivision D at Kaibab Gulch; that the underlying 

slope-forming bed of limestone and shaly sandstone, 

No. 2, at the Bass trail is roughly equivalent to the 

slope-forming beds of calcareous sandstone and 

arenaceous limestone, Nos. 6 and 7, at Kaibab 

Gulch; and that the lower cliff-forming beds of 

limestone and sandstone, Nos. 3 to 8, at the Bass 

trail are roughly equivalent to the similar cliff-forming 

beds, Nos. 8 to 12, at Kaibab Gulch. 

The only rock in subdivision D at Kaibab Gulch that 

has no counterpart in the corresponding unit at the 

Bass trail is a 9-foot bed of hard fine-grained buff 

sandstone, No. 10, which lies 10 feet above the base 

of the subdivision. A peculiar feature of this sandstone 

is the occurrence in it of lenses of fine conglomerate 

whose constituent pebbles are tiny sheaflike aggregates 

of radially disposed crystals. The basal 3 feet of the 

sandstone is strongly cross-bedded, whereas the. upper 

6 feet exhibits gnarly, contorted bedding. The radial 

aggregates ofquartz crystals appear to be confined to 

the cross-bedded lower part of the sandstone. Where 

free from conglomerate the cross-bedded sandstone at 

first sight resembles the typical Coconino sandstone 

of the Grand Canyon-so much so that, when I first 

encountered blocks of the sandstone in talus in the 

bed of Kaibab Gulch, I thought that they .were fragments of the Coconino sandstone and . that I should 

therefore find the Coconino below the base of the 

Kaibab higher up the gulch. However, when I traced 

the fragments to their source and found the parent 

bed (No. 10) in the Kaibab limestone at a horizon 

more than 50 feet above the base of beds lithologically 

similar to Kaibab beds that overlie the Coconino at 

the Bass trail, it was evident that the bed could not 

possibly represent the Coconino sandstone. Closer 

inspection showed that it differs from the Coconino of 

the type locality in that the sand grains are bound 

together by calcareous cement, whereas the ·cementing 

material of the typical Coconino is siliceous. Moreover 

it is vesicular, whereas the Coconino sandstone is 

compact and massive. Nor are streaks of conglomerate 

known to occur in the Coconino, one of whose distinctive features in the type locality is its uniform 

fineness of grain. 

Subdivision B of the Kaibab.limestone at the Bass 

trail, 136 feet thick, is composed entirely of sandstone 

and is the most sharply defined unit of the formation 

in the Kaibab division of the Grand Canyon. The 

sandstone is soft and friable, so that everywhere the 

subdivision makes a gentle slope, in contrast with the 

cliffs and steep slopes formed by the overlying and 

underlying limestone subdivisions. At most places 

the sandstone exhibits reddish and yellowish hues, 

which contrast strikingly with the grays and pale 

buffs of the adjacent limestone. The lithologic character of the subdivision, moreover, is peculiar and 

distinctive. 1-fuch of the sandstone exhibits a gnarly, 

contorted structure, which appears to be a form of 

cross-bedding. Wavy, irregular contacts separate 

many of the beds. Local unconformities are common. 

Interbedded with the sandstone are. irregular beds of 

sandy breccia, which, although they do not occur 

everywhere at the same horizon, are a constant 

feature of the subdivision wherever it is exposed. At 

some places in the Kaibab division the breccia consists of angular fragments of sandstone and other 

rocks in an irregularly bedded matrix of sandy material, resembles a coarse fanglomerate, and is clearly 

of detrital <;>rigin; at other places it has the appearance of rock that has been brecciated in place, either 

by pressure or by the beds caving in and breaking 

because some soluble material, perhaps gypsum, was 

leached out. of them. In places the breccia is associated with deposits of travertine. At some places, 

although not at the Bass trail, lenses of sandy red shale 

are interbedded with the sandstone and breccia. 

Subdivision C at Kaibab Gulch, 150 feet thick, 

occupies the same position in the Kaibab limestone 

that subdivision B occupies at the Bass trail. It consists of soft slope-making beds of sandstone and sandy 

breccia tha~ exhibits. all the distinctive characteristics just described and is a no less sharply ·defined 

unit than subdivision B. Unquestionably, therefore, 

subdivision B at the Bass trail· is the stratigraphic 

equivalent of subdivision 0 at Kaibab Gulch:·· -- · As 

may be seen. ·in the det~iled sections there is no .essential difference in the lithology of the two subdivisions. 

In general, the beds at Kaibab Gulch are more cal-
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 51 

careous than those at the Bass trail, for they include 

beds of travertine and a few beds of limestone. Lenses 

of red shale occur at Kaibab Gulch but not at the 

Bass trail. However, beds of red shale, travertine, and 

sandy limestone similar to those at . Kaibab Gulch 

occur in subdivision B at places in the Grand Canyon 

not far from the Bass trail. 

The sandstone breccia unit just described 1s certainly a widespread and persistent member of the 

Kaibab limestone. Its presence at Kaibitb Gulch, 

as well as throughout the Kaibab division of the 

Grand Canyon, indicates that it underlies all the 

Kaibab Plateau. It is exposed at many localities in 

a wide region west and northwest of the Kaibab 

Plateau, as is shown in the sections of the Kaibab 

limestone measured by Reeside and Bassler. 6 It is 

present in the region around Cataract Creek, as 

shown in a section measured by Newberry. 7 The 

origin of· this member of the Kaibab is an interesting 

problem, for although the member is overlain and 

underlain by fossiliferous limestones that are unquestionably marine, some lithologic features suggest 

that not all parts of it are of marine origin. The beds 

of travertine at Kaibab Gulch, for example, are 

indistinguishable in appearance from certain beds of 

fresh-water limestone that occur in Tertiary deposits 

of the desert region of California and Nevada,notably 

at Callville Wash, in southern Nevada, and in the 

Death Valley region of California. The presence of 

breccia beds resembling fanglomerate is suggestive, 

as is also the presence of red shale. Some of the 

shale exhibits sun cracks. West of the Kaibab Plateau the member contains beds of gypsum at many 

horizons, as is shown in the sections measured by 

Reeside and Bassler · and by Newberry. A ·section 

that I measured at Jumpup Canyon, near Kanab 

Creek, where the m'ember contains a great deal of 

gypsum, is _given on pages 54-57, for comparison with 

the section at Kaibab Gulch. Similar occurrences of 

gypsum· are very common in Tertiary and Quaternary 

beds of the Grea.t Basin region that are certainly not 

marine. ·On the other hand, beds of fossiliferous 

marine limestone occur · in the upper part of this 

sandstone breccia member at Jumpup Canyon not 

far above beds that contain gypsum, and in different 

parts of the region gypsum occurs in other members 

of the Kaibab that contain fossiliferous marine 

limestone. 

Subdivision A at the Bass trail, 292 feet thick, ·is 

composed chiefly of gray crystalline fossiliferous 

cherty limestone but includes beds of calcareous 

sandstone. The chert is exceedingly abundant in 

this subdivision throughout the Grand • Canyon 

6 Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, Stratigraphic sections in southwestern 

Utah and northwestern Arizona: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 129, pp. 58-59, 

69-77, 1922. 

7 Newberry, J. S.,_ Report upon the Colorado River of the West, explored in 

1857..:58 by Lieut. J. C. Ives, pt. 3, Geological Report, 1861. 

region, and it is to this feature that the Kaibab limestone owes the old name "cherty limestone," given 

to . it by the early geologic explorers. At the Bass 

trail the chert is most abundant near the base and top 

of the subdivision; near the top it forms a conspicuous 

set of beds (No. 4) composed of almost solid layers of 

chert alternating with layers of calcareous sandstone. 

This set· of alternating beds is present __ and . easily 

recognizable everywhere in the Kaibab division of 

the canyon. The limestone beds ih the middle part 

of the subdivision (Nos. 5,- 6, and 8) are exceedingly 

fossiliferous, and the fauna of beds 6 'and 8, at least, 

is the so-called "Productus ivesi" fauna of the 

"normal Kaibab" type 8 and not the upper "Bellerophon limestone" fauna of the Kaibab. _ Whether bed 

5 or the overlying beds at the top of the subdivision 

at the Bass trail contain the "Bellerophon" fauna or 

the "Productus ivesi" fauna has not been determined. The subdivision as a whole is a strong. cliff 

maker, and its topographic profile is a succession of 

cliffs and steep slopes. 

Subdivision B at Kaibab Gulch, 326 feet thick, 

consists of be<;ls that differ in no essential particular 

from those that constitute subdivision A at the Bass 

trail; they are composed chiefly of massive gray 

crystalline limestone, which is fossiliferous and cherty. 

As in A at the Bass trail, the limestones in the middle 

of subdivision B at Kaibab Gulch (beds 3 a'nd 6) are 

very fossiliferous, and bed 6, at least, contains the 

"Productus ivesi" fa una; as in A, the chert becomes 

particularly abundant near the top of the subdivision, 

where it forms a set of beds alternating with earthy 

limestone layers (No. 2), which are a counterpart of 

the alternating chert and calcareous sandstone bed·s 

(No. 4) near the top of A. Like A, the entire subdivision is a cliff maker. Disregarding a few feet of 

beds at the base and top ~f A at the Bass trail whose 

correlation is uncertain, the-subdivision is undoubtedly 

the stratigraphic equivalent of B at Kaibab Gulch. 

Although it is not possibl~ definitely to correlate 

individual beds in the · two sections owing to th.e distance that separates the localities, it seems probable 

that beds 5 to 10 of the . Bass trail subdivision ·are 

together roughly equivalent to beds 3 to 7 of the 

Kaibab Gulch subdivision; and that bed 4 at the 

Bass trail, consisting of alternating layers. of chert and 

calcareous sandstone, is equivalent to bed 2 at Kaibab 

Gulch, consisting of a similar set of alternating layers 

of chert and sandy limestone. It is possible, however, 

that bed 5 at the Bass trail is also all orin part equivalent to bed 2 at Kaibab Gulch. Bed 5 at Kaibab Gulch, 

a hard quartzitic cross-bedded sandstone, appears to 

have no counterpart in the section at the Bass trail. 

The correlation of beds 1, .2, and 3 at the top of subdivision A at the Bass trail is altogether uncertain; 

theY. may be equiv-alent to. beds .at the --summit -of B 

s Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., pp: 66-67. · 
52 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

at Kaibab Gulch, but it is conceivable that they, 

together with some overlying beds exposed on the 

Coconino Plateau that are not included in the Bass 

trail section, are equivalent to a part of A, the topmost subdivision of the Kaibab limestone at Kaibab 

Gulch. 

SECTIONS MEASURED BY REESIDE AND BASSLER IN 

SOUTHWESTERN UTAH AND NORTHWESTERN ARIZONA 

In 1919 J. B. Reeside, jr., and Harvey Bassler mad.e 

a stratigraphic reconnaissance of southwestern Utah 

and northwestern Arizona in the course of which they 

measured 22 detailed sections of the Paleozoic and 

Mesozoic rocks at separate localities scattered over 

this wide region. These sections are described in a 

report published by the Geological Survey in 1922.9 

Most of the sections include a part of the Kaibab 

limestone, and many of them include all of it. The 

location of all these sections that lie within a radius of 

85 miles of Kaibab Gulch is shown in Figure 1. These 

sections are by far the most important contribution to 

the study of the formation that has be_en made. As 

summarized and discussed by Reeside and Bassler they 

constitute the standard section to which all sections 

of the Kaibab limestone in the neighboring region 

must be referred for comparison and correlation. 

The general section of the Kaibab limestone for the 

area studied by Reeside and Bassler is summarized as 

follows: 

Section of K aibab limestone 

5. Harrisburg gypsiferous member: Gypsum, shale, 

and limestone, with platy chert. Locally the 

Feet 

"Bellerophon limestone" at top_____________ D-280± 

4. Upper limestone member: Massive cliff-forming 

cherty gray limestone ______________________ 185-455 

3. Upper slope-forming member: Soft beds resembling basal member------------------------ 8D-285 

2. Lower limestone member: Massive gray limestone with much chert ______________________ 15D-230 

1. Lower slope-forming member: Gypsum, gray and 

yellow shale, soft gray sandstone, and some 

thin-bedded dark-drab limestone_____________ D-100 

The writers state: 10 

In most of the exposures seen in our work the Kaibab limestone shows a fivefold topographic and lithologic division-(1) 

a lower soft member consisting of gypsum, gray and yellow 

shale, soft gray sandstone, and subordinate amounts of thinbedded dark-drab limestone; (2) a lower cliff-forming member 

of gray massive limestone with much brown to black concretionary chert; (3) an upper soft member with much the same 

character as the lower one; (4) an upper massive cliff-forming 

limestone which is similar to the lower one but contains more 

chert and which from ·Bright Angel Creek to southwestern 

Utah shows towerlike erosion forms along its upper cliff face; 

(5) a topmost member, less resistant than the underlying beds 

and highly variable in composition and thickness, consisting of 

shale, gypsum, and limestone. The limestone of the top member is at some places arenaceous, at others partly silicified, at 

still others filled with masses of light-colored chert that breaks 

9 Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit. 

10 Idem, p. 58. 

into flat platy fragments; at many places the upper layers 

contain many small angular fragments of chert. In color it is 

light gray, yellowish brown, pink, and rarely a sugary white. 

The sandstone is gray to yellow, calcareous, and locally gypseous-that is, it has a gypsum cement. The shale may be 

gray, yellow, or rarely red. It is usually gypseous and in some 

places sandy. 

These divisions of the Kaibab limestone vary much in thickness from point to point, and it seems unlikely that exactly the 

same beds enter into the same divisions at all localities. * * * 

The topmost member (5) is composed of peculiar and characteristic rocks. It may be recognized, in spite of its variability, wherever it occurs, and as it is a definite unit between 

the upper cliff-forming limestone of the Kaibab and the basal 

beds of the Moenkopi formation it is here named the Harrisburg gypsiferous member, from its occurrence in the Harrisburg 

dome, 8 miles east of St. George. A section measured here 

shows a thickness of 280 feet. This member may be absent 

from some of the sections examined, but in others it reaches a 

thickness of nearly 300 feet. It is apparently the same unit 

as that designated "Super-Aubrey beds" by Huntington and 

Goldthwait. The uppermost limestone beds locally contain an 

abundance of a species of Bellerophon and are the "Bellerophon 

limestone" of some of the earlier geologists. 

The section of the Kaibab limestone at Kaibab 

Gulch shows a fivefold topographic and lithologic 

division comparable to the fivefold division of the 

general section for southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona just described, and it appears highly 

probable that the subdivisions of the section at 

Kaibab Gulch are equivalent to the subdivisions of 

Reeside and Bassler's general section, although the 

correlation of A, the topmost subdivision at Kaibab 

Gulch, is more uncertain than that of the other four. 

Inasmuch as the nearest section measured by Reeside 

and Bassler (locality 5, fig. 1) is 53 miles from Kaibab 

Gulch and all the other sections more than 68 miles 

distant, it is hardly to be expected that equivalent 

subdivisions would correspond in all details of lithology 

and contain exactly the same beds. Nevertheless, in 

a broad way, they correspond remarkably-as closely, 

indeed, as the subdivisions at the Bass trail correspond 

with those at Kaibab Gulch; so that correlation can 

be made with at least as much confidence as that 

between the Bass trail and Kaibab Gulch sections. 

Subdivision E, the basal slope-making unit at 

Kaibab Gulch, which consists chiefly of soft sandstone and includes thin beds of limestone, some shale, 

and a thin bed or two of sandy breccia, is almost 

certainly the correlative of No. 1, the "lower slopeforming member" of Reeside and Bassler, composed 

of gypsum, gray and yellow shale, soft sandstone, and 

thin-bedded limestone. Like subdivision C, which is 

composed of soft sandstone, sandy breccia, and shale 

similar to those which occur in E, the unit contains 

gypsum .west of the Kaibab Plateau in the region 

studied by Reeside and Bassler but does not contain 

it at Kaibab Gulch nor in the Kaibab division of the 

Grand Canyon. 

Subdivision D, which constitutes the lower cliffmaking unit of the Kaibab limestone at Kaibab 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 53 

Gulch and consists chiefly of massive siliceous cherty 

limestone of a distinctive type, is certainly roughly 

equivalent to No.2, the "lower cliff-forming member" 

("lower limestone member") of Reeside and Bassler, 

which consists of similar limestone. 

Subdivision C, the sharply defined slope-making 

unit in the middle of the Kaibab at Kaibab Gulch, 

which is composed of soft sandstone, sandy bteccia, 

and travertine, is the equivalent of No.3, the "lupper 

slope-forming member" of Reeside and Bassler, 

which, like No. I, consists of soft sandstone, lshale, 

and thin-bedded limestone and includes beds of gypsum. Subdivision C does not contain gyps~m at 

Kaibab Gulch; nevertheless its correlation wit~ I No.3 

is definitely established, for at Jumpup Crnyon 

(locality 4, fig. I), on the border of the region studied 

by Reeside and Bassler, where I measured a section of 

the Kaibab limestone (p. 54), the equivalent urult contains many beds of gyp'Sum interstratified wit~ beds 

of soft sandstone, breccia, and shale that are I lithologically identical with the beds of sandstone, breccia, I 

and shale that constitute subdivision C at j aibab 

Gulch. 

Subdivision B, the upper cliff-making member of 

the I{aibab at Kaibab Gulch, is composed of the type 

of rock that is most commonly associated with the 

name Kaibab limestone in the minds of geologisrls who 

have worked in the plateau region-the massive gray 

or buff cherty fossiliferous limestone that is conspicuously exposed in the cliffs under the rim bf the 

Grand Canyon in the ~aibab and Coconino Pla eaus. 

All the lower half of the subdivision . contains rossils 

of the typical "Productus ivesi" fauna in great 

abundance. Fossils are almost as abundant at many 

horizons in the upper half, but unfortunately I did 

not determine whether they represent the "Productus ivesi" fauna or the higher "Bellerophon" ~anna. 

No. 4, the "upper limestone member" (or "fpper 

massive cliff-forming member") of Reeside and Bassler, consists, like subdivision B, of the familiar qherty 

limestone which "from Bright Angel Creek to ,outhwestern Utah shows towerlike erosion forn1s alofg its 

upper cliff face." The abundant fossils that it contains represent the "Productus ivesi" fauna. In all 

probability the whole of subdivision B is equivalknt to 

No. 4, although it is barely possible that the hpper 

part of B, the character of whose fauna has no ~ been 

detern1ined, may represent a part of the Harribburg 

member of Reeside and Bassler. The beds * the 

upper half of B, however, do not at all suggest lthose 

of the Harrisburg member in lithology and order of 

succession, notwithstanding the fact that the Hjarrisburg nwmber is an exceedingly variable unit. .I 

Subdivision A at Kaibab Gulch, which consists at 

the top of massive buff limestone and contains at the 

bas·e very irregular beds of coarse breccia-conglorrlerate 

interstratified with shale and soft sandstone, appar954890-28--5 

ently represents No. 5, the Harrisburg gypsiferous 

member of Reeside and Bassler, which, as shown by 

those writers, occupies the stratigraphic position of A 

and which, although exceedingly variable in lithology, 

consists at many places of rocks very similar to those 

that constitute subdivision A. The fact that the 

Harrisburg member contains gypsum in the region 

studied by Reeside and Bassler, whereas A at Kaibab 

Gulch does not contain it is not at all inconsistent 

with the lithology of A. As I have already shown, 

two other subdivisions of the Kaibab limestone, C 

and E, which are gypsiferous west of the Kaibab 

Plateau are not gypsiferous at Kaibab Gulch, but they 

contain at Kaibab Gulch beds of sandy breccia, soft 

sandstone, and shale. Similar beds of breccia, sandstone, and shale are interstratified with the gypsum 

at many of the places west of the Kaibab Plateau 

where the subdivisions are gypsiferous. Accordingly 

this association appears to be significant; in other 

words, the breccia, sandstone, and shale beds in A 

at Kaibab Gulch are what would be expected at a 

horizon where gypsum occurs at other localities. 

I have · tentatively correlated subdivision A at 

Kaibab Gulch with the Harrisburg niember of Reeside 

and Bassler and have included it in the Kaibab limestone. Nevertheless the possibility exists that it 

belongs at the base of the Triassic Moenkopi formation, for it may represent a basal member of the 

Moenkopi that occurs here and there in the region . 

studied by Reeside and Bassler, contains Triassic fos- 'r 

sils, and has been named by them the Rock Canyon 

conglomeratic member. This member of the Moenkopi is described as follows: 11 

The basal discontinuous unit [of the Moenkopi formation] is 

an exceedingly variable assemblage of shale, limestone, gypsum, 

conglomerate, and a minor amount of sandstone. To this unit 

we have given the name Rock Canyon conglomeratic member, 

from Rock Canyon, 5 miles north of Antelope Spring, Ariz. 

A detailed section at this locality [locality 9, fig. 1] is given on 

page 70 (section 6). The limestone is gray to pink, is usually 

coarse, and contains chert fragments. The shale may be gray,, 

yellow, or red. The conglomerate is made up of limestone and 

chert boulders, locally as much as 3 feet in diameter but usually 

less than a foot, in a limestone cement and occurs in very 

irregular beds, which may lie at any stratigraphic level in the 

basal unit. Locally the included limestone fragments are 

angular and the material is really a breccia, thcmgh at most 

points observed they are rounded or only subangular. Locally 

this basal member is absent, as the sections show, and the 

lower red beds of the Moenkopi formation rest directly , on 

limestones containing Kaibab fossils. At the head of Rock 

Canyon a great gash 700 feet wide and 250 feet deep has been 

cut into the Kaibab and filled with a confused mass of limestone, shale, gypsum, and conglomerate. This mass contains 

thin · veins of asphaltite and zones impregnated with asphaltic 

material. 

In lithology subdivision A corresponds as well to 

the Rock Canyon member of the Moenkopi just 

described as it does to the Harrisburg member of the 

11 Reeside, J. B., jr., ~nd Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., p. 60. 
54 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

Kaibab, as may be seen by comparing the detailed 

section of subdivision A (pp. 43:_44) with Reeside and 

Bassler's detailed section of the Rock Canyon member 

at the type locality and with - their section of the 

Harrisburg member at the narrows of Virgin RiverP 

Both these sections, like the section at Kaibab Gulch, 

consist at the base of irregular beds of breccia and 

conglomerate, soft sandstone or shale, and limestone 

or chert, which pass up into gray and buff limestones. 

The correlation of subdivision A therefore remains uncertain and can be settled only by determination of 

the fossils that the subdivision contains. Fossils are 

fairly abundant in the limestone at the top of the subdivision, but all those that I saw were too obscure or 

too poorly preserved to be determinable, and I had 

not time to search carefully for better specimens. A 

systematic search at Kaibab Gulch would undoubtedly 

yield determinable material, which would establish 

definitely the correlation of the subdivision. 

SECTION IN JUMPUP CANYON 

During the eary part of our stratigraphic reconnaissance in the summer of 1922 Professor Gregory 

and I measured an incomplete section of the Kaibab 

limestone, Coconino sandstone, and Hermit shale in 

Jumpup Canyon, a tributary gorge that enters the 

lower canyon of Kanab Creek from the east at a point 

about 6 miles north of the junction of Kanab Creek 

with Colorado River. The section is interesting 

because it shows in detail the lithology of the slopemaking unit of the middle Kaibab (the correlative 

of subdivision C at Kaibab Gulch, of B- at the Bass 

trail, and of No. 3 of Reeside and Bassler) at a place 

where the unit contains gypsum; because it shows in 

detail the lithology of the Hermit shale at a place 

where that formation is extraordinarily thick and 

calls attention to the presence in the canyon of lower 

Kanab C~eek of an unconformity at the base of the 

Hermit shale similar to the unconformity that is 

well displayed at the type locality of the formation 

in the canyon of Hermit Creek in the Grand Canyon; 

and because it affords data concerning the thinning 

of the Coconino sandstone northward of Kanab . 

Creek. The section is therefore included in this 

report for comparison with the section at Kaibab 

Gulch, although in the Kaibab limestone at Jumpup 

Canyon only the unit mentioned above was measured 

in sufficient detail to make the section of much value 

for comparison with the standard sections of the 

regwn. 

Jumpup Canyon is shown on the Kaibab topographic 

map published by the United States Geological Survey, but the name of the canyon is not printed on the 

map. It may be identified as the first large gorge 

that enters the canyon of Kanab Creek from the 

east above the junction of Kanab Creek and Colorado 

u Idem, p. 75. 

River. The location of the section -is shown on 

figure 1 (locality 4). It is roughly 50 miles southwest 

of Kaibab Gulch, 25 miles northwest of the Bass 

trail, and 10 miles southeast of Hacks Canyon, where 

the nearest section of Reeside and Bassler was measured (locality 5, fig. 1). It is not far from the general 

locality on Kanab Creek where Walcott measured 

the section shown in columnar form in my report 

on the Paleozoic- rocks of the Grand Canyon/3 but 

inasmuch as Walcott's section is a composite section 

measured along 25 miles of Kanab Canyon between 

Shinumo Canyon and Colorado River, the writer 

does not know just what parts of Walcott's section 

were measured near Jumpup Canyon. 

Subdivision C of the Hermit shale and subdivision 

A of the Supai formation were measured by Professor 

Gregory in Jumpup Canyon at different places 1 to 4 

miles above the junction of Jumpup Creek with 

Kanab Creek. The Kaibab limestone, Coconino 

sandstone, and subdivisions A and B of the Hermit 

shale were measured by me in the walls of Jumpup 

Canyon at different places 4 to 7 miles above the 

mouth of Jumpup Creek. 

Section in Jumpup Canyon 

General section 

Kaibab limestone: 

Summit of formation not exposed. Feet 

A. Massive gray fossiliferous cherty limestone, 

forming strong cliffs and steep slopes. Not 

examined in detail nor measured, but exposed 

thickness appears to exceed 250 feet_ ________ 250+ 

B. Gypsiferous member: Yellowish-buff and pinkish fine-grained sandstone, poorly consolidated 

and irregularly bedded, interstratified with 

beds of gypsum and gypsiferous shale; contains near the top beds of sandy breccia and a 

few thin beds of fossiliferous gray limestone; 

forms a gentle slope _______________________ 161 

Q. At the base buff sandstone and limestone in alternating beds, passing up into massive siliceous 

buff limestone, fossiliferous and cherty, which 

constitutes the greater part of the subdivision 

and makes strong cliffs ____________________ 172± 

Coconino sandstone: Fine-grained buff sandstone, crossbedded throughout; forms a sheer cliff- _____ -----__ 90 

Hermit shale: 

A. Alternating beds of red sandy shale and finegrained massive friable sandstone; form a 

slope; many beds exhibit concretionary structure_____________________________________ 44 

B. Alternating beds of red shale and sandstone, 

forming a slope; beds do not exhibit concretionary structure but otherwise are like A_-_- 450 

C. Alternating beds of red shale and sandstone; 

like B in composition, but the sandstone beds 

are rather more massive and resistant than 

those of B, so that the subdivision forms a 

ledgy slope broken by weak cliffs and exhibits 

a profile distinctly steeper than that of B_---~ 

801 

1a Noble, L. F., A section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at the 

Bass trail: U . S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131, pl. 19, 1922. 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 55 

Unconformity, obscure at the place in Jumpup Canyon 

where this section was measured, because the surface 

of erosion exhibits no relief there, but very distinct at 

many localities 1 to 5 miles away, where the surface of 

erosion exhibits a relief of 40 feet or more in distances 

of a few hundred feet. 

Supai formation: 

A. Upper cliff-making member: Violently and persistently cross-bedded fine-grained hard calcareous sandstone in heavy, massive beds, which 

everywhere form strong cliffs; pale red to pale 

yellowish red, contrasting with the prevailing 

deep red of the Hermit shale. Partings of red 

_sandy shale or platy red sandstone separate 

many beds of the massive cross-bedded sandstone. The summit beds of this cliff-making 

·subdivision of the Supai form the floor of a 

broad platform in Jumpup Canyon and 

throughout the lower canyon of Kanab Creek; 

this platform is the Esplanade of the western 

Grand Canyon. Thickness of subdivision 

not measured, probably about 400 feet: 

Detailed section 

Kaibab limestone: Feet 

A. Massive gray fossiliferous cherty limestone, forming strong cliffs. Not measured. 

B. 1. Concealed; probably yellow sandstone; makes 

~ope_________________________________ 5 

2. Gray limestone in beds averaging 6 inches 

thick; makes small cliff_________________ 4 

3. Concealed; probably yellow sandstone; makes 

slope_________________________________ 5 

4. Dense fossiliferous gray limestone forming small cliff __ :... _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 

5. Y eliowish breccia, base concealed. The breccia colisists of fragments of sandstone and 

limestone embedded in a matrix of yellow ·sand__________________________________ 6 

6. Dense fossiliferous gray limestone__________ 1 

7. Breccialike No.5------------------------ 5 

8. Concealed. The few outcrops seen · are very 

soft fine-grained yellowish sandstone______ 24 

9. Massive gypsum-----------------.,.- ----- 4 

10. Yellowish-buff sandy shale, largely concealed; 

contains at least three 6-inch beds of mas- sive gypsum___________________________ 15 

11. Massive gypsum_________________________ 8 

12. Pinkish sandy shale, partly concealed; contains several1-foot beds of massive gypsum_ 16 

13. Gypsum containing a small amount of whitish 

shale and exhibiting very thinly laminated 

structure______________________________ 22 

14. Gypsiferous yellowish sandy shale, containing three 6-inch beds of massive gypsum__ 11 

15. Massive gypsum, containing a small amount 

of yellow sand_,..._______________________ 5 

16. Sandy shale impregnated with gypsum and 

cut by many tiny stringers of gypsum____ 16 

17. Soft whitish-buff fine-grained sandstone in 

beds averaging 4 inches thick; probably a 

calcareous sandstone; largely concealed, but 

many beds of the sandstone appear to be separated by layers of gypsiferous shale. Outcrops are covered by puffy, gypsiferous soiL 12 

161 

Kaibab limestone-Continued. Feet 

C. 1. Pale-buff arenaceous limestone in two 2%-

foot beds, which are separated by a thin 

parting of shaly sandstone. Forms cliff___ 5 

2. Pale-buff arenaceous limestone, containing 

lenses, bands, and nodules of chert that 

become less abundant toward the top. "T eathered surfaces of the rock J~el gritty 

and exhibit a faint thinly laminated structure. Forms a steep ledgy slope~_~_____ _ 8 

3. Dense siliceous buff limestone in massive 

beds, some of which appear to be more 

than 20 feet thick, fossiliferous and cherty; 

contains many cavities. The chert. occurs 

in lenses, bands, and nodules and in some 

beds is very abundant. The limestone 

forms strong cliffs. Not examined closely 

nor measured. Thickness estimated 

roughly _______________ ·________________ 135 ± 

4. Buff fine-grained · sandstone. No bedding 

planes observable. Rather soft; forms an 

alcove under the high cliffs of No. 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ 5% 

5. 'fhree 1-foot beds of dense siliceous buff limestone separated by two 2-inch layers of 

sandy shale. The bottom bed of limestone rests upon a wavy, irregular surface, 

which exhibits vertical inequalities of a 

foot or more in a distance of 100 feet_____ 3% 

6. Whitish-buff dense fine-grained sandstone. 

No bedding planes observable____________ 2% 

7. Hard dense fine-grained buff crystalline 

limestone in four beds ranging in thickness 

from 6 inches to 2 feet__________________ 4% 

8. Reddish soft sandstone, partly concealed. 

No bedding planes observable. The sand 

grains resemble those of the underlying 

Coconino. The base of the bed truncates 

with level, even contact the inclined wedges 

of the underlying Coconino sandstone__ _ _ _ 8 

Coconino sandstone: Fine-grained buff sandstone, 

cross-bedded throughout. Forms a sheer cliff. At 

the point where this section was measured one inclined wedge is nearly as thick as the entire formation. 

172 

The laminae of the wedges dip south or southwest. 

Contact with underlying shale level, even___________ 90 

Hermit shale: 

A. 1. Greenish sandy shale (typical playa mud)___ 1 

2. Fine-grained white sandstone______________ 5 

3. Red sandy shale, exhibiting concretionary 

structure on weathered surfaces__________ 3 

4. Red sandstone___________________________ 5 

5. Concretionary red shale, like No. 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 6 

6. Reddish-buff calcareous sandstone__________ 2 

7. Red shale________________________________ 2; 

8. Reddish-buff calcareous sandstone ______ .____ 5: 

9. Concretionary red shale, like No. 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4: 

10. White sandstone, fine grained, calcareous, 

massive_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3', 

11. Concretionary red shale, like No.3_________ 8~ 

44 
56 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

Hermit shale-Continued. 

B. 1. Massive fine-grained friable red sandstone __ _ 2. Sandy red shale _________________________ _ 

3. Sandstone, like No. L ___________________ _ 

4. Shale, like No. 2 _________________________ _ 

5. Sandstone ___________ ___________________ _ 

6. Shale __________________________________ _ 

7. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

8. Shale __________________________________ _ 

9. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

10. Shale __________________________________ _ 

11. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

12. Shale __________________________________ _ 

13. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

14. Shale _______________________ ____ _______ _ 

15. Sandstone ___________________________ ___ _ 

16. Shale __________________________________ _ 

17. Sandstone ______________ _______________ _ _ 

18. Shale-------~--------------------------- 19. Sandstone ___________________ ________ ___ _ 

20. Shale _________________ ___ ______________ _ 

21. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

22. Shale __________________________________ _ 

23. Sandstone _____________ __________ _______ _ 

24. Shale __ ________________________________ _ 

25. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

26. Shale __________________________________ _ 

27. Sandstone _______________ __ _____________ _ 

28. Shale __________________________________ _ 

29. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

30. Shale __________________________________ _ 

31. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

32. Shale __________________________________ _ 

33. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

34. Shale __________________________________ _ 

35. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

36. Shale __________________________________ _ 

37. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

38. Shale ________________________________ __ _ 

39. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

40. Shale __ ________________________________ _ 

41. Sandstone ______________ ___ __ ___________ _ 

42. Shale __________________________________ _ 

43. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

44. Shale __________________________________ _ 

45. Sandstone ______ _____________________ __ _ _ 

46. Shale __________________________________ _ 

47. 8andstone ______________________________ _ 

48. Shale __________________________________ _ 

49. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

50. Shale __________________________________ _ 

51. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

52. Shale __________________________________ _ 

53. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

.54. Shale; contains greenish bands at intervals __ 55. Sandstone ________________ ______________ _ 

56. Shale; basal 2 inches greenish _____________ _ .57. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

58. Shale __________________________________ _ 

59. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

·60. Shale __________________________________ _ 

·61. Sandstone------------~------------------ -62. Shale __________________________________ _ 

~3. Sandstone ______________________________ _ 

Feet 

3 

3 

7 

4 

4 

5 

4 

5 

12 

17 

5 

11 

4 

8 

6 

6 

11 

19 

1 

3 

1 

1 

1 

5 

4 

5 

2 

7 

9 

10 

3 

1 

5 

8 

3 

6 

1 

5 

1 

7 

1 

5 

3 

23 

5 

5 

6 

12 

5 

18 

4 

17 

5 

59 

4 

5 

2 

3 

3 

5 

2 

4 

2 

Hermit shale-Continued. Feet 

B. 64. Shale __________ ----- ___ -----____________ 24 

65. Sandstone_______________________________ 5 

[All beds below this point were measured 

and described by H. E. Gregory] 

C. 1. Hard massive buff to red calcareous sandstone; 

contains greenish blotches; forms small 

450 

cliff___________________________________ 4 

2. Sandy red shale containing greenish spots 

and layers___________________________ __ 8 

3. Red sandstone, hard, lumpy; weathers into 

knobs; forms vertical cliff. The rock is 

composed of fine uniform quartz grains 

bound together by calcareous cement, crossbedded. Thickness estimated--~--------- 40 

4. Red shale or thin-bedded sandstone; breaks 

into small chunks of hardened sand or mud; 

shows worm trails and mud pellets; includes 

several greenish-white sandy bands; has 

mica sprinkled on surface; forms slope____ 35 

5. Red sandstone, massive, chunky____________ 2 

6. Like No.4; includes four greenish-white sandy 

bands_________________________________ 42 

7. Red sandstone, chunky____________________ 2 

8. Red shale, lumpy, nodular, uneven, sandy; 

forms flat slope_________________________ 20 

9. Red sandstone, massive; forms cliff_________ 2 

10. Red sandy shale; forms slope______________ 38 

11. Red sandstone, unevenly bedded; forms two 

layers the bottoms of which are white and 

exhibit mud cracks, mud holes, worm trails, 

etc_____________________________ ____ __ 12 

12. Red, unevenly bedded shaly sandstone or 

sandy shale, lumpy and friable with no apparent change in: texture or composition; 

forms two shale slopes and two broken 

cliffs___________________________ _______ 55 

13. Red friable sandstone_____________________ 6 

14. Red shaly sandstone with greenish-white spots 8 

15. Red sandstone, uniformly fine-grained; roughly 

separated into three beds, cross-bedded____ 10 

16. Red mud shale, plastered against uneven 

under surface of No. 15__________________ 1 

17. Red shale or sandstone; weathers into thin 

sandy shales like mud in arid stream. 

Greenish-white streaks of thinly laminated 

shale make three parting planes. Beds are 

very uneven; contacts wavy______________ 22 

Supai formation: 

A. 1. Sandstone, calcareous; weathers into hoodoo 

forms; exhibits greenish-white streaks, 

blotches, and dots. The rock is crossbedded, and the sand grains are uniform in 

size and very small. In texture and color 

307 

it is exactly like No.4, below____________ 4 

2. Light-red sandstone, composed of quartz 

grains bound together with calcareous cement; forms two massive beds separated by 

crumbly sandstone; has amorphous lumps 

of limestone ___ ~- __ -------------------- 11 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 57 

Supai formation-Continued. 

A. 3. Calcareous cross-bedded sandstone, like No. 1. 

Texture and color like No.4 ____________ _ 

4. Sandstone, light red to yellow-red; makes 

striking contrast wit h dark-red Hermit and 

white Coconino, which appear on same valley wall; everywhere makes strong cliffs. 

The sandstone is roughly arranged in beds 

10 to 50 feet thick, whose appearance is 

strikingly like that of the Navajo sandstone. Parting planes are marked by nothing or by lenses and short beds of sandstone 

and sandy shale that resemble the sandstone and shale of the Chinle formation. 

Nearly all beds are cross-bedded tangentially 

and angularly. The component sand grains 

are surprisingly uniform in size and composition and are mostly quartz with lime 

cement; all grains are almost microscopic; 

a few red specks are garnet. This cliffmaking sandstone unit (No. 4) with the 

three overlying beds (Nos. 1, 2, and 3) is the 

rock that floors the Esplanade throughout 

the canyon of Kanab Creek and in the 

neighboring Grand Canyon. It constitutes the upper cliff-making subdivision of 

the Supai, and its steep profile is everywhere in sharp contrast with the gentler 

profile of the overlying Hermit and underlying Supai beds. At most places in the 

Canyon of Kanab Creek the surface of the 

Esplanade lies at the top of No. 4, but at 

some places it lies at the top of one of the 

overlying beds, 1, 2, or 3; the surfaces of 

all four beds weather into water pockets. 

An ali-day search in Jumpup Canyon failed 

to reveal a place where the cliffs of No. 4 

could be descended; consequently this unit 

could not be examined in detail nor measured. T~ickness estimated; may be as much as ______________________ _______ _ 

Feet 

5 

400 

Subdivision A of the Supai formation on lower 

Kanab Creek does not differ essentially in composition 

from A, the corresponding cliff-making subdivision 

of the Supai at the Bass trail. Like that subdivision, 

it forms the resistant unit which underlies the Esplanade and determines its floor. The sandstone of which 

the unit is chiefly composed is, however, much more 

violently and persistently cross-bedded at Kanab 

Creek than it is at the Bass trail and appears to form 

thicker and more massive beds. In composition it is 

astonishingly like the ·Navajo sandstone, which I 

studied later in the Glen Canyon region of Colorado 

River, and under erosion assumes forms like those 

assumed by the Navajo sandstone. Some of the 

bedding is of the "gnarled" or "contorted" type. 

Along Kanab Creek just below the mouth of Hacks 

Canyon I was able to examine some of the beds in 

the upper part of B, the underlying subdivision of the 

Supai, but I could not examine the subdivision in 

detail, as it was impossible at the time to descend along 

Kanab Creek, owing to high water. I was interested 

to find in the upper part of B, beds of limestone 

conglo~erate similar to a bed that occursin subdivision 

B in the Kaibab division of the Grand Canyon. 14 

One bed is 20 feet thick, and another, higher in the 

subdivision is 1 foot thick. The lower bed occurs at 

approxima~ely the horizon at which the ~i~ilar bed occurs at the Bass trail. The rock strikmgly 

resembles the "saurian conglomerate" of the Chinle 

formation which I had opportunity later to examine 

in the V e'rmilion Cliffs. The occurrence of the distinctive beds of conglomerate at Kanab Creek indicates that they are a persistent feature of the Supai 

over a wide area for they occur also in the Aubrey 

cliff near Seligm~n as well as throughout the Kaibab 

division of the Grand Canyon. Further study of the 

Supai formation will be necessary to determine the 

stratigraphic significance of these conglomerate beds; 

it is conceivable that they mark a widespread zone of 

unconformity within the formation or at any rate a 

datum plane that will prove useful for correlation. 

The unconformity that separates the -IIermit shale 

from the Supai formation in Kanab Canyon is an exact 

counterpart of the unconformity which separates 

these formations in the Kaibab division of the Grand 

Canyon and which I have described in another ~a~er. 15 

In Kanab Canyon as in the Grand Canyon It !s so 

clear at some places that it may be recognized at a 

glance and so obscure at other places that it can not 

be detected. The unconformity lies at or just above 

the general level of the Esplanade, the platform developed on the hard summit beds of the Supai. Along 

the east side of Kanab Canyon, between the mouth of 

Hacks Canyon and Jumpup_ Canyon, it is clearly 

exposed for a distance of 3 or 4 miles and is unmistakable. The surface of erosion exhibits considerable 

relief; in places channels 40 feet deep have been .eroded 

in the Supai beds. These hollows are filled with the 

Hermit shale. At places residual hills of Supai, 30 

feet or more high, project into the Hermit shale. 

The photographic views in Plate 14 show some of 

these details of the unconformity. Near the mouth 

of Jumpup Canyon where the section given above 

was measured the unconformity co1Jld not be detected, 

notwithstand~g the fact that good exposures of it 

appear in the canyon of Kanab Creek a mile ~way. 

It is therefore possible that some of the beds assigned 

to the base of the Hermit shale in the sections are 

Supai beds, although it is improbable from the observed 

stratigraphic position of the unconformity at plac~s 

not more than a mile away that the base of the Hermit 

lies much higher than the position assigned to it in 

the section. All the beds in the section that are assigned to the Supai, at any rate, are unquestionably 

u Noble, L. F., A section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at the 

Bass trail: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131, p. 61, 1922. 

u Idem, pp. 63-64. 
58 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1927 

Supai. I experienced a similar difficulty in determining the base of the Hermit shale at the Bass trail, 

where the unconformity is also obscure. 

Although the unconformity just described appears 

to be a widespread feature in the Grand Canyon 

region, as is indicated by its presence in Kanab Canyon 

as well as in the Kaibab-division of the Grand Canyon, 

it probably does not mark any great or significant time 

interval, for subdivision A of the Supai below the 

unconformity as well as the Hermit shale above it 

is believed to be of Permian age. Inasmuch as the 

unconformity coincides roughly with the general level 

of the Esplanade or lies just above it, the Esplanade 

might be regarded as an exhumed and now more or 

less dissected erosion surface of Permian time. 

At Jumpup Canyon I divided the Hermit shale into 

three subdivisions, A, B, and C, for convenience in 

measuring the section. These subdivisions have no 

particular stratigraphic significance, because the formation is essentially a unit in lithology, all parts of it 

consisting of similar material-sand and red sandy 

mud, which form alternating beds of sandstone and 

sandy shale. Other geologists might subdivide the 

same section differently or might not subdivide it at 

all. For example, the subdivisions into which Reeside 

and. Bassler 16 have divided the formation at Hacks 

Canyon and those into which Walcott 17 has subdivided 

it along Kanab Creek do not correspond with those into 

which I have subdivided it at Jumpup Canyon, 

although the three sections are essentially similar in 

lithology. Subdivision A of the Hermit shale at 

Jumpup Canyon differs from other subdivisions of the 

formation at that locality only in that many beds in 

it exhibit a peculiar concretionary structure on weathered surfaces that does not appear in the other subdivisions. Subdivision C differs from A and B only in 

that the beds of which it is composed are rather more 

massive than those of A and B, so that the subdivision 

exhibits a somewhat steeper topographic profile than 

the other subdivisions. 

In lithology the section of the Hermit shale at 

Jumpup Canyon does not differ in any essential respect from the sections of that formation at the Bass 

trail and at the type locality in Hermit Basin. 18 At 

Jumpup Canyon, as at these other localities, the upper 

part of the formation is marked by concretionary 

structure, and the Hermit beds exposed at· Kaibab 

Gulch (see p. 46) evidently represent this concretionary part of the formation. The most noteworthy 

feature of the Hermit shale at Jumpup Canyon is its 

great thickness (800 feet) as contrasted with its 

thickness at the Bass trail (332 feet) and at Hermit 

Basin (317 feet), from which it is evident that the 

formation maintains at least as far as Kanab Canyon 

16 Reeside, J. B., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., p. 69. 

17 Noble, L. F ., op. cit., pl. 1£-. 

1s Idem, pp. 64-65. 

the steady increase in thickness northwestward that 

it exhibits in the Kaibab division of the Grand Canyon. 

The fact that the Coconino sandstone thins steadily in 

the same direction (see below) is in accordance with the 

observation 19 that in the Kaibab division of the Grand 

Canyon the thickness of the Coconino is everywhere 

in inverse ratio to that of . the. underlying Hermit. 

The significance of this relation is not known. 

The three subdivisions, A 1, A 2, and A 3 of the 

Aubrey group in Walcott's composite section along 

Kanab Creek 20 correspond in lithology and in aggregate thickness (775 feet) to the Hermit shale (801 

feet) at Jumpup Canyon and undoubtedly represent 

that formation. Walcott's underlying subdivision B, 

composed of massive cross-bedded sandstone (315 feet 

thick) undoubtedly represents subdivision A of the 

Supai in the section at Jumpup Canyon. 

The upper 550 feet, at least, of the beds classed as 

Supai in Reeside and Bassler's section at Hacks 

Canyon/1 and perhaps a part of the underlying beds, 

are Hermit shale. 

In our traverse down Kanab Creek from Fredonia 

to Jumpup Canyon we had an opportunity to trace 

the Coconino sandstone continuously for 20 miles in 

the eastern wall of Kanab Canyon-from the point 

where it first appears in the bed of Kanab Creek to the 

mouth of Jumpup Canyon. We found that between 

these points the sandstone thins steadily northward, 

its thiclmess diminishing from 90 feet at Jumpup 

Canyon to 15 feet in the bed of Kanab Creek (locality 

3, fig. 1). Throughout this long exposure in Kanab 

Canyon the Coconino appears to be one bed, made 

up of cross-bedded wedges, not several beds; and this 

bed is continuously traceable from Jumpup Canyon 

into the thick bed that constitutes the formation in the 

Kaibab division of the Grand Canyon, the type locality 

of the Coconino sandstone. West of Kanab Canyon, 

however, the Coconino, as identified by Reeside and 

Bassler,22 consists of several members, and it is uncertain whether one or all of these members should be 

correlated with the single massive bed that represents 

the formation at the type locality. Near Ryan, 25 

miles northeast of Jumpup Canyon in the general 

direction of Kaibab Gulch, the Coconino is exposed 

in the escarpment along the West Kaibab fault. 

Here, as seen from a distance of a mile, it appears 

to be about 25 feet thick and, as at Jumpup Canyon, 

to constitute a single bed. It rests upon beds of 

Hermit shale whose exposed thickness appears to be. 

at least 600 feet. 

The facts just noted show that the Coconino must 

wedge out to the vanishing point somewhere between 

the localities on Kanab Creek and at Ryan, where it 

19 Noble, L. F., op. cit., p. 67. 

20 Idem, pl. 19. 

21 Reeside, J. B., jr., and Bassler, Harvey, op. cit., p. 69. 

22 Idem, p. 57. 
A SECTION OF THE KAIBAB LIMESTONE IN KAIBAB GULCH, UTAH 59 

has decreased, respectively, to 15 and 25 feet, and 

Kaibab Gulch, where it is absent. 

The Coconino-Hermit contact is a well-marked 

spring horizon in Jumpup Canyon and other tributary 

gorges of Kanab Canyon, just as it is throughout the 

Kaibab division of the Grand Canyon and along the 

western border of the Kaibab Plateau. Evidently the 

Hermit shale is much more impervious than the 

Coconino sandstone and offers everywhere a barrier 

to percolation. This relation may be worthy of consideration, for it is conceivable that fuller knowledge 

of the thickness and distribution of the Coconino in 

the plateau country will reveal geologic structure 

favorable for the accumulation of underground water 

above the contact in sufficient quantity to be recoverable by wells. 

In a broad way the units into which the Kaibab 

limestone is divisible at Jumpup Canyon exhibit the 

distinctive features of lithologic character, succession, 

and topographic expression that corresponding units 

of the formation display at Kaibab Gulch, at the Bass 

trail, and in the region studied by Reeside and Bassler, 

so that the section at Jumpup Canyon may be correlated confidently with these other sections. Subdivisions A, B, and Cat Jumpup Canyon are obviously 

equivalent, respectively, to subdivisions A, B, and C 

at the Bass trail. Apparently beds 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 

of C, the alternating beds of sandstone and limestone 

at the base of the Kaibab at Jumpup Canyon, are 

equivalent to subdivision E at Kaibab Gulch and to 

No. 1, the "lower slope-forming member," of Reeside 

and Bassler; and beds, 1, 2, and 3 of C at Jumpup 

Canyon, composed of massive buff siliceous limestone, 

are equivalent to subdivision D at Kaibab Gulch and 

to No. 2, the "lower limestone member," of Reeside 

and Bassler, which are composed of limestone of this 

distinctive type. 

Subdivision B, the gypsiferous member of the 

Kaibab at Jumpup Canyon, is certainly equivalent 

to C at Kaibab Gulch and to No. 3, the "upper 

slope-forming member," of Reeside and Bassler. The 

section of this unit at Jumpup Canyon affords a 

connecting link between the sections at Kaibab 

Gulch and the Bass trail, where the unit contains no 

gypsum, and the sections in the region studied by 

Reeside and Bassler, where it is composed chiefly of 

gypsum. At Jumpup Canyon the unit not only 

contains the characteristic beds of breccia, soft 

sandstone, and shale that constitute it at Kaibab 

Gulch and Bass Canyon an.d the beds of gypsum 

that are characteristic of it in the sections of Reeside 

.-and Bassler but contains also, in its upper part, beds 

of fossiliferous limestone interstratified with the 

distinctive sandy breccia. Subdivision C at Jumpup 

Canyon, which I did not measure, is the familiar 

cherty limestone member of the Kaibab and is the 

correlative of a part, at least, of B at Kaioob Gulch 

and of No. 2, the "upper limestone member," of 

Reeside and Bassler. In all probability No. 5, the 

overlying Harrisburg member of Reeside and Bassler, 

with which I have tentatively correlated subdivision A 

at Kaibab Gulch, is represented by beds on the 

Kaibab Plateau along the rim of Jumpup Canyon, 

but I did not have an opportunity to examine these 

beds. 

SECTION NEAR LEES FERRY 

Near Lees Ferry, 30 miles southeast of Kaibab 

Gulch, the following section (No. 3, fig. I) was 

measured by Bryan :

23 

Section near Lees Ferry 

Moenkopi formation: Red sandy shale and thin-bedded 

sandstone with seams of gypsum; in places has beds 

of red and gray sandstone 2 to 6 feet thick and in one 

locality 12 feet of . gypsiferous limestone at the top. 

Feet 

Base generally 1 to 10 feet of chert conglomerate _____ 500± 

Unconformity. 

Kaibab limestone: Yell ow limestone with many more 

or less rounded nodules of chert ___________________ ...: 250 

Coconino sandstone: Gray cross-bedded massive sandstone __________________________ __________________ 300 

Unconformity (?). 

Hermit (?) shale: Red shale and sandstone ____________ } 

Unconformity (?) (not observed). 500± 

Supai formation: Red shale with beds of blue limestone_ 

Bryan's section of the Kaibab limestone is not 

sufficiently detailed to afford a basis for determining 

what part of the Kaibab at Kaibab Gulch is represented at Lees Ferry. As described by Bryan the 

Kaibab limestone at Lees Ferry consists entirely of 

cherty limestone; this limestone might represent 

that of either subdivision B or subdivision D at 

Kaibab Gulch or both. Subdivision C at Kaibab 

Gulch the well-defined soft sandstone and breccia ' member of the middle Kaibab, does not appear to be 

represented at Lees Ferry. Its absence there seems 

surprising, for Lees Ferry is much nearer Kaibab 

Gulch than any other locality from which a measured 

section of the Kaibab has been published. One 

would expect to find at least as close a correspondence 

between the Kaibab Gulch and Lees Ferry sections as 

between the Kaibab Gulch and Bass trail sections, 

which are more than twice as far apart. The absence 

of the Coconino sandstone at Kaibab Gulch and its 

presence at Lees Ferry, only 30 miles away, where it 

is 300 feet thick, is even more surprising. The 

Kaibab limestone, moreover, is only a little more 

than one-third as thick at Lees Ferry as it is at 

Kaibab Gulch. These differences in thickness serve 

further to emphasize the contrast between the sections 

at the two localities. 

23 Longwell, C. R., Miser, H . D., Moore, R. C., Bryan, Kirk, and Paige, Sidney, 

Rock formations in the Colorado Plateau of southeastern Utah and northern 

Arizona: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 132, p. 16, 1923. 
60 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, . 1927 

SECTION IN THE CIRCLE CLIFFS 

In the Circle Cliffs, 70 miles northeast of Kaibab 

Gulch, the following section (No. 8, fig. 1) was 

measured by R. C. Moore: 24 

Section in Circle Cliffs 

Moenkopi formation. 

Kaibab limestone: Feet 

Yellow dolomitic limestone in massive, evenly 

bedded ledges; weathers in large angular blocks 

pitted by solution; part contains many dendrites 

of manganese oxide and concretions of a mineral 

resembling wad; contains fossils; forms resistant 

cap of prominent bench _____________________ -_ 37 

Light-yellow soft dolomitic massive limestone, 

filled with angular fragments of chert; weathers 

in smooth slope; exposed_________ ___ __________ 15 

Soft light creamy-yellow thin to medium bedded 

limestone; weathers in slope; partly concealed__ 37 

White very sandy limestone, rounded sand grains 

scattered rather evenly; weathers in thick ledges_ 34 

White medium to coarse grained massive sandstone; 

rounded quartz grains in a lime matrix_______ ___ 19 

White very sandy limestone; rounded sand grains 

scattered rather evenly; weathers in thick ledges; 

forms bench_____ ________ _________________ ___ 21 

Coconino (?) sandstone: White medium to coarse 

grained moderately soft massive sandstone; rounded 

quartz grains in a lime matrix; breaks into irregular 

163 

blocks on weathering; exposed___________ _________ 73 

At the Circle Cliffs, as at Lees Ferry, it is impossible 

with any degree of assurance to correlate the section 

in detail with the section at Kaibab Gulch. The 

fossiliferous and cherty limestones in the Circle Cliffs 

section, which, as shown by Moore/5 contain the 

typical "Productus ivesi" fauna, might represent 

either the limestones of subdivision B at Kaibab 

Gulch or those of subdivision D. Sandstones occur 

in all the subdivisions of the Kaibab at Kaibab 

Gulch, and any of them except those in subdivision A 

might represent sandstones in the Circle Cliffs section. The sandstone assigned to the Coconino at the 

Circle Cliffs appears to differ somewhat from the 

Coconino of the type locality in the Kaibab division 

of the Grand Canyon; the grains of sand, as described 

by Moore, are medium to coarse, whereas in the type 

locality they are uniformly fine; and the cementing 

material is calcareous at Circle Cliffs, whereas it is 

siliceous at the type locality. However, these differences are not necessarily significant in view of the 

distance that separates the sections. 

SECTION NEAR ZAHNS CAMP, SAN JUAN RIVER 

In a section measured by H. D. Miser 26 at Zahns 

Camp on San Juan River (No. 14, fig. 1), 85 miles 

2l Longwell, C. R., and others, op. cit., pp. 2o-21. 

2; Idem, p. 9. 

26 Idem, p. 17. 

east of Kaibab Gulch, the Kaibab limestone is entirely 

absent and the Moenkopi formation rests upon the 

Coconino sandstone. 

CONTRAST WITH SECTIONS EAST OF KAIBAB PLATEAU 

The sections at Lees Ferry, Zahns Camp, and the 

Circle Cliffs, which lie, respectively, southeast, east, 

and northeast of Kaibab Gulch, present a striking contrast with the sections that lie south, southwest, and 

west of Kaibab Gulch in the degree of certainty with 

which they can be correlated in detail with the Kaibab 

Gulch section. As shown in this report, the members 

of the Kaibab limestone in the section to the south, 

southwest, and west are represented by members at 

Kaibab Gulch that are in1mediately recognizable as 

equivalent units, whereas correlation of the members 

of the Kaibab at Kaibab Gulch with those in the 

sections to the southeast, east, and northeast is difficult 

if not impossible, and in the section at Zahns Camp 

the Kaibab limestone is not represented at all. It is 

therefore evident that the Kaibab limestone experiences much greater changes in lithology in the region 

immediately east of the Kaibab Plateau than it does 

over a very wide region west of the plateau. The 

fact that, as described by Longwell,27 the formation 

as far west as the Muddy Mountains in Nevada consists of units corresponding closely to the four lowest 

subdivisions at Kaibab Gulch indicates that its comparative uniformity west of the Kaibab Plateau is 

widespread indeed. 

The absence of the Coconino sandstone from the 

section at Kaibab Gu1ch taken in connection with its 

thinning almost to the vanishing point up Kanab 

Creek, its presence as a thin bed (25 feet thick) overlying the Hermit shale on the West Kaibab fault at 

Ryan, and its thickness of 300 feet near Lees Ferry 

(measured by Bryan) and of 250 to 650 feet, increasing 

southeastward, in the Kaibab division of the Grand 

Canyon, appears to mark the Coconino as a well-defined 

lentil that wedges out northward from the type locality 

in the Kaibab division and disappears in the region 

around Kaibab Gulch. (See fig. 1.) Accordingly the 

presence at Kaibab Gulch of massive cross-bedded 

sandstone (bed 10 of subdivision D) in the lower part 

of the Kaibab but above fossiliferous limestone (beds 

9 and 11 of subdivision E) suggests the possibility that 

sandstone assigned to the Coconino in the Circle Cliffs 

region northeast of Kaibab Gulch may form a part of 

the Kaibab, if the name Coconino sandstone is restricted to the single definite bed that represents the 

formation in the type locality. It is conceivable also 

that the Coconino and Kaibab interfinger in the Circle 

Cliffs region. 

21 Longwell, C. R., Geology of the Muddy Mountains, Nev.: Am. Jour. Sci., 

5th ser., vol. 1, p. 48, 1921.