page_title: Tonto Group
hierarchical_section_title: Tonto Group
caption_attribution_description: Stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon
context_page_description: The Cambrian Tonto Group is the three-member sequence of geologic formations that represent the basal section of Paleozoic rocks in the Grand Canyon. The group is about 1,250 feet thick. The base unit, the Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone was deposited upon the erosion surface of the Vishnu Basement Rocks, which is found in Granite Gorge. The erosion resistant Tapeats Sandstone forms the platform, called Tonto Platform, that the two less erosion resistant upper layers, the Bright Angel Shale and Muav Limestone, rest upon.
  The Tonto Trail is a mostly horizontal trail on the south side of Granite Gorge. The horizontal Tonto Group units are laid upon the Vishnu Basement Rocks above an angular unconformity as the Vishnu Basement Rocks have a dip of about 15 degrees. This erosion unconformity prior to the deposition of the Tapeats upon the tilted Vishnu Basement Rocks is about 1,000 million years, and is called the Great Unconformity.
context_section_description: The Cambrian Tonto Group is the three-member sequence of geologic formations that represent the basal section of Paleozoic rocks in the Grand Canyon. The group is about 1,250 feet (381 m) thick.  The base unit, the Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone was deposited upon the erosion surface of the Vishnu Basement Rocks, which is found in Granite Gorge (the Inner Gorge). The erosion resistant Tapeats Sandstone forms the platform, called Tonto Platform, that the two less erosion resistant upper layers, the Bright Angel Shale and Muav Limestone, rest upon.
  The Tonto Trail is a mostly horizontal trail on the south side of Granite Gorge. The horizontal Tonto Group units are laid upon the Vishnu Basement Rocks above an angular unconformity as the Vishnu Basement Rocks have a dip of about 15 degrees. This erosion unconformity prior to the deposition of the Tapeats upon the tilted Vishnu Basement Rocks is about 1,000 million years (1.0 billion years), and is called the Great Unconformity.
caption: (Grand Canyon stratigraphy.)
  Tonto Group upon Great Unconformity
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