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Glen Canyon Group
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Glen Canyon Group
The Glen Canyon Group is a geologic group of formations that is spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, north west New Mexico and western Colorado. It is called the Glen Canyon Sandstone in the Green River Basin of Colorado and Utah.
There are four formations within the group. From oldest to youngest, these are the Wingate Sandstone, Moenave Formation, Kayenta Formation, and Navajo Sandstone. Part of the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range, this group of formations was laid down during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, with the Triassic-Jurassic boundary within the Wingate Sandstone. The top of the Glen Canyon Group is thought to date to the Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic.
Asterisks (*) below indicate usage by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Glen Canyon Group consists of extensive eolian deposits of latest Triassic to Early Jurassic age on the Colorado Plateau. These form the spectacular orange canyon walls of Canyonlands National Park and Paria Canyon as well as the unflooded portions of Glen Canyon. Deposition of the Glen Canyon Group ceased in the Middle Jurassic with the transgression of the Sundance Sea, which separated deposition of the Glen Canyon Group from deposition of the overlying San Rafael Group. The Glen Canyon Group is separated from the underlying Chinle Formation by the regional J-0 unconformity, which represents a time of widespread erosion across western North America. The group is likewise separated from the overlying San Rafael Group by the regional J-2 conformity, representing a renewal of widespread erosion.
The Glen Canyon Group was deposited in a foreland basin created by the uplift of the Sevier Mountains in what is now Nevada and eastern Utah. As a result, the formations of the group thicken to the west.
The Kayenta Formation pinches out and disappears to the north, in the Uintah Basin, and the Wingate Sandstone and Navajo Sandstone become indistinguishable. These remaining eolian beds have sometimes been mapped as simply Glen Canyon Formation, but they correlate with the Nugget Sandstone further north, and it has been recommended that they be assigned to the Nugget Sandstone.
Group rank (stratigraphic order):
There is no designated type locality for this group. It was named by Gregory and Moore prior to 1928 for exposures in walls that form the Glen Canyon of the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona and San Juan County, Utah, though their report was not published until 1931. The name had by then been published by Gilluly and Reeside, who gave an overview of the group.
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Glen Canyon Group
The Glen Canyon Group is a geologic group of formations that is spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, north west New Mexico and western Colorado. It is called the Glen Canyon Sandstone in the Green River Basin of Colorado and Utah.
There are four formations within the group. From oldest to youngest, these are the Wingate Sandstone, Moenave Formation, Kayenta Formation, and Navajo Sandstone. Part of the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range, this group of formations was laid down during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, with the Triassic-Jurassic boundary within the Wingate Sandstone. The top of the Glen Canyon Group is thought to date to the Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic.
Asterisks (*) below indicate usage by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Glen Canyon Group consists of extensive eolian deposits of latest Triassic to Early Jurassic age on the Colorado Plateau. These form the spectacular orange canyon walls of Canyonlands National Park and Paria Canyon as well as the unflooded portions of Glen Canyon. Deposition of the Glen Canyon Group ceased in the Middle Jurassic with the transgression of the Sundance Sea, which separated deposition of the Glen Canyon Group from deposition of the overlying San Rafael Group. The Glen Canyon Group is separated from the underlying Chinle Formation by the regional J-0 unconformity, which represents a time of widespread erosion across western North America. The group is likewise separated from the overlying San Rafael Group by the regional J-2 conformity, representing a renewal of widespread erosion.
The Glen Canyon Group was deposited in a foreland basin created by the uplift of the Sevier Mountains in what is now Nevada and eastern Utah. As a result, the formations of the group thicken to the west.
The Kayenta Formation pinches out and disappears to the north, in the Uintah Basin, and the Wingate Sandstone and Navajo Sandstone become indistinguishable. These remaining eolian beds have sometimes been mapped as simply Glen Canyon Formation, but they correlate with the Nugget Sandstone further north, and it has been recommended that they be assigned to the Nugget Sandstone.
Group rank (stratigraphic order):
There is no designated type locality for this group. It was named by Gregory and Moore prior to 1928 for exposures in walls that form the Glen Canyon of the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona and San Juan County, Utah, though their report was not published until 1931. The name had by then been published by Gilluly and Reeside, who gave an overview of the group.
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