The Hakatai Shale is a Mesoproterozoic rock formation with important exposures in the Grand Canyon, Coconino County, Arizona. It consists of colorful strata that exhibit colors varying from purple to red to brilliant orange. These colors are the result of the oxidation of iron-bearing minerals in the Hakatai Shale. It consists of lower and middle members that consist of bright-red, slope-forming, highly fractured, argillaceous mudstones and shale and an upper member composed of purple and red, cliff-forming, medium-grained sandstone. Its thickness, which apparently increases eastwards, varies from 137 to 300 m (449 to 984 ft). In general, the Hakatai Shale and associated strata of the Unkar Group rocks dip northeast (10–30°) toward normal faults that dip 60° or more toward the southwest. This can be seen at the Palisades fault in the eastern part of the main Unkar Group outcrop area (below East Rim). In addition, thick, prominent, and dark-colored basaltic sills and dikes cut across the purple to red to brilliant orange strata of the Hakatai Shale.

The bright orange-red slopes of the Hakatai Shale contrasts sharply against the grayish outcrops of the Bass Formation. The outcrop of the Hakatai Shale also contrasts greatly with the steep cliffs formed by Shinumo Quartzite as seen at the base of Isis Temple. In the central Grand Canyon north of Grand Canyon Village and viewed from the south at the South Rim, the bright orange-red unit can be seen below the Isis Temple and Cheops Pyramid landforms at the intersection of Bright Angel Canyon and Granite Gorge; the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim traverses through the geographic region to the north, the North Kaibab Trail in Bright Angel Canyon.

The Hakatai Shale is part of a conformable sequence of sedimentary strata that comprise the Unkar Group. The Unkar Group is about 1,600 to 2,200 m (5,200 to 7,200 ft) thick and composed, in ascending order, of the Bass Formation, Hakatai Shale, Shinumo Quartzite, Dox Formation, and Cardenas Basalt. In ascending order, the Unkar Group is overlain by the Nankoweap Formation, about 113 to 150 m (371 to 492 ft) thick; the Chuar Group, about 1,900 m (6,200 ft) thick; and the Sixtymile Formation, about 60 m (200 ft) thick. The Grand Canyon Supergroup, of which the Unkar Group is the lowermost part, overlies deeply eroded granites, gneisses, pegmatites, and schists that comprise Vishnu Basement Rocks.

Typically, the Hakatai Shale is subdivided into three informal members. In ascending order they are the Hance Rapids (lower), Cheops Pyramid (middle), and Stone Creek (upper) members. The total thickness of the Hakatai Shale varies from 135 m (443 ft) at Hance Rapids to nearly 300 m (980 ft) at the type section in Hakatai Canyon in the Shinumo Creek area.

First, the Hance Rapids (lower) member consists of purple to reddish-purple mudstone, interbedded sandy siltstone, and rare occurrences of thin-bedded subarkose- to quartz arenite. Beds of the lower member of the Hakatai Shale grade upward into the fine-grained middle member, with a boundary drawn at or very near their color change. Second, the Cheops Pyramid (middle) member consists of mudstone, siltstone, and subordinate sandy siltstone that exhibit a striking reddish-orange color. These distinctively red-colored strata are commonly mottled with small to large (up to 10 cm and more across), non-red, spherical to spheroidal reduction spots. These mottles have dark-gray to greenish-gray central nuclei that contain very dark gray to black central cores. Finally, the Stone Creek (upper) member of the Hakatai Shale consists of pale purple or lavender, fine- to coarse-grained, crossbedded coarse arkose.

Basaltic sills and dikes intrude all of the Unkar Group below the Cardenas Basalt. Sills intruded only the Bass Formation and Hakatai Shale. Dikes intrude the Hakatai Shale, Shinumo Quartzite, and Dox Formation. The sills range in thickness from 23 m (75 ft) at Hance Rapids, eastern Grand Canyon, to 300 m (980 ft) in Hakatai Canyon in the Shinumo Creek area. The feeder dikes to these sills are not exposed. However, the feeder dikes for the Cardenas Basalt can be traced, discontinuously, to within a few meters of its base. Adjacent to the sills, the Hatakai Shale has been altered to knotted hornfels containing porphyroblasts of andalusite and cordierite that have been replaced by muscovite and green chlorite, respectively.

In the eastern part of the Grand Canyon, the contact between the Hatakai Shale with underlying Bass Formation is typically gradational over an interval of a meter or so. For example, in Red Canyon, the contact consists of an interval in which stromatolitic limestone of the Bass Formation is intimately interbedded with coarse deposits of the overlying Hakatai Shale. In the eastern part of the Grand Canyon, the contact is sharp, but conformable.

The contact between the Hatakai Shale and the overlying Shinumo Quartzite is a distinct, significant disconformity. This disconformity is sharp and locally truncates cross-beds, and channel forms, within the sandstones of the underlying Hatakai Shale. Within the lower subarkose of the Shinumo Sandstone, a basal lag of conglomerate, which contains basement clasts up to 5 cm (2.0 in) across, lies on the eroded surface that forms this disconformity. This basal conglomerate contains quartzite clasts that lack any known equivalents in the Grand Canyon region. As documented by the dating of detrital zircons, this disconformity is estimated to represent a period of about 75 million years.