Was the Hermit Shale deposited in a terrestrial or marine environment?

Was the Hermit Shale deposited in a terrestrial or marine environment?

Terrestrial Fossils Several of the rock layers in the canyon are of terrestrial origin, including the Hermit Shale, Supai Group, Coconino Sandstone, and Surprise Canyon Formation.

How was Hermit Shale formed?

Like the Supai Group below it, the Hermit Shale was deposited in a swampy environment (see 6a in figure 1). The alternating thin-bedded iron oxide, mud and silt were deposited via freshwater streams in a semiarid environment an average of 265 million years ago.

What kind of landscape formed the Hermit Shale?

The Hermit Formation forms a red slope below the Coconino Sandstone cliff. Animal tracks, mud cracks and raindrop imprints prove that the Hermit was often exposed to air. At other times, floods brought in siltstone and limestone pebbles.

In what sedimentary environment did the Bright Angel Shale deposit?

Also, this formation is loaded with fossils of brachiopods, trilobites and hyoliths, of these, all are found in the Bright Angel Formation and were a deposition of silty muds in a shallow sea environment.

In what sedimentary environment did the Temple Butte dolomitic limestone deposit?

Within the eastern part of the Grand Canyon, the Temple Butte Formation fills shallow paleovalleys, which are eroded into the underlying Tonto Group, (upper 3rd unit Muav Limestone).

In what sedimentary environment did the Supai Group sandstone deposit?

The Supai Group was deposited in Pennsylvanian and early Permian time in swampy and riparian environments from clastic sediment mostly derived from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains (the average age of this group is 285 million years).

What kind of depositional environment does the Tapeats Sandstone indicate?

The depositional environment of the Tapeats Sandstone is interpreted to have been an intertidal marine shelf bordered by sandy dunes (“National Park Service”).

What are the key characteristics of Hermit Shale?

Lithologically the Hermit shale resembles many beds of sandy shale in the Supai, but, unlike the Supai, it contains no massive hard layers of cross-bedded sandstone, and the more sandy beds in the Hermit are prevailingly reddish, not buff, as they are in the Supai.

What type of rock is Hermit Shale?

The Permian Hermit Formation, also known as the Hermit Shale, is a nonresistant unit that is composed of slope-forming reddish brown siltstone, mudstone, and very fine-grained sandstone.

What is the depositional environment of the Coconino Sandstone?

The Coconino Sandstone, the origin of which is conventionally attributed to desert sand dunes, was deposited by water. Evidence for this (in addition to the character of fossil footprints therein) includes cross-bedding angles of only 25 degrees, not the 30-34 degrees one expects from desert dunes.

In what sedimentary environment did the conglomerate in the nankoweap formation deposit?

Depositional environments The sedimentary structures in the upper member of the Nankoweap Formation are interpreted to indicate that it accumulated beneath moderate- to low-energy, shallow waters, either in a shallow sea or lake.

Where is the Supai formation?

It occurs in Arizona at Chino Point, Sycamore Canyon, and famously at Sedona as parts of Oak Creek Canyon. In the Sedona region, it is overlain by the Hermit Formation, and the colorful Schnebly Hill Formation….

Where was the Tonto Group deposited?

the Grand Canyon
The Tonto Group is a name for an assemblage of related sedimentary strata, collectively known by geologists as a Group, that comprises the basal sequence Paleozoic strata exposed in the sides of the Grand Canyon….

In what sedimentary environment did the Kaibab Limestone deposit?

As the sea returned, the rock layers of the Toroweap Sandstone were created in sandy coastal environments. Finally, as the ocean encroached, the Kaibab Limestone was deposited in quiet, shallow waters.

What type of rock is Supai?

sedimentary rocks
The Supai Group consists mostly of sandstone and sandy shale redbeds. These are sedimentary rocks colored by an abundance of the red mineral, hematite. The lowermost part of the Supai Group also contains thin beds of limestone.

What is the most likely depositional environment of the Tapeats Sandstone in this sequence?

The consensus uniformitarian interpreted depositional environments for the Tapeats Sandstone are intertidal to subtidal shallow-marine environments with local beach and fluvial deposits, yet it has been described as “one of the most dramatic global marine transgressions in Earth history.” K-feldspar content ranges from …

What type of rock is the Tonto Group?

As currently defined Tonto Group consists of the Sixtymile Formation, Tapeats Sandstone, Bright Angel Shale, Muav Limestone, and Frenchman Mountain Dolostone. The Sixtymile Formation is a very thin accumulation of sandstone, siltstone, and breccia underlying the Tapeats Sandstone.

What type of rock is the Hermit Shale?

Though it is often called the Hermit Shale, most of the Hermit is not shale but siltstone or mudstone mixed with fine grained sandstone. All these are soft, fine grained sedimentary rocks, weathering to form gentle slopes–as in this photo of Isis Temple (with Coconino Sandstone at the top).

What is the depositional environment of a shale?

When the dominant organic matter content is from plant fragments such as pollen grains, stems and leaves, the shale is classified as carbonaceous, and the depositional environment is usually continental (lacustrine) or transitional (deltaic or lagoon).

Why is the Hermit shale red?

The atmosphere has a higher oxygen content than present day earth (35% vs 21%). It is possible during a flood that our slow, meandering river can switch paths. Swampy areas can be found where the river has abandoned its old channel. Iron oxide is responsible for the dark red hue of the Hermit Shale.

What happens to shale when it forms?

The shale exposed to extreme heat and pressure may vary in slate form. Once formed, the shale is usually released into lakes and rivers with slow-moving water.