Navajo Sandstone
Navajo Sandstone of Glen Canyon Group (AZ*,CO*,NM*,UT*)
Navajo Sandstone (NV)
Crossbedded layers in the Navajo Sandstone in Zion National Park.
Polygonal jointing in the Navajo Sandstone along the Burr Trail near Boulder, Utah.
Controversial
Triassic?*
Jurassic*
Jurassic, Early
Pliensbachian, late
Toarcian
Black Mesa basin*
Great Basin province*
Paradox basin*
Piceance basin*
Plateau sedimentary province*
San Juan basin*
Uinta basin*
Uinta uplift*
AZ(n)*
CO(nw)*
NV
UT*
Type Locality:
Not designated. Named for the "Navajo Country" of AZ, UT, and
NM (Gregory, 1917).
(alphabetical): Lamb Point Tongue (UT*), Shurtz Tongue (UT*).
Named as the uppermost formation of the La Plata group (Gregory and Stone, 1917). Overview; Areal limits (Gilluly and Reeside, 1928). Areal limits; Revised (Gregory and Moore, 1931). Revised, assigned as upper formation of Glen Canyon Group (Baker, 1936). Overview; Revised (Thomas and Krueger, 1946). Revised, Lamb Point Tongue (Cedar City area) and Shurtz Sandstone Tongue (Kanab area) named (Averitt and others, 1955). Overview (Harshbarger and others, 1957). Age modified (Lewis and others, 1961). Overview (Averitt, 1962). Revised (Phoenix, 1963). Not used in northwest CO and northeast UT, preferring Glen Canyon Sandstone (Poole and Stewart, 1964). Overview; Areal limits (Cater and Craig, 1970). Revised (Thompson and Stokes, 1970). Areal limits; Revised (Moore, 1972). Overview (Peterson and Pipiringos, 1979). Age modified (Padian, 1989). [See Chinle Formation comments on correlation with sandstones in northern UT, western CO (Dubiel and others, 1991).]
References
Gregory, H.E. and Stone, R.W., 1917, Geology of the Navajo country; a reconnaissance of parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 93, 161 p.
Gilluly, James and Reeside, J.B., Jr., 1928, Sedimentary rocks of the San Rafael Swell and some adjacent areas in eastern Utah, IN Shorter contributions to general geology, 1927: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 150-D, p. D61-D110.
Gregory, H.E. and Moore, R.C., 1931, The Kaiparowits region, a geographic and geologic reconnaissance of parts of Utah and Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 164, 161 p.
Baker, A.A., 1936, Geology of the Monument Valley-Navajo Mountain region, San Juan County, Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 865, 106 p., Also, U.S. Geological Survey Oil and Gas Investigations Map OM-168, and Bulletin 1087-D.
Thomas, H.D. and Krueger, M.L., 1946, Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic stratigraphy of Uinta Mountains, Utah: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 30, no. 8, p. 1255-1293.
Averitt, Paul, Wilson, R.F., Detterman, J.S., Harshbarger, J.W. and Repenning, C.A., 1955, Revisions in correlation and nomenclature of Triassic and Jurassic formations in southwestern Utah and northern Arizona: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 39, no. 12, p. 2515-2524.
Harshbarger, J.W., Repenning, C.A. and Irwin, J.H., 1957, Stratigraphy of the uppermost Triassic and the Jurassic rocks of the Navajo country: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 291, 74 p.
Lewis, G.E., Irwin, J.H. and Wilson, R.F., 1961, Age of the Glen Canyon Group (Triassic and Jurassic) on the Colorado Plateau: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 72, no. 9, p. 1437-1440.
Averitt, Paul, 1962, Geology and coal resources of the Cedar Mountain quadrangle, Iron County, Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 389, 72 p.
Phoenix, D.A., 1963, Geology of the Lees Ferry area, Coconino County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1137, 86 p.
Poole, F.G. and Stewart, J.H., 1964, Chinle Formation and Glen Canyon Sandstone in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado, IN Geological Survey research 1964: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 501-D, p. D30-D39, Also, 1964, Intermountain Association of Petroleum Geologists, 13th Annual Field Conference, Guidebook to the geology and mineral resources of the Uinta basin, Utah's hydrocarbon storehouse, p. 93-104.
Cater, F.W. and Craig, L.C., 1970, Geology of the Salt Anticline region in southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 637, 80 p., (incl. geologic map, scale 1:62,500).
Thompson, A.E. and Stokes, W.L., 1970, Stratigraphy of the San Rafael Group, southwest and south central Utah: Utah Geological and Mineral Survey Bulletin, no. 87, 53 p.
Moore, R.T., 1972, Geology of the Virgin and Beaverdam Mountains, Arizona: Arizona Bureau of Mines Bulletin, no. 186, 65 p., (incl. geologic map, scale 1:62,500).
Peterson, Fred and Pipiringos, G.N., 1979, Stratigraphic relationships of the Navajo Sandstone to Middle Jurassic formations in parts of southern Utah and northern Arizona, IN Unconformities, correlations, and nomenclature of some Triassic and Jurassic rocks, Western Interior United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1035-B, p. B1-B43, Supersedes 1979, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, OF-79-281, 179 p.
Padian, K., 1989, Presence of dinosaur Scelidosaurus indicates Jurassic age for the Kayenta Formation (Glen Canyon Group, northern Arizona): Geological Society of America, Geology, v. 17, no. 5, p. 438-441.
Beitler, Brenda., Chan, Marjorie A., Parry, William T., 2003, Bleaching of Jurassic Navajo Sandstone on Colorado Plateau Laramide highs., evidence of exhumed hydrocarbon supergiants? Geology (Boulder), v. 31, no. 12, p. 1041-1044.
Jol, Harry M., Bristow, Charlie S., Smith, Derald G., Junck, M. Brian.,
Putnam, Peter, 2003, Stratigraphic imaging of the Navajo Sandstone using
ground-penetrating radar: The Leading Edge (Tulsa, OK), v. 22, no. 9,
p. 882, 884-887.
Loope, David B., Rowe, Clinton M., 2003,
Long-lived pluvial episodes during deposition of the Navajo Sandstone:
Journal of Geology, v. 111, no. 2, p. 223-232.
Eisenberg, Len, 2003, Giant stromatolites and a supersurface in the Navajo
Sandstone, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah: Geology (Boulder), v. 31,
no. 2, p .111-114.
Chan, Marjorie A., Archer, Allan W., 2000, Cyclic eolian stratification
on the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Zion National Park; periodicities and
implications for paleoclimate: In, Geology of Utah's parks and monuments:
Sprinkel, Douglas A., Chidsey, Thomas C , Jr., Anderson, Paul B., editors,
Utah Geological Association Publication, v. 28, p. 606-617.
Heilweil, Victor M., Watt, Dennis E., Solomon, D. Kip, and Goddard, Kimball
E., 2002, The Navajo aquifer system of southwestern Utah: Field guide
to geologic excursions in southwestern Utah and adjacent areas of Arizona
and Nevada: Lund, William R., ed., U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report
OF 02-0172, p. 105-130.
Davis, Larry E., and Eves, Robert L., 2002, The geology of the Grand
Staircase in southern Utah., a road log and guide for public school teachers:
In, Field guide to geologic excursions in southwestern Utah and adjacent
areas of Arizona and Nevada: Lund, William R., ed., U. S. Geological Survey,
Open-File Report OF 02-0172, p. 199-234.
Loope, David B., Rowe, Clinton M., and Joeckel, R. Matthew, 2001, Annual
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Paul B., 2000, Geology of Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Utah: In,
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O'Sullivan, Robert B., 1998, Correlation of Jurassic San Rafael Group
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Verlander, Jonathan E., 1995, The Navajo Sandstone: Geology Today, v. 11, no. 4, p. 143-146.
