Abandonment of the name Elephant Canyon Formation in southeastern Utah: Physical and temporal implications

Journal Article · Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Mountain Geologist; (USA)

OSTI ID:5541857

Loope, D B ^[1]; Sanderson, G A ^[2]; Verville, G J

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1. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln (USA)
2. Amoco Production Co., Tulsa, OK (USA)

At its type locality near the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, the Elephant Canyon Formation consists of about 1,000 ft (310 m) of cyclically interbedded sandstones, limestones, and shales. The base of the formation was previously interpreted as an angular unconformity, with Wolfcampian (Lower Permian) strata resting directly on a Missourian (lower Upper Pennsylvanian) sequence composed of similar-appearing strata called the Honaker Trail Formation. The authors however, have traced individual strata within the lower Elephant Canyon and upper Honaker Trail and have found no evidence of the angular unconformity that supposedly defines their contact. After recollecting the type section of the Elephant Canyon, they found faunal evidence indicating that the lower 450 ft (138 m) of the formation is uppermost Pennsylvanian (Virgilian) in age rather than Permian (Wolfcampian). Owing to the illusory nature of the angular unconformity and the lack of biostratigraphic evidence for a major stratigraphic break at the base of the type section, they are here abandoning Elephant Canyon Formation and reinstating the pre-1962, lithostratigraphically-based terminology. Until better physical correlations between the type locality of the Rico Formation and the Canyonlands area are available, they recommend the informal term lower Cutler beds rather than Rico Formation for the rocks below the Cedar Mesa Sandstone and above the upper member of the Hermosa Formation. In addition, interpretations of the origin and history of the Meander Anticline based on the existence of an angular unconformity within the upper Paleozoic strata of the study area must be modified.

• OSTI ID: 5541857
• Journal Information: Mountain Geologist; (USA), Vol. 27:4; ISSN 0027-254X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
STANDARDIZED TERMINOLOGY
UTAH
ANTICLINES
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
COLORADO RIVER
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRATA
GEOLOGY
LIMESTONE
ORIGIN
PALEONTOLOGY
PALEOZOIC ERA
RECOMMENDATIONS
SANDSTONES
SHALES
STRATIGRAPHY
CARBONATE ROCKS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
NORTH AMERICA
RIVERS
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
580000* - Geosciences