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Deposition of the Tapeats Sandstone (Cambrian) in Central Arizona

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Deposition of the Tapeats Sandstone (Cambrian) in Central Arizona Deposition of the Tapeats Sandstone (Cambrian) in central Arizona RICHARD HEREFORD U.S. Geological Survey, 601 East Cedar Avenue, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 ABSTRACT stratigraphy of the Tapeats Sandstone in Bright Angel Shale and Muav Limestone central Arizona. This area lies along the are absent, and the Tapeats Sandstone is Grain size, bedding thickness, dispersion southern margin of the Colorado Plateau overlain unconformably by the Chino Val- of cross-stratification azimuths, and as- and includes most of the headwaters and ley Formation that was thought to be of semblages of sedimentary structures and northern reaches of the Verde and East probable Cambrian age when defined by trace fossils vary across central Arizona; Verde Rivers (Fig. 1). Hereford (1975). The results of this study they form the basis for recognizing six Relatively thin Cambrian sandstone de- indicate that the Chino Valley Formation facies (A through F) in the Tapeats posits such as the Tapeats are the basal and Tapeats Sandstone are separated by a Sandstone. Five of these (A through E), coarse-grained facies of a transgressive se- major stratigraphic break which probably present in western central Arizona, are quence that extended along north-trending spans several periods. marine deposits containing the trace fossil strandlines throughout the Rocky This study is restricted to data obtainable Corophioides; several intertidal environ- Mountain states (Lochman-Balk, 1971, p. through field observations, such as the ments are represented. The association of 95 — 103). These sandstones are generally thickness and orientation of cross- large-scale cross-bedding (50 to 300 cm) regarded as shelf deposits that formed on stratification, description of physical and that is characterized by compound cross- the craton east of the shallow, slowly sub- biogenic sedimentary structures, and visual stratification, numerous reactivation sur- siding Cordilleran miogeosyncline (McKee, estimates of grain size and mineral compo- faces, and herringbone patterns is typical of 1945; Stewart, 1970; Lochman-Balk, 1971, sition. The Tapeats in central Arizona is facies A and generally typical of the finer- p. 92). Fluvial deposits have not been rec- well suited to such an approach because of grained, thinner-bedded facies B. The ognized in these sandstones because, as See- the relatively large scale of sedimentary sedimentary structures and polymodal dis- land (1969) suggested, they were probably structures and the coarse grain size of the tribution of foreset azimuths common to extensively although (as shown here) not sandstone. Furthermore, exposures are facies A and B probably formed on interti- entirely reworked by the transgressing seas. fairly continuous, although gaps occur, and dal sand bars during emergence and late- In eastern central Arizona, fluvial deposits most outcrops are accessible (at least at the stage tidal runoff. Facies C consists of were accumulating contemporaneously scale of the bedding) to observation in three well-sorted sandstone, gently cross strat- with marine deposits in western central dimensions. ified or with continuous parallel stratifica- Arizona. The marine sandstones are over- tion, and foresets tangential to the lower lain by fine-grained terrigenous deposits LITHOLOGY AND PHYSICAL bedding surface. This facies generally oc- that formed in the deepening water of the SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES curs where the gradient of the depositional transgressing seas. Further transgression re- surface increases; it apparently was depos- sulted in deposition of calcareous and Lithologically, the Tapeats Sandstone is ited on a beach by shoaling waves. Facies D dolomitic sediments. In the Grand Canyon generally a very coarse-grained sandstone and, to a lesser extent, the coarser-grained of northern Arizona, the deposits of the to granule conglomerate in which the com- facies E are sandstones with trough cross- transgressing Cambrian sea are named the position ranges from quartzarenite to ar- stratification, fining-upward cycles, abun- Tapeats Sandstone, Bright Angel Shale, and kose. Grains are subrounded to rounded. dant intercalated thin shale and sandstone, Muav Limestone. The Grand Canyon se- Regardless of the degree of rounding, the rare flaser bedding, and local bipolar dis- quence has been the topic of many strati- absence of interstitial clay warrants a ma- tribution of foreset azimuths. Both facies graphic studies (in particular, see McKee, ture textural classification. Throughout are tidal flat deposits; facies D was proba- 1945), but comparable rocks in central central Arizona, the formation is predomi- bly produced by meandering tidal channels, Arizona have largely been overlooked. nantly a coarse-grained deposit; few shale whereas facies E was likely produced by Earlier studies of Cambrian strata in cen- or siltstone beds exceed 50 cm in thickness migration of braided tidal channels. The tral Arizona were discussed elsewhere and, where present, are subordinate to sixth facies (F), present in eastern central (Hereford, 1975). These studies were sandstone. Cross-stratification is by far the Arizona, is an arkosic small-pebble con- primarily mapping efforts, and because the most conspicuous type of sedimentary glomerate that lacks trace fossils; low dis- Tapeats Sandstone is devoid of fossils (with structure. In places, particularly near the persion of foreset azimuths and large-scale the exception of trace fossils), they em- center of the area, the bedding and lithol- (1 to 11-m wide) cut-and-fill structure are phasized establishing the age and correla- ogy of the Tapeats closely resembles those typical. Facies F was deposited by bedload tion of the basal sandstone (Tapeats). It is described from modern braided streams, streams that transported coarse, poorly now clear that the basal sandstone in west- but trace fossils that are quite likely marine sorted sand and gravel westward to the in- ern central Arizona is the stratigraphic occur at many stratigraphic horizons. tertidal flats. equivalent of the Tapeats Sandstone in the Cross-stratification of the planar (both Grand Canyon (Krieger, 1959; 1965, p. tabular and wedge-shaped) and trough va- INTRODUCTION 53—57). In central Arizona, the Tapeats rieties constitutes more than 95 percent of ranges in thickness from 0 to 80 m and rests the bedding in the Tapeats Sandstone. Both This paper describes the sedimentary unconformably on older Precambrian varieties occur in relatively thick sets, al- structures, depositional environments, and rocks. East of Juniper Mesa (Fig. 1), the though the planar type is consistently Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 88, p. 199-211, 11 figs., February 1977, Doc. no. 70205. 199 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/88/2/199/3429324/i0016-7606-88-2-199.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 II3° 00' II2°30' II2°00' lll°30' Figure 1. Central Arizona. The Tapeats Sandstone crops out along both sides of Chino Valley, in the Verde River canyon between Granite Creek and Sycamore Canyon, in the Black Hills, and along the base of the Mogollon Rim and the lower reaches of the East Verde River in the Payson area. A-A' is the line of section for Figure 10. Inclination of cross-stratification (degrees) Thickness of cross-stratification (cm) Figure 2B. Frequency histogram of cross-stratification inclination. The Figure 2A. Log probability plot of cross-stratification thickness. curve shows the fit between the normal distribution and the data. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/88/2/199/3429324/i0016-7606-88-2-199.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 DEPOSITION OF TAPEATS SANDSTONE, ARIZONA 201 Reactivation surfaces ^ Covered 7 2 m 0.5m ^ . .A R i i Figure 3. A. Three slightly convex reactivation surfaces (arrows) near South Butte. B. Perspective view of a reactivation surface (arrow) overlain by a thinly cross-stratified bed with reverse dip. Figures 3A and 3B were both traced from a photograph. thicker. The sample distribution of bedding liquely up the steep slip-face of the thick stage tidal runoff (Klein, 1970a, p. 1104). thickness and the inclination of cross- planar unit (Fig. 4). Every foreset is cross- Compound cross-stratification has also stratification are shown in Figure 2. Bed- stratified for its entire length. These beds been observed in ancient tidal sand bodies ding thickness generally follows a lognor- can be traced for as much as 500 m and re- (Klein, 1970b; Swett and others, 1971). mal distribution. The planar variety is tain the same characteristics throughout. Beds with compound cross-stratification bimodally distributed, having a secondary Williams (1971, p. 30) discussed a similar are the thickest found in the Tapeats; mode in the 80- to 110-cm interval (Fig. type of cross-stratification from ephemeral thicknesses between 1 and 3 m are not un- 2A). The maximum angle of foreset inclina- streams, but the internal organization of the common, with foresets as thick as 10 cm. If tion is normally distributed with a minor foresets he described shows none of the re- not planed by erosion, these beds, as well as mode in the lower angles (Fig. 2B). Beds are markable repetition or continuity of those many planar cross-stratified sets, are over- generally bounded by sharp contacts and in the Tapeats Sandstone. Collinson (1968, lain by a relatively thin coset of trough ripple forms are poorly preserved. Foresets p. 241, 247-250) discussed cross-stratified cross-strata that commonly are oriented
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