Prepared in cooperation with the Water Resources Division of the National Park Service Geologic Map of the Valle 30‘ x 60‘ Quadrangle, Coconino County, Northern Arizona By George H. Billingsley, Tracey J. Felger, and Susan S. Priest Pamphlet to accompany Scientific Investigations Map 2895 View looking downstream into Cataract Canyon showing the Lower Permian strata of the Coconino Plateau (photograph by G.H. Billingsley, 2003). 2006 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey INTRODUCTION the Coconino Plateau along State Highway 64 northeast corner of the map area, to about 4,200 ft (,280 m) at the The geologic map of the Valle 30´ x 60´ quadrangle is bottom of Cataract Canyon. the result of a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geolog- Settlements within the map area include Tusayan ical Survey and the National Park Service to provide geo- and Valle, Arizona (fig. ). State Highway 64 and U.S. logic information for regional resource management and Highway 80 provide access to the Tusayan and Valle visitor information services for Grand Canyon National areas. Indian Route 8 is a paved highway in the north- Park, Arizona. The map area encompasses approximately west corner of the map area that is maintained by the ,960 mi2 within Coconino County, northern Arizona and Hualapai and Havasupai Indian Tribes and leads from is bounded by long 2° to 3° W. and lat 35°30´ to 36° State Route 66 about 7 mi ( km) east of Peach Springs, N. and lies within the southern Colorado Plateaus geo- Arizona to Hualapai Hilltop, a parking lot just north of logic province (herein Colorado Plateau). The map area the map area at the rim of Cataract Canyon where visi- is locally subdivided into four physiographic parts; () tors begin an 8 mi (3 km) hike into Havasupai, Arizona. the Grand Canyon (Cataract Canyon and extreme north- Other remote parts of the map are accessed by two dirt east corner of the map area), (2) the Coconino Plateau, roads, which are maintained by Coconino County, and (3) the Mount Floyd Volcanic Field, and (4) the San Fran- by several unmaintained local ranch roads. Weather con- cisco Volcanic Field as defined by Billingsley and others, ditions restrict travel within the area and visitors must 997 (fig. ). Elevations range from 7,460 ft (2,274 m) on obtain permission to access a few local ranch lands in the 113°00' 112°00' 36°00' S up t HAVASUPAI ai Tusayan FaultGRAND CANYON M Faul n INDIAN e a NATIONAL PARK o n li y n Co Coconino n c a e S c RESERVATION o o s b San n k onin 64 c a o Tu r in l n i M 18 n G e o dstone Far e r Wash m Vishnu R id Da Cataract Canyon of ge Wash Ant HUALAPAI Box K Ranch Angel icl m Grand Canyon ine t INDIAN l Was u l a KAIBAB RESERVATION F ge Anita h e Sandstone h An NATIONAL Hazen Hole c in Station n cl a ght FOREST Tank o i e Fault D R n Dik ra o Br ght Wash w M i Cata e Br Redlands Ranch onoclin Red Butte Tan H s M Red o COCO d r r ac s s Fault n e ai a k a W s l t Howard h Dr d aw up Rodger e Hill Faul S t NINO R Re Farm d Willaha Hor Rose Well Camp 180 se Anticline Da h m s Dr Vishnu aw 64 er Wa Long SAN FRANCISCO Point Tin House Mill Dam VOLCANIC FIELD C m Sp Ranch at ring Black Markham ar Synclineac Va Red t ll Valle Tank Dam ey Lake Markha Camp Fault Zone W a sh Duff P 180 Au MOUNT FLOYD Brown Tank LAT brey S SAN FRANCISCO Rhodes VOLCANIC FIELD u Horse p EA VOLCANIC FIELD Tule a 64 Canyon i Four Lake U Lake M C Hills o a n n Clif o y c o Bishop li n f n s Lake e 35°30' 0 5 10 15 20 MILES 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 KILOMETERS Volcanic rocks Main dirt road Intermittent stream Federal land boundary Monocline Anticline Lake or stock tank Syncline Fault—Bar and ball on downthrown side Figure 1. Index map of the Valle 30' x 60' quadrangle showing some locations and geologic and structural features mentioned in the text. south-central edge of the map area. Extra water and food entirely using photogeologic methods. Relative ages of are highly recommended when traveling in this remote alluvial deposits with similar lithologies were determined region. Access into Cataract Canyon is restricted to horse on the basis of stratigraphic position and the amount of or foot travel and visitors must obtain permission from erosional degradation. Several map units and structures the Havasupai Tribe to hike within the Havasupai Indian were investigated in the field to insure accuracy of place- Reservation (fig. ). ment. Map contacts between alluvial and eolian units are In the central part of the map area, most of the land approximate. is privately owned and managed by the Babbitt Ranches Tracey Felger and Susan S. Priest, Flagstaff Science Inc. in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy and the Center, U.S. Geological Survey, used ARC/MAP tech- Navajo Tribe. In the southern half of the map, land alter- niques to compile the map in digital format. This is the nates between privately owned land and State land form- 4th map in a series of new digital :00,000-scale geo- ing a checkerboard pattern. The National Park Service logic maps for the Grand Canyon region. manages land in Grand Canyon National Park (extreme northeast edge of map area), the U.S. Forest Service GEOLOGIC SETTING manages lands in the Kaibab National Forest, the Huala- pai Tribe manages lands in the northwest quarter of the The map area is characterized by nearly flat lying map area, and the Havasupai Tribe manages lands within to gently dipping Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Cataract Canyon and adjacent parts of the Coconino Pla- strata. Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene volcanic rocks teau (fig. ). form a protective caprock over most of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks along the south and east margins of PREVIOUS WORK the map area. The southwest limb or part of the Kaibab Upwarp or anticline elevates the northeast part of the map Wilson and others (969) compiled an early recon- area where Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata have a regional naissance photogeologic map of this area as part of a southwest dip averaging about 2 degrees toward the broad geologic map of Coconino County and which was later Cataract Syncline in the vicinity of Cataract Canyon and compiled at :500,000 scale for the State of Arizona Valle, Arizona. The regional dip in the southwest half of map. A new :,000,000-scale geologic map of Arizona the map area is about to 2 degrees northeast towards the was recompiled by Reynolds (988) using the same geo- Cataract Syncline. The Cataract Syncline axis is approxi- logic data. Wenrich and others (997) and Billingsley mate and closely follows the northwest trend of Cataract and others (2000b) mapped the northeastern part of the Canyon (Huntoon, 2003). Hualapai Indian Reservation, which encompassed the northwest corner of this map. Wolfe and others (987) mapped the San Francisco Volcanic Field in the south- PALEOZOIC AND MESOZOIC east corner of this map and Huntoon and others (996) SEDIMENTARY ROCKS mapped a portion of the northeast corner of the map area. Nearly ,500 ft (460 m) of Lower Permian strata are The Quaternary geology of Wenrich and others (997), exposed in the walls of Cataract Canyon. The Paleozoic Billingsley and others, (2000b), and Wolfe and others strata in the map area are, oldest to youngest, the Espla- (987) has been modified and updated (see index to geo- nade Sandstone, the Hermit Formation, the Coconino logic mapping on geologic map). Sandstone, the Toroweap Formation, the Kaibab Forma- Geologic maps of adjacent areas include () the tion. Grand Canyon 30´ x 60´ quadrangle, which borders the north edge of this map (Billingsley, 2000), (2) the Mount ESPLANADE SANDSTONE Trumbull 30´ x 60´ quadrangle adjacent to the northwest corner of this map (Billingsley and Wellmeyer, 2003), The Esplanade Sandstone is incompletely exposed and (3) the Coconino Point and Grandview Point quad- at the bottom of Cataract Canyon but based on exposures rangles adjacent to the northeast corner of this map (Bill- in Grand Canyon just north of the map and in the Verde ingsley and others, 985). Huntoon (999) produced a Valley southeast of the map, the Esplanade Sandstone local structural geologic map of the Cataract Basin area. maintains a relatively uniform thickness of about 400 to 450 ft (23 to 37 m) thick throughout the subsurface of the Coconino Plateau. Regionally, the Esplanade Sand- MAPPING METHODS stone gradually thins to the east, south, and southwest but The geology was mapped first by photogeologic thickens slightly to the north and northwest. The Espla- methods using 974 black and white :24,000-scale stereo nade represents a coastal and near coastal deltaic, eolian aerial photographs and later by extensive field checking. sand dune, and nearshore fluvial environments. The high- Many of the Quaternary units have similar lithology and lands that may have supplied most of the sediment were geomorphic characteristics and were mapped almost generally south and east of the map area, while shallow 2 seas were present to the west and northeast. An erosional the map area. The Seligman Member is an accumulation unconformity separates the Esplanade Sandstone from of nearshore beach sandstone and shallow marine lime- the overlying Hermit Formation; channels eroded into the stone deposits that are about 55 ft (7 m) thick in the Esplanade are as much as 30 ft (40 m) deep in Cataract northwest corner of the map, and gradually thins south- Canyon just north of the map area (Billingsley, 2000).