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Geology

Regional Rock Columns

There is no single Colorado Plateau column. The same rocks stack in a different order in each corridor — so each one gets its own.

Read each column top to bottom — youngest rock at the rim, oldest at the river. Every band is coloured by the unit's own palette; tap one to open its page.

Canyonlands & Moab

Cataract Canyon, the Needles, and the Island in the Sky

  1. Dakota Sandstone Cretaceous
  2. Morrison Formation Jurassic
  3. Summerville Formation Jurassic
  4. Curtis Formation Jurassic
  5. Entrada Sandstone Jurassic
  6. Carmel Formation Jurassic
  7. Navajo Sandstone Jurassic
  8. Kayenta Formation Jurassic
  9. Wingate Sandstone Mesozoic
  10. Chinle Formation Triassic
  11. Moenkopi Formation Triassic
  12. White Rim Sandstone Permian
  13. Organ Rock Formation Permian
  14. Cedar Mesa Sandstone Permian
  15. Elephant Canyon Formation Paleozoic
  16. Honaker Trail Formation Pennsylvanian
  17. Paradox Formation Pennsylvanian
  18. Pinkerton Trail Formation Pennsylvanian

Glen Canyon & Zion

the big Navajo walls — where the Moenave, not the Wingate, floors the stack

  1. Carmel Formation Jurassic
  2. Navajo Sandstone Jurassic
  3. Kayenta Formation Jurassic
  4. Moenave Formation Mesozoic
  5. Chinle Formation Triassic
  6. Moenkopi Formation Triassic
  7. Kaibab Limestone Permian

Grand Canyon

rim to river — the deepest stack, down to the 1.7-billion-year basement

  1. Kaibab Limestone Permian
  2. Toroweap Formation Permian
  3. Coconino Sandstone Permian
  4. Hermit Formation Permian
  5. Supai Group Paleozoic
  6. Surprise Canyon Formation Mississippian
  7. Redwall Limestone Mississippian
  8. Temple Butte Formation Devonian
  9. Muav Limestone Cambrian
  10. Bright Angel Shale Cambrian
  11. Tapeats Sandstone Cambrian
  12. Grand Canyon Supergroup Proterozoic
  13. Zoroaster Granite Proterozoic
  14. Vishnu Schist Proterozoic

Dinosaur & the Uinta Uplift

the Gates of Lodore to Split Mountain — Mesozoic flank over a deep Paleozoic core

  1. Browns Park Formation Neogene
  2. Morrison Formation Jurassic
  3. Carmel Formation Jurassic
  4. Nugget Sandstone Mesozoic
  5. Chinle Formation Triassic
  6. Moenkopi Formation Triassic
  7. Park City Formation Permian
  8. Weber Sandstone Paleozoic
  9. Morgan Formation Pennsylvanian
  10. Madison Limestone Mississippian
  11. Lodore Formation Cambrian
  12. Uinta Mountain Group Proterozoic

Uinta Basin & Desolation Canyon

the Green cutting the Tertiary lake-and-river fill of the Uinta Basin

  1. Uinta Formation Paleogene
  2. Green River Formation Paleogene
  3. Wasatch Formation Paleogene
  4. Mesaverde Group Cretaceous
  5. Mancos Shale Cretaceous
  6. Dakota Sandstone Cretaceous