Temple Butte Formation

Temple Butte Formation
Stratigraphic range: Middle to Late Devonian[1][2] 409–363 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Redwall Limestone
Overlies	either Muav Limestone or Frenchman Mountain Dolostone of Tonto Group
Thickness	30 m (98 ft), at maximum
Lithology
Primary	dolomite
Other	sandstone, mudstone, and limestone
Location
Region	Northern Arizona (Grand Canyon), central Arizona, and southern Nevada
Country	United States
Type section
Named for	Temple Butte, Coconino County, Arizona.[3]
Named by	Walcott (1889)[3]

The Devonian Temple Butte Formation, also called Temple Butte Limestone, outcrops through most of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, USA; it also occurs in southeast Nevada. Within the eastern Grand Canyon, it consists of thin, discontinuous and relatively inconspicuous lenses that fill paleovalleys cut into the underlying Muav Limestone. Within these paleovalleys, it at most, is only about 100 feet (30 m) thick at its maximum. Within the central and western Grand Canyon, the exposures are continuous. However, they tend to merge with cliffs of the much thicker and overlying Redwall Limestone.^[1][4]

Within the western and central parts of the Grand Canyon, the Temple Butte Formation consists of a westward thickening layer of interbedded dolomite, sandy dolomite, sandstone, mudstone, and limestone that vary in color from purple, reddish-purple, dark gray, to light-gray. Within the eastern part of the Grand Canyon, the Temple Butte Formation fills shallow paleovalleys, which are eroded into the underlying Tonto Group. The Temple Butte strata filling these paleovalleys consist of interbedded mudstone, sandstone, dolomite, and conglomerate – that vary in color from purple, reddish-purple, to light gray. Typically, the paleovalley-fill consists of a distinct pale, reddish purple dolomite or sandy dolomite. These paleovalleys range in depth from as much as 30 m (98 ft), to as shallow as 12 m (39 ft).^[1][2][4]