Surprise Canyon Formation

Surprise Canyon Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian) 331–323 Ma [1]
Pattie Butte-(Newton Butte),
The ridgeline, north sits on Redwall Limestone 'platform'–(2-places, photo-bottom-left, top of red Redwall cliff), and topped by 2nd-platform of Surprise Canyon Formation.
TypeFormation
UnderliesWatahomigi Formation, basal member of Supai Group
OverliesRedwall Limestone
Thickness0–122 m (0–400 ft)
Lithology
Primarysandstone, conglomerate, limestone, siltstone
Location
Regionsouthwest Colorado Plateau,  Arizona-(northern)
Country United States-(Southwestern United States)
ExtentGrand Canyon
Type section
Named forSurprise Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park
Named byGeorge H. Billingsley and Stanley S. Beus[2]

The Surprise Canyon Formation is a geologic formation that consists of clastic and calcareous sedimentary rocks that fill paleovalleys and paleokarst of Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian) age in Grand Canyon. These strata outcrop as isolated, lens-shaped exposures of rocks that fill erosional valleys and locally karsted topography and caves developed in the top of the Redwall Limestone. The Surprise Canyon Formation and associated unconformities represent a significant period of geologic time between the deposition of the Redwall Limestone and the overlying Supai Group.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ a b Hodnett, J.P.M. and Elliott, D.K., 2018. Carboniferous chondrichthyan assemblages from the Surprise Canyon and Watahomigi formations (latest Mississippian–Early Pennsylvanian) of the western Grand Canyon, Northern Arizona. Journal of Paleontology, 92(S77), pp. 1–33.
  2. ^ a b Billingsley, G.H., and Beus, S.S., 1985, The Surprise Canyon Formation—an upper Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian (?) rock unit in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Stratigraphic Notes, 1984. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, no. 1605-A, pp. 27–33.
  3. ^ Beus, S.S. and Morales, M., 2003. Redwall Limestone and Surprise Canyon Formation, Grand Canyon. Geology, 2, pp. 115–135.