Tanner Graben
The Tanner Graben sits on the Butte Fault which trends north-south up the Colorado River, and the west side of Temple Butte; it forms the east flank of Tanner Graben.
The Butte Fault is connected to the East Kaibab Monocline which trends north-south up the Colorado River, and turns north-northwest forming the east perimeter of the Kaibab Plateau, which lies due-north of the Tanner Graben region.
Geology
The south face of the Tanner Graben block shows three distinct geology units, all conformably laid members of the Grand Canyon Supergroup-(and Unkar Group), and are at a paleo-tilted (fault) angle of about 15 degrees. The prominence is horizontal (15 degrees dip to ~north-northeast?) caprock section of distinctively, multi-layered Nankoweap Formation, which is a unit of the Grand Canyon Supergroup. The Nankoweap Formation is conformably laid on member units of the Unkar Group, the lowest and first group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup. The black Cardenas Basalt, makes up much of the Tanner Graben; it sits on erodable, softer, reddish, and layered-(inter-bedded) Dox Formation. The Dox Formation forms the west and east sides of the narrow southeast flank of the Tanner Graben, and shows its down-dropped distance.
Access
Views of the Tanner Graben can be made from the Tanner Trail as it descends down the west ridgeline of the north-trending Tanner Canyon (Tanner Creek). The trail descends from Desert View, East Rim-(Desert View Watchtower), where many viewpoints along the East Rim look down to the Tanner Graben. Tanner Graben is 1.5 miles west of Comanche Point, which is 3 miles north of Desert View, East Rim.
Grand Canyon Supergroup geologic sequence
The units of the Grand Canyon Supergroup:
- Kwagunt Formation
- Galeros Formation
- Nankoweap Formation
- Cardenas Basalt, youngest, Meso-Proterozoic 1070 ± 70 million years
- Dox Formation
- Shinumo Quartzite
- Hakatai Shale
- Bass Formation
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View from Comanche Point. Tanner Rapid and Tanner Graben, photo, bottom-left, showing 1-southeast cliff-face, 2-northeast side, and 3-upper surface of graben.
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View upriver from Tanner Trail-region (west ridgeline of Tanner Canyon, Desert View, East Rim)
(black graben, center-edge, photo left)
See also
References
- ^ Lucchitta, 2001. Hiking Arizona's Geology, Hike 3, Tanner Trail, pp. 76–82 [80–81], Photo and graphic of photo, Butte Fault, and Tanner Graben.
- ^ Chronic, Halka. Roadside Geology of Arizona, from Section: "Grand Canyon National Park", pp. 279–287. Graphic, Faults of eastern Grand Canyon show a NW-SE trend superimposed on a NE-SW trend inherited from Precambrian time. In Grand Canyon these faults can be studied in three-dimensional detail. (about 35 faults shown), p. 286.
- ^ Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas, pp. 28–29, 62–63.
- ^ Lucchitta, 2001. Hiking Arizona's Geology, Fig. 9, Geologic section of the Grand Canyon showing its stratigraphy, p. 64.
- Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas, Benchmark Maps, 2nd Edition, c. 1998, 112 pages, pp. 28–29, 62–63.
- Arizona DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, 5th Edition, c. 2002, 76 pages, p. 32.
- Chronic, Halka. Roadside Geology of Arizona, c. 1983, 23rd printing, Mountain Press Publishing Co. 322 pages. pp. 229–232 – (US 89A Marble Canyon – Fredonia), pp. 179–180. (softcover, ISBN 978-0-87842-147-3)
- Lucchitta, 2001. Hiking Arizona's Geology, Ivo Lucchitta, c 2001, Mountaineers's Books. (softcover, ISBN 0-89886-730-4)