East Kaibab Monocline
The East Kaibab Monocline is a monocline- shaped geological fault in the southern Colorado Plateau . It has a length of around 240 kilometers.
Location and geology
The fault zone extends on the eastern edge of the Kaibab Uplift in southern Utah and northern Arizona between the Table Cliff Plateau near Bryce Canyon National Park and the city of Flagstaff . The fault, running in north and north-east direction, led, as part of the Laramian mountain formation 50 to 80 million years ago, to an easterly sloping folding of the overburden of sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic over two almost parallel at a distance of a few hundred meters below located Precambrian faults. In the southern area it is divided into several arms:
- Grandview segment
- Black point segment
- Coconino segment
- Palisades segment
Since then, the erosion has transformed the monocline into a series of elevations and valleys made of brightly colored stripes of rock, the most spectacular sections are under special protection in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument . The fault also traverses Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park , where it is clearly visible from Tatahatso Point.
Cockscomb
The central part called Cockscomb (German: Hahnenkamm) extends from Canaan Peak east of the Kodachrome Basin State Park to House Rock Valley, especially in this area, differently colored Cretaceous sandstones of the Wahweap Formation come to light. Measurements of the thickness of these deposits have shown that, at least in this area, the form of the fault cannot only be explained by a flexure of the sedimentary rock over differently elevated bedrock.
In this area, which is located entirely in the area of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, unpaved roads ( Cottonwood Canyon Road , House Rock Valley Road ) were laid along the synclinal basin, making this popular hiking area easy to develop allow. US Highway 89 crosses the fault zone in Fivemile Valley near the breakthrough of the Paria River by the Cockscomb .
Web links
- Geological study (eng.) (PDF; 1.6 MB)