Cenozoic Gravels on the Rim of Sycamore Canyon, Arizona

Geology of the Clarkdale quadrangle, Arizona

“…The gravel contains fragments of Precambrian and early Paleozoic rocks so could only have come from the southwest. Similar gravel has been reported in the area north of the Clarkdale quadrangle by Price (1950a) and in Oak Creek canyon by Hears (McKee, 1951, p. 498). Further evidence of pre-Hickey uplift and tilting lies in the fact that the volcanic rocks of the Hickey formation overlap successively older rocks from northeast to southwest.…”

“…Aerial mapping in Sycamore Canyon just north of the Clarkdale quadrangle by Price (1950a) revealed evidence of a northward-flowing drainage before the early basaltic eruptions on the plateau. Price (1950b) also mapped the Kaibab limestone and the Moenkopi formation (Price, 1949) which proved to be one of the southernmost occurrences of the Moenkopi in Arizona.…”

“…Based upon the proximity of Lower Triassic rocks of the Moenkopi formation 4 (Price, 1949) in Sycamore Canyon to the north of the Clarkdale quadrangle, it is evident that during the interval between Triassic and late Tertiary, the area was uplifted and tilted to the northeast. If Jurassic or Cretaceous sediments were ever deposited in this region, erosion, since then, has erased all evidence.…”

“…Price (1950b) also mapped the Kaibab limestone and the Moenkopi formation (Price, 1949) which proved to be one of the southernmost occurrences of the Moenkopi in Arizona.…”

Map of Arizona showing selected alluvial, structural, and geomorphic features

“…; the fluvial gravels of Division K are similar, but slightly more indurated and involved more in structural movements than are the gravels, including the deposits called the Gila Conglomerate, of Division C. Deposits of Division K include the gravel of Nogales (Drewes, 1972), the Tanaje Formation (lower part) (Davidson, 1970), and the Faraway Ranch Formation (Sabins, 1957) in southeastern Arizona; the Indian B'jfte and Rock Peak Conglomerate? (Sell, 1968) in central Arizona; the Daniels and Batamore Conglomerates (Gilluly, 1946) and the Muggins beds (Wilson, 1962) in southwestern Arizona; the Blue Mountain and Robber's Roost Gravels (Koons, 1948a, b) and Buck and Doe Conglomerate of Gray (1964) and Young (1967) in northwestern Arizona; the Hickey Formation (Anderson and Creasey, 1958) and type A gravel (Price, 1950) in north-central Arizona; and a gravelly deposit on White Mesa (Cooley and others, 1969;Hunt, 1969) (Sell, 1968), and red beds exposed in the Papago Buttes near Phoenix in central Arizona; Helmet Fanglomerate (Cooper, 1960), Pantano Formation (Brennan, 1962), Mineta Formation of Chew (1962), and San Manuel Formation (Heindl, 1963;Krieger, 1974) in southeastern Arizona; Locomotive Fanglomerate (Gilluly, 1946) and red beds of the Laguna Mountains (Olmsted a^d others, 1973) near Yuma in southwestern Arizona; Dry Beaver Creek rocks (Twenter and Metzger, 1963) in north-central Arizona; and the upper sedimentary formation of Wrucke (1961), Chuska Sandstone (Gregory, 1917), and rim gravel of Finnell (1967) in northeastern Arizona. Division M has a maximum known thickness of more than 10,000 feet near Tucson, but elsewhere the thickness ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand feet.…”