Harding Point Sandstone Member, Cave Spring Sandstone[1]
Underlies
Kaibab Limestone, Toroweap Formation
Overlies
Hermit Formation
Lithology
Primary
Sandstone
Location
Region
Colorado Plateau
Country
United States (Southwestern United States)
Extent
Arizona-(notably, Grand Canyon & region) Nevada Utah-(southern) Colorado-(northwest)
Type section
Named for
Coconino Plateau
Named by
N. H. Darton, 1910[2]
The Coconino Sandstone forms the two prominent white cliffs in the middle distance in this view from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Coconino Sandstone is a geologic formation named after its exposure in Coconino County, Arizona. This formation spreads across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
Vertebrate tracks known as Chelichnus gigas from the Coconino Sandstone in Grand Canyon.
This rock formation is particularly prominent in the Grand Canyon, where it is visible as a prominent white cliff-forming layer. The thickness of the formation varies due to regional structural features; in the Grand Canyon area it is only 65 feet (20 m) thick in the west, thickens to over 600 feet (180 m) in the middle and then thins to 57 feet (17 m) in the east. Either the Kaibab Limestone or Toroweap Formation overlies the Coconino Sandstone. The Coconino Sandstone is typically buff to white in color. It consists primarily of fine well-sorted quartz grains, with minor amounts of potassium feldspar grains deposited by eolian processes (wind-deposited) approximately 275 million years ago. Several structural features such as ripple marks, sand dune deposits, rain patches, slump marks, and fossil tracks are not only well preserved within the formation, but also contribute evidence of its eolian origin.[3][4][5]
Lechatelierite (silica glass), as well as coesite and stishovite (high pressure forms of SiO2) were formed during the impact of a meteorite into the Coconino Sandstone at Barringer Crater in Arizona.[6][7]
^Blakey, R.C. (1990) Stratigraphy and geologic history of Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks, Mogollon Rim region, central Arizona and vicinity. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 102(9):1189–1217.
^Darton, N.H. (1910) A reconnaissance of parts of northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona. Bulletin 435. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. 88 p., (incl. geologic map, scale 1:1,000,000)
^McKee, E.D. (1945) Small-scale structures in the Coconino Sandstone of northern Arizona." The Journal of Geology. 53(5):313–325.
^McKee, E.D. (1979) A study of global sand seas. Professional Paper 1052. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. 429 pp.
^Middleton, L.T., D.K. Elliott, and M. Morales (2002) Coconino Sandstone, in S.S. Beus and M. Morales, eds., Grand Canyon Geology. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0-19-512299-2
^Kieffer, S.W. (1971) Shock metamorphism of the Coconino sandstone at Meteor Crater. Arizona, Journal of Geophysical Research. 76(23):5449-5473.
^Kieffer, S.W. (1971) I, Shock Metamorphism of the Coconino Sandstone at Meteor Crater, Arizona; II, The Specific Heat of Solids of Geophysical Interest. Unpublished PhD. dissertation. Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California. 253 pp.
and 24 Related for: Coconino Sandstone information
CoconinoSandstone is a geologic formation named after its exposure in Coconino County, Arizona. This formation spreads across the Colorado Plateau province...
Coconino may refer to: Coconino Community College Coconino County, Arizona Coconino High School Coconino National Forest Coconino Plateau Coconino Sandstone...
between the brighter colored units of the Kaibab Limestone above, and CoconinoSandstone below. It is a prominent unit in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, found...
contorted sandstones (sabkha deposits) of Toroweap Formation interfinger with and are replaced by cross-bedded sandstones of the CoconinoSandstone. As a...
characterized by high cliffs of limestone and sandstone, namely the Kaibab Limestone and CoconinoSandstone cliffs.: 1206–1209 The escarpment was created...
composed of Kaibab upon Toroweap Formation slopes, upon white cliffs of CoconinoSandstone. Aerial view, & 7,119 ft, Mather Point, Mountainzone Marher Point...
Isis Temple prominence (a short remainder caprock of bright-white CoconinoSandstone, on an erosion slope of brownish Hermit Formation), is only about...
overlaying 300-feet-thick, cream-colored, cliff-forming, Permian CoconinoSandstone. The sandstone, which is the third-youngest of the strata in the Grand Canyon...
edge of a proto-North America. Major exceptions include the Permian CoconinoSandstone, which contains abundant geological evidence of aeolian sand dune...
Sandstone support various landforms. They are namely - Mount Hayden, Brady Peak, and Tritle Peak. The peaks are composed of eroded CoconinoSandstone...
the CoconinoSandstone also a cliff-former; the rock unit between the two, is the mostly slope-forming Toroweap Formation. Notably, below the Coconino are...
Tonto Platform. An unconformity marks the top of this formation . CoconinoSandstone formed about 275 million years ago as the area dried out and sand...
Arizona. It is a dark red sandstone, from 800 feet (240 m) to 1,000 feet (300 m) thick. It lies between CoconinoSandstone and the older Hermit Formation...
cliff-forming, Permian CoconinoSandstone with a small, remnant Kaibab Limestone and Toroweap Formation caprock. The sandstone, which is the third-youngest...
resistant rocks, including the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Jurassic Wingate Sandstone, and Permian CoconinoSandstone. The folding is much steeper on the eastern...
Esplanade Sandstone. At the north end of this platform is the butte’s prominence, an extremely fractured remnant, of cliff-former CoconinoSandstone capstone...
the canyon are rock units of Kaibab Limestone, Toroweap Formation, CoconinoSandstone, and Hermit Shale, down to Supai Group on red-cliffs of Redwall Limestone...
the trail turns around a few switchbacks in a natural break in the CoconinoSandstone until Cedar Ridge, where the trail begins to level off slightly. Cedar...
(69 ft) for the CoconinoSandstone. The Glorieta Sandstone was deposited by trade winds from the northeast while the CoconinoSandstone was deposited by...
Aquia Creek Sandstone: in Virginia Bayfield group: in northern Wisconsin CoconinoSandstone: in the Colorado Plateau Crab Orchard Sandstone: Cumberland...
buff to white colored, frequently cross-bedded Permian CoconinoSandstone and the red sandstones of the Permian Schnebly Hill Formation. Unlike all the...
Specifically, climbing the rim of the crater from outside, one finds: CoconinoSandstone (sandstone formed 265 million years ago) nearest the top of the rim Toroweap...
Global Information
United States 
Arizona-(notably, Grand Canyon & region) 
Nevada 
Utah-(southern) 
Colorado-(northwest)
