Cambrian geologic formation found in the Southwestern United States
Muav Limestone
Stratigraphic range: Middle Cambrian 502–499 Ma
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representative sequence of Redwall Limestone, Temple Butte Formation, and Muav Limestone, in Grand Canyon
Type
Geological formation
Unit of
Tonto Group[2]
Underlies
either the Frenchman Mountain Dolostone (Cambrian) or Redwall Limestone (Mississippian). Locally underlies Temple Butte Formation (Devonian) that fills narrow paleovalleys cut into the Muav Limestone.
Overlies
Bright Angel Shale
Thickness
830 feet (250 m), at maximum
Lithology
Primary
limestone and dolomite
Other
shale and intraformational conglomerate.
Location
Region
Northern Arizona (Grand Canyon), central Arizona, southeast California, southern Nevada, and southeast Utah
Country
United States of America
Type section
Named for
Muav Canyon, north side of Colorado River[3]
Named by
Noble (1914)[3]
The Muav Limestone is a Cambrian geologic formation within the 5-member Tonto Group. It is a thin-bedded, gray, medium to fine-grained, mottled dolomite; coarse- to medium-grained, grayish-white, sandy dolomite and grayish-white, mottled, fine-grained limestone. It also contains beds of shale and intraformational conglomerate. The beds of the Muav Limestone are either structureless or exhibit horizontally laminations and cross-stratification. The Muav Limestone forms cliffs or small ledges that weather a dark gray or rusty-orange color. These cliffs or small ledges directly overlie the sloping surfaces of the Bright Angel Shale. The thickness of this formation decreases eastward from 250 feet (76 m) in the western Grand Canyon to 45 feet (14 m) in the eastern Grand Canyon. To the west in southern Nevada, its thickness increases to 830 feet (250 m) in the Frenchman Mountain region.[2][4]
Beyond the Grand Canyon area, the Muav Limestone is recognized in southern Utah, southern Nevada and southern California.[5] In parts of California, it is known and mapped as the Muav Marble.[6]
^Karlstrom, K.E., Mohr, M.T., Schmitz, M.D., Sundberg, F.A., Rowland, S.M., Blakey, R., Foster, J.R., Crossey, L.J., Dehler, C.M. and Hagadorn, J.W., 2020. Redefining the Tonto Group of Grand Canyon and recalibrating the Cambrian time scale. Geology, 48(5), pp. 425–430.
^ abConnors, T.B., Tweet, J.S., and Santucci, V.L., 2020. Stratigraphy of Grand Canyon National Park. In: Santucci, V.L., Tweet, J.S., ed., pp. 54–74, Grand Canyon National Park: Centennial Paleontological Resource Inventory (Non-sensitive Version). Natural Resource Report NPS/GRCA/NRR—2020/2103. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado, 603 pp.
^ abNoble, L.F., 1914. The Shinumo quadrangle, Grand Canyon district, Arizona.U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 549. doi:10.3133/B549. ISSN 0083-1093.
^Middleton, L.T. and Elliott, D.K., 2003. Tonto Group, in Beus, S. S., and Morales, M., eds. Grand Canyon geology Museum of Northern Arizona Press, Flagstaff, Arizona. pp. 90–106.
^Wood, W., 1966. Facies Changes in the Cambrian Muav Limestone, Arizona.Geological Society of America Bulletin, 77(11), pp.1235-1246.
^Hamilton, W.B., 1987. Mesozoic geology and tectonics of the Big Maria Mountains region, southeastern California.Arizona Geological Society Digest, v. 18, pp. 33-45.
The MuavLimestone is a Cambrian geologic formation within the 5-member Tonto Group. It is a thin-bedded, gray, medium to fine-grained, mottled dolomite;...
MuavLimestone. The Temple Butte Formation consists of a thin layer of Devonian strata that fills paleovalleys cut into the underlying Cambrian Muav Limestone...
MuavLimestone (or Formation), and Frenchman Mountain Dolostone. Historically, it included only the Tapeats Sandstone, Bright Angel Shale, and Muav Limestone...
that rise from the Tonto Platform up to cliffs formed by limestones of the overlying MuavLimestone and dolomites of the Frenchman Mountain Dolostone. In...
cliff-erosion-remnants of Redwall Limestone, (very vertical and very narrow, ~north-south aligned), upon a platform of MuavLimestone; as unit three of the 3-member...
between the top of the MuavLimestone and the base of either the Devonian Temple Butte Formation or Mississippian Redwall Limestone. Because of unidentified...
coloration of the Bright Angel. MuavLimestone averages 505 million years old and is made of gray, thin-bedded limestone that was deposited farther offshore...
slopes that rise from the Tonto Platform to cliffs formed by limestones of the MuavLimestone and dolomites of the Frenchman Mountain Dolostone. In 1875...
sequence of 'redbeds', the cliff-forming Redwall Limestone sits above highly eroded slopes of MuavLimestone and Bright Angel Shale. These slopes are deposited...
known as the Red Wall Muav aquifer, is a karst aquifer. It involves an area of substantial fracturing through the Redwall Limestone, Temple Butte Formation...
inconspicuous lenses that fill paleovalleys cut into the underlying MuavLimestone. Within these paleovalleys, it at most, is only about 100 feet (30 m)...
The Kaibab Limestone is a resistant cliff-forming, Permian geologic formation that crops out across the U.S. states of northern Arizona, southern Utah...
switchbacks to descend the 1,200 feet (370 m) through the Redwall Limestone, MuavLimestone, and Bright Angel Shale to the junction with the Tonto Trail,...
upper surface of the Redwall Limestone, on Cambrian rock units below. Another upper platform of the cliff-forming MuavLimestone, underlies the Redwall. (It...
the Redwall Limestone, (a cliff-former, with massive cliffs in East Grand Canyon). Below the Redwall, is a short cliff of MuavLimestone, (but also a...
Interestingly the Redwall Limestone also sits on a short cliff-section of the MuavLimestone, (forming a platform); thus the Redwall-MuavLimestones are a double-platform...
Plateau). The base of the largely flat-topped Redwall Limestone monolith sits upon cliffs of MuavLimestone, then Bright Angel Shale, and Tapeats Sandstone...
Redwall Limestone, (as in the connected Tower of Set southwards). The base of the Redwall has a short, but resistant cliff of (3rd-unit) MuavLimestone. Below...
Reeside characterized and named the Rock Canyon Conglomerate, Virgin Limestone, and Shnabkaib Shale members in 1921. Salt Creek (later replaced by Wupatki...
darker geologic unit, between the brighter colored units of the Kaibab Limestone above, and Coconino Sandstone below. It is a prominent unit in Grand Canyon...
The limestone appears as solid gray-blue beds, a few inches to a few feet thick, and as lenses of limestone conglomerate. Most of the limestone lenses...
and conglomerate beds alternating with reddish mudstone or clay-rich limestone. Further west, the unit shows great lithological diversity, and can be...
Supai Group sits on the cliff-former (and platform-former) of the Redwall Limestone. For Wallace Butte, geologically it is a cliff and slope-former remainder...
debris upon the Redwall. Below the Redwall Limestone are members of the Cambrian Tonto Group, the MuavLimestone and the slopes of the Bright Angel Shale...
Redwall, on another platform, the MuavLimestone. The Surprise Canyon Formation is on top; the Temple Butte Limestone is below. The prominence of The Howlands...
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