Dragon Head (Arizona) is a elevation summit located in the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

, in

Coconino County Coconino County is a county in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff. The county takes its name from ''Cohonino'', a name applied to the Havasupai p ...

of Arizona, US. It is situated in the north of the Hindu Amphitheater, ~2.0 miles west of Shiva Temple, and ~2.5 mi southeast of Grama Point (northeast of Point Sublime). Unlike the extensive Ponderosa Pine forest of Shiva Temple, tableland/plateau prominence, Dragon Head’s flat-topped (minor plateau), is only populated with a marginal non-Ponderosa forest. Shiva Temple is approximately 275 acres (0.43 mi²), where Dragon Head is an ~5 acre prominence platform.

Geology & Forests

The lightly forested horizontal platform of Dragon Head, is created because of the debris from the eroded platform of the

cliff-former A cliff-former is a geological unit of bedrock that is more resistant to erosion than overlying or underlying strata and consequently produces outcrops with high slope angles. It is more or less equivalent to ''ridge-former'', and may be contrast ...

Kaibab Limestone The Kaibab Limestone is a resistant cliff-former, cliff-forming, Permian geologic formation that crops out across the U.S. states of northern Arizona, southern Utah, east central Nevada and southeast California. It is also known as the Kaibab Fo ...

. (Cliff formers also produce platforms.) Below the Kaibab are slopes of the Toroweap Formation, on the shorter cliff of Coconino Sandstone, upon eroded slopes of

Hermit Shale The Permian Hermit Formation, also known as the Hermit Shale, is a nonresistant unit that is composed of slope-forming reddish brown siltstone, mudstone, and very fine-grained sandstone. Within the Grand Canyon region, the upper part of the H ...

. The shale sits on the four units of the

Supai Group The Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Colorado Plateau. The group was laid down during the Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian. Cliff-forming interbeds of sandstone are noticeable throughout the group. The Su ...

, a colorful deep-orange-red, and layered by units 2 and 4 as cliffs, and units 1 and 3 as eroded slopes. The Kaibab-prominence platform created (~north-south), is caused because of the hardness of the Kaibab Limestone. Peakery.com states the prominence as 520 ft (158 m), which refers to the

and

Toroweap Formation The Middle Permian Toroweap Formation is a thin, 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, Arizona, USA, found through sections ...

slope; the peakbagger prominence includes the rock layers below the Kaibab. The Kaibab Limestone rests on an extensive slope of slope-forming

, which is more heavily forested than the Kaibab Limestone platform, (and the Toroweap slope-debris – is only sparsely visible between the forested trees;

The Dragon (Arizona) The Dragon is a 8,105-foot-elevation summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of Arizona, US. It is situated north of the Hindu Amphitheater, and about ~4.5 miles north-northwest of Shiva Temple, and ~2.5 mi north of Dragon ...

is northwards, and upstream/upcanyon in the Hindu Amphitheater and closer to the forested-North Rim). The ridgeline that Dragon Head sits on is a mostly north-south ridge, and it is a heavily-forested platform of the cliff-former Coconino Sandstone. Grand Canyon AZ

The location of Dragon Head (miles north of the Colorado River, and closer to the North Rim), leaves it in a forested region. (Photo southwards showing Dragon Head and its ridgeline
/ref>) The parts of the Dragon Head landform that are not moderately vegetated – are the cliffs, and even some cliffs have partial vegetation (especially the eroded/fractured

prominence). The cliff sequence top (youngest) to oldest is as follows:
Kaibab Limestone
Coconino Sandstone

Esplanade Sandstone The Lower Permian Esplanade Sandstone is a cliff-forming, resistant sandstone, dark red, geologic unit found in the Grand Canyon. The rock unit forms a resistant shelf in the west Grand Canyon, south side of the Colorado River, at the east of t ...

(Supai unit 4)

Manakacha Formation The (Upper) Late Pennsylvanian Manakacha Formation is a cliff-forming, sandstone, red-orange geologic unit, formed from an addition of eolian sand, added to marine transgression deposits, (siltstones, etc.), and found throughout sections of th ...

(Supai unit 2)
Redwall Limestone

Muav Limestone The Cambrian Muav Limestone is a geologic unit within the 5-member Tonto Group. It is about thick at its maximum. It is a resistant cliff-forming unit. The Muav consists of dark to light-gray, brown, and orange red limestone with dolomite and ...

(short platform & cliff)
all sitting on slopes of dull-greenish Bright Angel Shale.

References

Ext links

{{commons category, Dragon Head
Aerial view, Dragon Head, Mountainzone

Dragon Head photo, peakery.com (the prominence, and the extensive ridgeline)
Grand Canyon Grand Canyon National Park Colorado Plateau Mountains of Arizona Mountains of Coconino County, Arizona North American 2000 m summits