The Schnebly Hill Formation is a

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

of red bed deposits found at the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...

, near

Sedona, Arizona Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031. It is within the Coconino National Fo ...

. It is a dark red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, from to thick. It lies between

Coconino Sandstone 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. ...

and the older

Hermit Formation 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 ...

. It is near 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 ...

. The source of the name "Schnebly" is

Sedona Schnebly Sedona Schnebly (born Sedona Arabella Miller February 24, 1877 – November 13, 1950) was an early pioneer in the Oak Creek area of Arizona. She was the namesake of the town of Sedona, Arizona. She helped in the establishment of the family farm ...

, after whom the city of

was named.

Geology

The formation traces to the

Permian Age The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

. The formation is the most prominent layer of the

red rocks Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind th ...

of the Sedona area due the presence of

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

– iron-oxide, frankly, rust – giving the

a red color. The Schnebly Hill Sandstone formation comprises three sections: * the Bell Rock member, * the Fort Apache member, and * the Sycamore Pass member.

References

External links and references

Schnebly Hill Formation, a few images

A hiking site on the Schnebly Hill Formation

Travels in goeology, Sedona area

Relationship between Schnebly Hill Formation and the Supai Group

On YouTube video
Sedona, Arizona Mogollon Rim Colorado Plateau Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Landforms of Yavapai County, Arizona {{geologic-formation-stub

Geology

See also

Sedona-area rocks

Local geology

Local interest

References

External links and references