The

Mesoproterozoic The Mesoproterozoic Era is a geologic era that occurred from . The Mesoproterozoic was the first era of Earth's history for which a fairly definitive geological record survives. Continents existed during the preceding era (the Paleoproterozoic), ...

Dripping Spring Quartzite is a resistant, purple

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

formation found in central and southeast

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, Southwestern United States, USA. It is a cliff-former, cliff-forming purplish unit found in the lower sections of the Apache Group (geology), Apache Group, units of originally sedimentary layers, but later metamorphosed. The Apache Group is coeval with a similar aged Proterozoic sequence of eight geologic units found in the lowest geologic sequences of the Grand Canyon, the Grand Canyon Supergroup. The Apache Group, or some underlying Vishnu Basement Rocks (Ruin Granite), are prominently found in all of the Sierra Ancha range, the range being separated by faults from its neighboring Mazatzal Mountains west, and the Salt River (Arizona), Salt River to the south. The Apache Group extends to regions east of the Sierra Ancha, and also regionally to Globe, Arizona, Globe just south-southeast, and the neighboring Dripping Spring Mountains, again just south of the Globe region. The Apache Group in descending order from youngest to oldest geologic units: :*D-Troy Quartzite :*C-Mescal Limestone :*B-Dripping Spring Quartzite :** Barnes Conglomerate (Globe, Arizona region, lowest of Dripping Spring Q.) :*A-Pioneer Shale :** Scanlon Conglomerate (lowest of Pioneer Shale)

References

*Lucchitta, 2001. ''Hiking Arizona's Geology,'' Ivo Lucchitta, c 2001, Mountaineers's Books, Hike 18, ''Aztec Peak Trail''-(Sierra Ancha), pp. 145–149 and ''Jug Trail to Jerome Creek''-(Sierra Ancha), pp. 170–174 (softcover, ) {{Clear Mesoproterozoic geology Precambrian United States Geologic formations of Arizona Quartzite formations Arizona transition zone mountain ranges