The Wingate Sandstone is a

geologic Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

in the Glen Canyon Group of 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 ...

province of the United States which crops out in northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.

Geology

Wingate Sandstone is particularly prominent in southeastern Utah, where it forms attractions in a number of national parks and monuments. These include Capitol Reef National Park, the

San Rafael Swell The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about west of Green River. The San Rafael Swell, measuring approximately , consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limeston ...

, and

Canyonlands National Park Canyonlands National Park is an American national park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their r ...

. Wingate Sandstone frequently appears just below the Kayenta Formation and

Navajo Sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymou ...

, two other formations of the Glen Canyon group. Together, these three formations can result in immense vertical cliffs of 2000 feet (609 meters) or more. Wingate layers are typically pale orange to red in color, the remnants of wind-born sand dunes deposited approximately 200 million years ago in the Late Triassic.

Fossil content

Long dated to the Early Jurassic only, fossils (including a phytosaur skull) and other evidence indicate that part of the Wingate Sandstone is as old as Late Triassic in age. The upper part of the formation, which laterally interfingers with the Moenave Formation to the west, is Early Jurassic in age.Lucas, S. G., A. B. Heckert, J. W. Estep, and O. J. Anderson. 1997. Stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group, Four Corners region. Pages 81-107 in Anderson, O. J., B. Kues, and S. G. Lucas, editors. Mesozoic geology and paleontology of the Four Corners Region. New Mexico Geological Society, Socorro, NM. New Mexico Geological Society, 48th Field Conference.Lucas, S. G., A. B. Heckert, and L. H. Tanner. 2005. Arizona’s Jurassic fossil vertebrates and the age of the Glen Canyon Group. Pages 95-104 in Heckert, A. B. and S. G. Lucas (editors). Vertebrate paleontology in Arizona. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, NM. Bulletin 29.

Gallery

File:MoabHoodoo.JPG, Hoodoo within the

Chinle Formation The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In Ne ...

, west of Moab, Utah, along the Chicken Corners off-road trail. Ridge in background is part of the Wingate Sandstone. File:SEUtahStrat.JPG, The Permian through Jurassic stratigraphy of the

area of southeastern Utah that makes up much of the famous prominent rock formations in protected areas such as Capitol Reef National Park and

. From top to bottom: Rounded tan domes of the

, layered red Kayenta Formation, cliff-forming, vertically-jointed, red Wingate Sandstone, slope-forming, purplish

, layered, lighter-red

Moenkopi Formation The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a group in Arizona. Part ...

, and white, layered Cutler Formation sandstone. Picture from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah.

References

External links

U.S.G.S National Geologic Map Database Lexicon
{{Chronostratigraphy of Colorado, Mesozoic state=expanded Sandstone formations of the United States Jurassic System of North America Triassic System of North America Jurassic Arizona Triassic Arizona Jurassic Colorado Triassic Colorado Jurassic geology of Nevada Triassic geology of Nevada Jurassic geology of Utah Triassic geology of Utah Geologic formations with imbedded sand dunes Aeolian deposits