The Project Gutenberg eBook, Ancient Landscapes of the Grand Canyon Region, by Edwin Dinwiddie McKee, Illustrated by Louis Schellbach and Russell Hastings

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Title: Ancient Landscapes of the Grand Canyon Region

The Geology of Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Petrified Forest & Painted Desert

Author: Edwin Dinwiddie McKee

Release Date: January 31, 2015 [eBook #48126]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT LANDSCAPES OF THE GRAND CANYON REGION***

E-text prepared by
Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan, Carol Spears,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)

THE GRAND CANYON—1. SCHISTS AND GRANITES (ARCHEAN ERA): 2. SANDSTONES, LIMESTONES, SHALES (ALGONKIAN ERA): 3. TONTO FORMATIONS (CAMBRIAN PERIOD): 4. REDWALL LIMESTONE (MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD): 5. SUPAI SANDSTONE AND SHALE (PERMIAN PERIOD): 6. HERMIT SHALE (PERMIAN PERIOD): 7. COCONINO SANDSTONE (PERMIAN PERIOD): 8. TOROWEAP AND KAIBAB FORMATIONS (PERMIAN PERIOD).
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

COPYRIGHT 1931
Edwin D. McKee
Thirteenth Edition, 1952

PRINTED BY
COCONINO SUN CO.
Flagstaff, Arizona

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction ix

Chapter I—The Archean Era 1

The Earth’s Oldest Rocks, Grand Canyon 2

Granite in Grand Canyon 4

Chapter II—The Algonkian Era 5

Algonkian Rocks in Grand Canyon 5

Formation of Mountains 6

Early Climates 6

Oldest Known Life 7

Chapter III—The Paleozoic Era 9

First Animal Life—The Tonto Rocks 9

The Missing Periods of the Third Era 11

The Age of Fish 12

Sea Life From the North—Redwall Limestone 12

Tracks in the Supai Sandstone 14

Landscapes of the Hermit Shale 15

Wind-blown Sand—The Coconino Sandstone 17

Warm Seas from the West—The Toroweap and Kaibab Formations 18

Chapter IV—The Mesozoic Era 21

Remnants of Younger Strata—Red Butte and Cedar Mountain 21

The Petrified Forest 22

Dinosaur Tracks—The Painted Desert 24

The Rocks of Zion Canyon and Rainbow Natural Bridge 26

From Seashells to Coalbeds 27

Chapter V—The Cenozoic Era 29

Bryce Canyon Formation 30

A Great Erosion Surface 32

Crustal Movement at Grand