Revising the stratigraphy at Mollies Nipple, Kane County, Utah, USA to better understand the origin of jarosite and alunite cements

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Walker ◽  
Sally Potter-McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Special Interest ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Navajo Sandstone ◽  
National Monument ◽  
Regional Correlation ◽  
Kane County

<p>Mollies Nipple—a butte located in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM)—is of special interest because of the presence of unusual alunite and jarosite cements within the caprock. These minerals precipitate in hyperacidic environments (pH1-2) and are not stable over ~pH5; yet they are abundant on Mars where they are used to interpret depositional and diagenetic environments. The caprock at Mollies Nipple is historically interpreted as Navajo Sandstone via photogeologic mapping; however, it is ~200 m above the mapped upper extent of the Navajo Sandstone in this region. The units overlying the Navajo Sandstone have complex stratigraphic relations in this region and the caprock could be the Carmel or Temple Cap Formations, or the Page Sandstone. This study aims to characterize Mollies Nipple through measured sections, mineralogical analyses, palynomorph analysis, and radiometric age dates from ash lenses present in the caprock. The results will better define the stratigraphy of Mollies Nipple and determine the regional correlation of the caprock. Ultimately, this work will contribute to the understanding of how alunite and jarosite were precipitated at Mollies Nipple; why these minerals are still present at Mollies Nipple, and potentially revise the understanding of Martian depositional environments.</p>

WEATHERING PITS VERSUS TRAMPLE MARKS: A REINTERPRETATION OF THE “DINOSAUR DANCE FLOOR”: A JURASSIC NAVAJO SANDSTONE SURFACE IN THE VERMILION CLIFFS NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA

Palaios ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 331-338
Author(s):  
BRENT H. BREITHAUPT ◽  
MARJORIE A. CHAN ◽  
WINSTON M. SEILER ◽  
NEFFRA A. MATTHEWS
Keyword(s):  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Dance Floor ◽  
Navajo Sandstone ◽  
National Monument ◽  
A Site

ABSTRACT Within the eolian Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, exposed in the Coyote Buttes area of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, a site (informally known as the “Dinosaur Dance Floor”) is reinterpreted as an enigmatic, modified (possibly pedogenic) eolian surface that was exposed and further modified and accentuated by modern weathering and erosion. The resultant surface is covered with small, shallow potholes or weathering pits, with no direct evidence of dinosaur activity.

Lateral variation in sandstone lithofacies from conventional core, Scotian Basin: implications for reservoir quality and connectivity 1This article is one of a series of papers published in this CJES Special Issue on the theme of Mesozoic–Cenozoic geology of the Scotian Basin. 2Geological Survey of Canada Contribution 20120021.

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 1478-1503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Gould ◽  
David J.W. Piper ◽  
Georgia Pe-Piper
Keyword(s):  
Facies Analysis ◽  
River Mouth ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Poor Correlation ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Lateral Variation ◽  
Regional Correlation ◽  
Porosity And Permeability ◽  
Reservoir Sandstones ◽  
Storm Deposits

Facies analysis in outcrops on land is strongly dependent on the lateral variability of lithofacies. Interpretation of conventional core in wells relies principally on the vertical succession of lithofacies. To better understand depositional environments and reservoir sandstone connectivity, the lithofacies of reservoir sandstones sampled in conventional core were correlated laterally through two sets of closely spaced wells in the Scotian Basin: in the Barremian–Albian succession around the Panuke–Cohasset field and in the Late Jurassic succession west of the Venture field. Regional correlation by gamma logs is confirmed by lithologically similar transgressive units including shelly mudstones or coals. A standard scheme of lithofacies and recognition of three types of parasequences were used for comparisons between wells. Some transgressive surfaces are of limited extent and may represent delta distributary switching and subsidence rather than regional changes in sea level. Major sandstone packets extend at least 10–30 km laterally, but commonly show lateral changes in lithofacies, and some are bounded by the margins of incised valleys. Such packages show poor correlation of lithofacies with porosity and permeability, probably because of the variable effects of diagenesis. Lateral transitions from tidal estuary sandstones in Panuke B-90 to thick-bedded river-mouth turbidites in Lawrence D-14, over a distance of 15 km, demonstrates the scale of delta lobes and confirms that sharp-based sandstone beds are turbidites related to river floods, not storm deposits. Similar lateral transitions in the Venture field are on a similar scale and pass distally into prodeltaic muddy landslide deposits.

scholarly journals A large pterosaur limb bone from the Kaiparowits Formation (late Campanian) of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10766
Author(s):  
Andrew A. Farke
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Limb Bone ◽  
Phylogenetic Placement ◽  
National Monument ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Pterosaurs were widespread during the Late Cretaceous, but their fossils are comparatively rare in terrestrial depositional environments. A large pterosaur bone from the Kaiparowits Formation (late Campanian, ~76–74 Ma) of southern Utah, USA, is tentatively identified as an ulna, although its phylogenetic placement cannot be precisely constrained beyond Pterosauria. The element measures over 36 cm in preserved maximum length, indicating a comparatively large individual with an estimated wingspan between 4.3 and 5.9 m, the largest pterosaur yet reported from the Kaiparowits Formation. This size estimate places the individual at approximately the same wingspan as the holotype for Cryodrakon boreas from the penecontemporaneous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. Thus, relatively large pterosaurs occurred in terrestrial ecosystems in both the northern and southern parts of Laramidia (western North America) during the late Campanian.

scholarly journals Jarosite and Alunite in Ancient Terrestrial Sedimentary Rocks: Reinterpreting Martian Depositional and Diagenetic Environmental Conditions

Life ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Potter-McIntyre ◽  
Thomas McCollom
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Low Ph ◽  
Groundwater Table ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Navajo Sandstone ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Kane County

Members of the alunite group are precipitated at low pH (<1 to ~4) in oxidizing environments, are unstable in circumneutral conditions, and are widespread on Mars. At Mollies Nipple in Kane County, Utah, USA, jarosite and alunite are abundant as diagenetic cements in Jurassic sandstones. This research characterizes the jarosite and alunite cements with the goal of determining their origin, and tests the hypothesis that jarosite and alunite may be more stable than the current understanding indicates is possible. Previous studies have placed the jarosite- and alunite-bearing caprock at Mollies Nipple in the Navajo Sandstone, but the presence of water-lain deposits, volcanic ash, volcanic clasts, and peloids show that it is one of the overlying Middle Jurassic units that records sea level transgressions and regressions. A paragenetic timing, established from petrographic methods, shows that much of the cement was precipitated early in a marginal marine to coastal dune depositional environment with a fluctuating groundwater table that drove ferrolysis and evolved the groundwater to a low pH. Microbial interaction was likely a large contributor to the evolution of this acidity. Jarosite and alunite are clearly more stable in natural environments than is predicted by laboratory experiments, and therefore, the Martian environments that have been interpreted as largely acidic and/or dry over geologic time may have been more habitable than previously thought.

Sedimentology and integrated chronostratigraphy of the lower Heatherdale Shale (Cambrian, stages 2–3), Stansbury Basin, South Australia

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Feiyang Chen ◽  
Glenn A. Brock ◽  
Marissa J. Betts ◽  
Zhiliang Zhang ◽  
Hao Yun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cambrian ◽  
Depositional Environment ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Regional Correlation ◽  
Upper Stage ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Depositional Setting ◽  
Integrated Study ◽  
Major Progress

Abstract Major progress has recently been made regarding the biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy and isotope chemostratigraphy of the lower Cambrian successions in South Australia, in particular of the Arrowie Basin, which has facilitated robust global stratigraphic correlations. However, lack of faunal and sedimentological data from the lower Cambrian Normanville Group in the eastern Stansbury Basin, South Australia – particularly the transition from the Fork Tree Limestone to the Heatherdale Shale – has prevented resolution of the age range, lithofacies, depositional environments and regional correlation of this succession. Here we present detailed sedimentologic, biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data through this transition in the eastern Stansbury Basin. Three lithofacies are identified that indicate a deepening depositional environment ranging from inner-mid-shelf (Lithofacies A and B) to outer shelf (Lithofacies C). New δ13C chemostratigraphic data capture global positive excursion III within the lower Heatherdale Shale. Recovered bradoriid Sinskolutella cuspidata supports an upper Stage 2 (Micrina etheridgei Zone). The combined geochemistry and palaeontology data reveal that the lower Heatherdale Shale is older than previously appreciated. This integrated study improves regional chronostratigraphic resolution and interbasinal correlation, and better constrains the depositional setting of this important lower Cambrian package from the eastern Stansbury Basin, South Australia.

scholarly journals First reported actinopterygian from the Navajo Sandstone (Lower Jurassic, Glen Canyon Group) of southern Utah, USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 548-553
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Frederickson ◽  
Brian M. Davis
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Dune System ◽  
Navajo Sandstone ◽  
National Monument ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Glen Canyon

AbstractWe report the first occurrence of an actinopterygian fish from the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, discovered in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, U.S.A. The site contains multiple individuals, preserved within an interdune deposit, possessing the elongate modified dorsal scales usually characterizing semionotiform fishes. The presence of moderately sized fish provides further evidence that interdune oases were occasionally persistent environmental habitats within the greater Navajo dune system, and that the paleobiota is still woefully undersampled. Additionally, this site could help fill a gap in the actinopterygian fossil record between the patchy Lower Jurassic and better-known Middle Jurassic documentation of western North America.

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