The Great Unconformity in Blacktail Canyon. Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone resting upon Early Proterozoic Vishnu Schist.

The Great Unconformity in Blacktail Canyon. Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone resting upon Early Proterozoic Vishnu Schist. Stock Photo
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Image details

Contributor:

Earth Gallery Photography / Alamy Stock Photo

Image ID:

HD6JE9

File size:

28.7 MB (1.8 MB Compressed download)

Releases:

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Dimensions:

3872 x 2592 px | 32.8 x 21.9 cm | 12.9 x 8.6 inches | 300dpi

Date taken:

July 2015

Location:

Blacktail Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.

More information:

Exposed in Blacktail Canyon, a side canyon joining the Grand Canyon of Arizona at (Colorado) river mile 120, the Great Unconformity represents approximately 1.2 billion years of missing geologic history. The horizontally bedded early Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone, age of approximately 525 million years, is resting directly on vertically foliated early Proterozioc Vishnu Schist, age of approximately 1.75 billion years. The thin contact between the two rock types represents a vast period of time when sediments were not deposited or were later removed through erosion.