Tapeats Sandstone
The Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone is the lower geologic unit, about 230 feet (70 m) thick, at its maximum, of the 3-member Tonto Group.
The Tapeats Sandstone is the highly erosion-resistant unit laid upon the Vishnu Basement Rocks in the central, parts of east, and parts of west Grand Canyon, Arizona. The unit comprises the 'base horizontal unit' of the platform around Granite Gorge (Inner Gorge) on the Colorado River, and because of its hardness, creates the Tonto Platform upon which the two slope-forming, highly erodable units, the Muav Limestone, and Bright Angel Shale lie.
The Tapeats Sandstone and the Tonto Platform follow the Colorado River, and surrounding tributary canyons, creeks, watercourses, or washes, in a dendritic fashion, much like the branches of a tree.
The Tapeats unit is the bottom member of the Tonto Group, a typical marine transgression series of sandstone-(conglomerate)-shale-limestone, all part of a paleo sea, initially adjacent to land, the source of the Tapeats rocks-(conglomerates) and sand; (a regressing sequence has the reverse order). The Tapeats Sea at the early Devonian ceased to deposit more Muav Limestone, and a period of erosion ensued, a deposition unconformity.
Sandstone
Sandstone (sometimes known as arenite) is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are: tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions.
Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Fine-grained aquifers, such as sandstones, are better able to filter out pollutants from the surface than are rocks with cracks and crevices, such as limestone or other rocks fractured by seismic activity.
Quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts.
Sandstone (disambiguation)
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains.
Sandstone may also refer to:
Place names
- Sandstone Gold Mine, a gold mine in Western Australia.
Other uses
Sandstone, Minnesota
Sandstone is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States, along the Kettle River. The population was 2,849 at the 2010 census.
Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highways 18 and 23 are three of the main routes in the community.
Banning State Park is nearby.
History
Originally the Village of Fortuna was platted by W. A. Porter and incorporated on May 19, 1857. It was originally platted at the junction of the Point Douglas to Superior Military Road and Kettle River. Fortuna served as the county seat for Buchanan County, Minnesota. By 1887, it had 200 residents. Just north of Fortuna, the Village of Sandstone was platted in June 1887 and incorporated on September 28, 1887. On April 14, 1920, the villages of Fortuna and Sandstone merged and re-incorporated as the City of Sandstone.
The city's name in the Ojibwe language is Asinikaaning, meaning "At the quarrying place" due to the sandstone quarry located at the edge of the city.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.43 square miles (14.06 km2), of which 5.26 square miles (13.62 km2) is land and 0.17 square miles (0.44 km2) is water.
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