Geology of The Zion and Kolob Canyons Area - Grand Staircase and Basement Rocks

Grand Staircase and Basement Rocks

The Grand Staircase is an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park through Zion National Park and into the Grand Canyon. Within this sequence, the oldest exposed formation in the Zion and Kolob canyons area is the youngest exposed formation in the Grand Canyon—the Kaibab limestone. Bryce Canyon to the northeast continues where the Zion and Kolob areas end by presenting Cenozoic-aged rocks. In fact, the youngest formation seen in the Zion and Kolob area is the oldest exposed formation in Bryce Canyon—the Dakota Sandstone.

In the Permian period, the Zion and Kolob area was a relatively flat basin near sea level on the western margin of the supercontinent Pangaea. Sediments from surrounding mountains added weight to the basin, keeping it at relatively the same elevation. These sediments later lithified (turned to rock) to form the Toroweap Formation, now exposed in the Grand Canyon to the south but not in the Zion and Kolob area. This formation is not exposed in the park, though it does form its basement rock.