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Show THE SHINARUMP. 145 cate. In the Shinarump they*are mostly strong, deep, and so rich as to become cloying. Maroon, slate, chocolate, purple, and especially a dark brownish-red (nitrous-acid color), are the prevailing hues, while one heavy sandstone bed is yellowish brown. At the base of the series is a thick mass of perishable shale not so conspicuous in its colors; it is in the middle members that they are so resplendent. Alternating horizontal belts of varying tones and shades, not merging into each' other by gradation, but like ribbons joined at their edges, are seen wherever the formation is exposed in the same general vertical succession, and give the Shinarump Cliffs an aspect most constant, peculiar, and wholly unlike any others Here and there a thin line of white trenchantly separates the dark layers, emphasizing the distiDctions, while the brown sandstone above heightens the contrasts. The effect upon the mind is impressive and oppressive. Probably the most striking characteristic of this formationâ€"one which is destined to make it one of the most notable of the freaks of nature in the popular estimationâ€"is to be found in the architectural forms which have been carved out of it by the process of erosion. A common style of sculpture is represented by heliotype XI, taken from the southeastern flank of Thousand Lake Mountain. Probably the most striking forms are the buttes, which are often seen fringing the long lines of cliff bounding the Shinarump terraces in the San Eafael Swell, and again near the junction of the Grand and Green. These last have been described in glowing terms by Dr. J. S. Newberry and by Professor Powell. The age of the Shinarump is either Permian or Lower Triassic. To which of the two periods it should be assigned is not yet free from doubt. Within the limits of the Plateau Country no fossils have yet been discovered which give a satisfactory solution to this question. Mr. E. E. Howell found in the shales south of Kanab, lying at the base of the formation, a small number of fossils which were so poorly preserved that only generic characters could be asserted with confidence. If any conclusion were to be drawn from them it would be that their general aspect is Jurassic. But the whole Triassic series, and most of the Shinarump itself, overlie the horizon from which they came, and, moreover, the types are well known to have a great vertical range. 10 h p |
