Fluvial stratigraphic architecture of the John Henry member of the Straight Cliffs Formation, Kaiparowits Plateau, Utah USA

Understanding how changes in fluvial and marginal marine architecture correlate with shifts in marine shoreface architecture is a crucial step to understanding the effect of relative sea level changes on terrestrial sedimentary systems. Outcrop and subcrop data from the John Henry Member of the Straight Cliffs Formation illustrate regional nonmarine-marine stratigraphic correlations and address sequence stratigraphic models based on such correlations. Three measured sections and two logged cores (each >230 m), 2367 paleocurrent measurements, and examinations of lateral facies relationships were made in the John Henry Member. Three facies associations identified in fluvial and paralic sections correlate to downdip marine and shoreline equivalents as follows: Facies association 1 (FA-1, the lowermost interval) consists of tidally influenced, laterally restricted fluvial channel belts, coastal mire, and shoreface sandstone.