Oak Creek Canyon

Oak Creek Canyon runs in a North-South direction from the Colorado Plateau through the Mogollon Escarpment to Sedona. It is controlled by the Oak Creek Fault which divides the canyon into East and West walls with Oak Creek running in the bottom. The canyon exposes sedimentary rock strata from the Pennsylvanian and Permian Periods (320 to 250 Ma) which stretches from limestone and chert sediments in the Kaibab formation from warm shallow seas 250 Ma to red sandstone in the Supai group formed from dunes in a broad river delta 320 Ma in the Pennsylvanian period (see Schematic below). The East wall of the canyon has dropped below the West wall along the fault to give each wall a distinct appearance.

West wall of the canyon at Oak Creek Vista. The Kaibab formation is mostly cloud covered. Toroweap Formation and Coconino Sandstone are lighter colored and separated by a thin band of trees. The darker upper part of the Schnebly Hill Formation is visible.	Schematic of Oak Creek Canyon geology from the US Forestry Service at Oak Creek Vista along State AZ 89A.
East wall of Oak Creek Canyon. In the bottom of the field is Coconino Sandstone. Upper sedimentary layers seen in the West wall are not present, presumably due to erosion. A dark layer of basalt is visible through the tree and represents lava flows that occurred 8 and 6 Ma.	Oak Creek at the bottom of Oak Creek Canyon below the Halfway Picnic location on AZ 89A. Tilted layers of Supai sandston are at the water level. Light Coconino sandstone is visible at the top of the field.
At the bottom of Oak Creek Canyon below the Halfway Picnic location, Darker Schnebly Hill Formation and Hermit formation are visible below Coconino Sandstone.	Oak Creek runs through Supai Group sandstone at Slide Rock State Park.

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