Isis Temple


Isis Temple, in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, is a prominence below the North Rim, and adjacent to Granite Gorge. The prominence lies north of the north bank of the west-flowing Colorado River and is just north of Middle Granite Gorge. The Trinity Creek and canyon flow due-south at its west border; its north, and northeast border/flank is formed by Phantom Creek and canyon, a west tributary of Bright Angel Creek; the creeks intersect about 3 mi southeast, and 1 mi north of Granite Gorge. The peak of Isis Temple is only ~202 ft lower than Grand Canyon Village.
Isis Temple is about 5 mi directly north of Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim, Grand Canyon; the Village is the west terminus of Arizona Route 64-, and north terminus of U.S. 180, from Valle, Arizona, and Williams,.
Isis Temple is part of an uplifted, and sub-faulted block,, with a sub-peak landform, Cheops Pyramid,, about 1600-ft lower in elevation, and 1.0 mi southeast of the Isis Temple prominence. The Isis prominence is composed of erosion resistant cliff-forming Coconino Sandstone.

Trails

The North Kaibab Trail accesses the Bright Angel Canyon route. Views of Isis Temple, or routes to the region are from the middle, or lower Bright Angel Canyon-Phantom Creek region, the flatlands around Isis, Cheops and the block southeast, called Utah Flats; one of the trails leads to the viewpoint at the Isis-Cheops Saddle. From the North Rim, the Tiyo Point Trail has views of Isis Temple from the north.

Geology

The prominence of Isis Temple is composed of the Coconino Sandstone, at,. Below the cliff-former Coconino Sandstone is eroded, slope-forming Hermit Shale, upon the uppermost Supai Group 'redbeds' member the cliff-forming, Esplanade Sandstone-. After the thick sequence of 'redbeds', the cliff-forming Redwall Limestone sits above highly eroded slopes of Muav Limestone and Bright Angel Shale. These slopes are deposited upon the cliff-forming unit of Shinumo Quartzite. The Shinumo Quartzite forms the cliff-base of Isis Temple, with highly erodable units forming the slopes below, the colorful, yellows, reds, and purplish colors from the Hakatai Shale, above the bottom Unkar Group member, Bass Formation-.
The Shinumo Quartzite lies above the slope-forming unit of the Hakatai Shale, above Bass Formation. The two slope formers can be seen as reddish, yellowish, and purplish in photographs. From the south, three colorful slope-forming sections below the Shinumo Quartzite cliffs can be observed from a distance, one each below Isis Temple and Cheops Pyramid; a lower prominence has the third slope directly upon Granite Gorge, with the intersection of Bright Angel Creek/Canyon, located at the southeast section of the uplifted fault-block, that Isis Temple and Cheops Pyramid are part of.

Tapeats Sea, Shinumo Quartzite, and Unkar Group Horst

No Tapeats Sandstone was deposited upon the Shinumo Quartzite. In the Tapeats Sea, the marine transgression sequence of sandstone--shale-limestone found two 'mountain island' members, the Cardenas Basalt, and the Shinumo Quartzite, as erosion resistant 'prominences'. Only the Bright Angel Shale and Muav Limestone were deposited above the 'mountain island' prominences; Tapeats Sandstone was deposited around the 'Shinumo Quartzite island' perimeter, and can be seen in Bright Angel Canyon, west and northwest, the Phantom Creek drainage, north, and in the Trinity Creek drainage down the west perimeter, and upstream.
The Isis Temple-Cheops Pyramid is part of a localized fault-block, uplifted; ; the fault bordering the fault-block west, is down Trinity Creek; the fault east is the Bright Angel Fault, down Bright Angel Canyon, and on the south, through Garden Creek, of the Bright Angel Trail.
The Unkar Group, which forms the base of Isis Temple, consists of the Shinumo Quartzite, Hakatai Shale, and Bass Formation in descending order. The Unkar Group lies upon the Vishnu Basement Rocks, which are exposed in Lower, Middle, and Upper Granite Gorge. The Unkar Group, and other subdivisions of the, are tilted, about 15 degrees, as seen in photographs, or while viewing in Grand Canyon.

List of geologic units of Isis Temple

The following is the list of geologic units below the Isis Temple prominence :
Isis Temple can be viewed from the South Rim, from the viewpoints, west and east of Grand Canyon Village, Arizona. Hopi Point, and Yavapai Point, are both at Grand Canyon Village, and due-south of Isis Temple.
Isis Temple can be viewed from the North Rim, Bright Angel Point region; Isis Temple prominence is about 3-mi due south of Tiyo Point-, and Isis and Cheops Pyramid are about 5-mi southwest of Bright Angel Point.

Additional sources