The White Rim Sandstone is a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

located in southeastern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. It is the last member of the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

Cutler Group The Cutler Formation or Cutler Group is a stratigraphic unit exposed across the U.S. states of Arizona, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. It was laid down in the Early Permian during the Wolfcampian epoch. Descri ...

, and overlies the major

Organ Rock Formation The Organ Rock Formation or Organ Rock Shale is a formation within the late Pennsylvanian to early Permian Cutler Group and is deposited across southeastern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Arizona. This formation notably outcrops ...

and

Cedar Mesa Sandstone Cedar Mesa Sandstone (also known as the Cedar Mesa Formation) is a sandstone Geological unit, memberThe Cutler Formation is sometimes classified as the Cutler Group (geology), Group, in which case Cedar Mesa Sandstone is classified as a Formation ...

; and again overlies thinner units of the Elephant Canyon and

Halgaito Formation The Halgaito Formation is the basal Permian geologic member of the Cutler Group in southern Utah. The member consists of silty sandstone, siltstone and limestone. The Elephant Canyon may grade into the Halgaito and grades northward into the Cedar ...

s. The ''White Rim'' is eponymous, as the sandstone is named for its prominent white color, and forms the rims of cliffs.

Geology

It is the continental

deposited at the time of

marine transgression A marine transgression is a geologic event where sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, resulting in flooding. Transgressions can be caused by the land sinking or by the ocean basins filling with water ...

s during the Early to Middle

Period. ;Toroweap Formation The

coeval {{Short pages monitor Sandstone formations of the United States Geologic formations of Utah Colorado Plateau Permian geology of Utah Cisuralian Series of North America Cutler Formation