Chaco Culture - Fajada Butte

This view is Fajada Butte in the morning light. Fajada Butte is an erosional remnant of sedimentary rock formations of Late Cretaceous (Campanian) age . The top of the butte consists of Cliff House Sandstone. The Cliff House Sandstone is subdivided into an Upper Sandstone member (the top cliffs of the butte), an intermediate sandstone and shale member (it erodes to form a bench and slope near the top of the butte), and a Lower Sandstone member (responsible for the massive cliff about midway up the butte). The Cliff House Sandstone overlies the Menefee Formation which is mostly covered by talus and soil on the lower portion of the slopes of Fajada Butte. The Cliff House Sandstone and Menefee Formations also crop out along the canyon rims of Mesa Verde in Colorado. (Mytton and Schneider, 1987, Molenaar and others, 2002).