Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 6.djvu/180

 114 STAT. 3236 PROCLAMATION 7265-JAN. 11, 2000 pendence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 7265 of January 11, 2000 Establishment of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument is a vast, biologically diverse, impressive landscape encompassing an array of scientific and historic objects. This remote area of open, undeveloped spaces and engaging scenery is located on the edge of one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Grand Canyon. Despite the hardships created by rugged isolation and the lack of natiu'al waters, the monimaent has a long and rich human history spanning more than 11,000 years, and an equally rich geologic history spanning almost 2 billion years. Full of natural splendor and a sense of solitude, this area remains remote and imspoiled, qualities that are essential to the protection of the scientific and historic resources it contains. The monument is a geological treasure. Its Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rock layers are relatively undeformed and unobscured by vegetation, offering a clear view to understanding the geologic history of the Colorado Plateau. Deep canyons, mountains, and lonely buttes testify to the power of geological forces and provide colorful vistas. A variety of formations have been exposed by millennia of erosion by the Colorado River. The Cambrian, Devonian, and Mississippian formations (Muav Limestone, Temple Butte Formation, and the Redwall Limestone) are exposed at the southern end of the lower Grand Wash Cliffs. The Pennsylvanian and Permian formations (Calville Limestone, Esplanade Sandstone, Hermit Shale, Toroweap Formation, and.the Kaibab Formation) are well exposed within the Parashant, Andrus, and Whitmore Canyons, and on the Grand Gulch Bench. The Triassic Chinle and Moenkopi Formations are exposed on the Shivwits Plateau, and the purple, pink, and white shale, mudstone, and sandstone of the Triassic Chinle Formation are exposed in Hells Hole. The monument encompasses the lower portion of the Shivwits Plateau, which forms an important watershed for the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. The Plateau is bounded on the west by the Grand Wash Cliffs and on the east by the Hurricane Cliffs. These cliffs, formed by large faults that sever the Colorado Plateau slicing north to south through the region, were and are major topographic barriers to travel across the area. The Grand Wash Cliffs juxtapose the colorful, lavacapped Precambrian and Paleozoic strata of the Grand Canyon against the highly faulted terrain, recent lake beds, and desert volcanic peaks of the down-dropped Grand Wash trough. These cliffs, which consist of lower and upper cliffs separated by the Grand Gulch Bench, form a spectacular boundary between the basin and range and the Colorado Plateau geologic provinces. At the south end of the Shivwits Plateau

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