The Hermit Formation is sometimes called the Hermit Shale although it also contains other easily eroded sedimentary rocks such as mudstone as well as shale. In Sedona, this layer is almost 300 feet thick and is one of the layers that adds to the red coloring of the rocks as the iron in the components of these rocks began to rust. This layer does have some evidence of fossilized plants and insects as well as mudcracks which show that the sediment was very water-saturated and then dried out before lithification We also know from sediment deposits in the Hermit Formation that a source of this sediment were the Ancestral Rockies about 280 million years ago, that released sediment that was carried across the relatively flat plains of Northern Arizona in ancient slow moving rivers across vast flood plains (Abbot and Cook, pg.178-180). In the places where the Coconino Sandstone comes in contact with the Hermit formation we see that some of the sandstone has made its way into the mudcracks underneath. This evidence shows that the Hermit Formation was still water saturated when the sand and minerals of the Coconino sandstone were deposited. (Arizona Ruins).