The Toroweap was deposited near the shore of a shallow sea whose incursion was interrupted by several temporary retreats. The retreats left the sediments exposed to air in salty tidal mudflats. The Toroweap environment may have been analogous to this scene from the Gulf of California. North and west of the Canyon the Toroweap contains gypsum and salt deposits attesting to evaporation in a shallow sea.
 
     The Toroweap is not as fossil-rich as the Kaibab Formation. The limestone cliff, called the Brady Canyon Member, represents the deepest water and contains various shellfish. A more open marine fauna to the west characterized by brachiopods and crinoids shows that the sea was deeper there. Here and to the east the fossils are mostly near-shore forms, especially snails, scaphopods and clams.
 
All these stories pretend that people were alive when this formation was laid down. But all are way before people.
Our Tribe in Toroweap time:
     For thousands of years our people have been the salt-gatherers of Pangaea. Our trade routes have broken eastward through the icy passes of Vermontia, the vast mountains that separate us from Europe. There is no Atlantic Ocean. Those eastern mountains will one day erode down to their roots, and  joggers will pass by in Central Park, New York. But for now we have a land route to Asia.