Roadtrip from Pennsylvania to California: Day 6: Arches National Park
Pictures all of Arches National Park: http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm
Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of southern Utah’s extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated – 29 times in all – leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the sea beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it into domes and ridges, with valleys in between. – National Geographic, Guide to the National Parks of the United States
Most of the formations at Arches are made of soft, red sandstone deposited 150 million years ago. Much later, groundwater began to dissolve the underlying salt deposits. The sandstone domes collapsed and weathered into a maze of vertical rock slabs called “fins”. – National Geographic, Guide to the National Parks of the United States
Footprints tracked across this living community may remain visible for years. – National Geographic, Guide to the National Parks of the United States
27 Jul 2010 18:50
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Tags: Travel
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