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Navajo Sandstone:
This view area is underlain by Navajo sandstone, which is found throughout the Colorado Plateau. Navajo sandstone creates some of the most dramatic scenery in the area, often forming cliffs and rounded domes. From here, you can see a large number of these rounded domes.
Navajo sandstone was deposited 200 million years ago. At that time, the area was a vast desert system, complete with shifting sand dunes. It looked very much like the Sahara desert does today. These sand dunes subsequently hardened. Erosion exposed the "petrified" sand millions of years later, creating the Navajo sandstone formations that we see today.
As you travel towards Canyonlands National Park, you will see isolated remnants of Navajo sandstone. These rocks were harder than the sediments in which they were embedded. That is the reason they remain. Look for these Navajo sandstone remnants as you travel up Utah Highway 313. |