Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA
Moab is surrounded by a sea of buckled, twisted, and worn sandstone sculpted by millennia of sun, wind, and rain. Arches National Park protects an amazing landscape that includes the enormous proliferation of arches globally. Over 2,000 arches have been cataloged in the Arches National Park.
The story of Arches began roughly 65 million years ago. At that time, the area was a dry seabed spreading from horizon to horizon. Then, the landscape slowly began to change.
First, geologic forces wrinkled and folded the buried sandstone like a giant rug, and someone gathered two edges towards each other, making lumps across the middle called anticlines. As the sandstone warped, fractures tore through it, establishing the patterns for rock sculptures of the future.
Next, the entire region rose, climbing from sea level to thousands of feet in elevation. What goes up must come down, and the forces of erosion carved layer after layer of rock away. Once exposed, deeply buried sandstone layers rebounded and expanded like a sponge that grows after being squeezed. This created even more fractures, each a pathway for water to seep into the rock and further break it down.
Today, water shapes the environment more than any other force. Rain erodes the rock and carries sediment down washes and canyons to the Colorado River.
In winter, snowmelt pools in fractures and other cavities, breaking off chunks of sandstone. Small recesses develop and grow bigger with each storm. Little by little, this process turns fractured rock layers into fins and fins into arches. While some may fall, most arches will stand well beyond our lifetime.
The story of Arches began roughly 65 million years ago. At that time, the area was a dry seabed spreading from horizon to horizon. Then, the landscape slowly began to change.
First, geologic forces wrinkled and folded the buried sandstone like a giant rug, and someone gathered two edges towards each other, making lumps across the middle called anticlines. As the sandstone warped, fractures tore through it, establishing the patterns for rock sculptures of the future.
Next, the entire region rose, climbing from sea level to thousands of feet in elevation. What goes up must come down, and the forces of erosion carved layer after layer of rock away. Once exposed, deeply buried sandstone layers rebounded and expanded like a sponge that grows after being squeezed. This created even more fractures, each a pathway for water to seep into the rock and further break it down.
Today, water shapes the environment more than any other force. Rain erodes the rock and carries sediment down washes and canyons to the Colorado River.
In winter, snowmelt pools in fractures and other cavities, breaking off chunks of sandstone. Small recesses develop and grow bigger with each storm. Little by little, this process turns fractured rock layers into fins and fins into arches. While some may fall, most arches will stand well beyond our lifetime.
