Posted on 11/26/2007 6:00:52 AM PST by em2vn
sure looks like a "singular dynamic force" doesn't it _ what with the very obvious level-line across the top. Looks like some giant flash flood or some such came through one day...swooshed the sand around and then the pattern got 'frozen' through decades of baking sun
“What you are seeing is aeolian dunes formed on an ancient beach area. The wind blown sands piled up in varying directions and sometimes were swept flat by water before a new set of dunes were formed. These eventually were solidified as sandstone. What you are seeing is the erosional remains of all those years of buried dunes. The weird shapes were formed by water erosion of the sandstone formation. Because of the varying direction and tilt of the dune faces, the striations are as varied.”
Right! As SengirV said, “Obviously God made them that way 6K years ago.”
You obviously aren't a musician. :-)
The whole area in the “four corners” region is a hikers/bikers/jeepers paradise. Bring your own water, tool-kit, food, etc.
Oncet while I was there in the Canyonlands area, a nice British couples’ jeep rental transmission decided to give way. The nearest tow was Nations’ Towing, out of Moab. About 800 bucks for a tow, and that was years ago. But it has some unique (truly) scenery and freedom that is really spectacular.
The ones that have been developed by scientists to place approximate ages on things such as superposition, stratigraphy, certain mineral isotopes, fossil records, uniformity etc. Not sure if that is what you meant; I certainly did not do the dating, but I have been in this area and seen the spectacular results of time and erosion. My favorite part of the country with its whimsical rock formations and stunning vistas. You can’t help but think God was in a playful mood when he created it.
No, it looks like sand morpology features layed down over time and in layers with subsequent erosion creating the effects seen. No single flood even is capable of creating this type of pattern.
I have been backpacking all over that area, from the Grand Canyon north to Arches. I love it.
Canyonlands was my favorite of them all. We hiked all over it. Elephant Canyon looked like a field of hamburgers with the rounded red and white sandstone formations. We found an ancient Indian burial way in a back portion of the park off trail.
Looks like some hikers found the taffy motherlode.
36°59'45.05"N Latitude
112° 0'23.38"W Longitude
Æolian means related to Aeolus, the Greek God of wind,
Don’t know if it’s aeolian but if you go to ANWR and look south toward the mountains you will see layers in the rock that have been bent and raised to vertical as geological forces moved stuff around over a period of time. Folding. Even solid rock isn’t so solid as to be permanent.
I could have swore Hummus was the Greek God of Wind.............
Between Canyonlands, Arches, and Monument Valley there's enough spectacular scenery in southern Utah for any tourist to marvel at. My wife and I plan to see Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and a few others in the near future as well.
Canyonlands turned out be my wife's and myself's favorite park. And there are numerous great parks in Utah.
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