The famous Balanced Rock. Such geologic columns
and cap rocks are common to Arches and the entire southwest. Erosion
wears away softer rock layers, leaving more resistant rock to assume
an assortment of strange and interesting shapes.
Delicate Arch, the most famous and widely photographed arch, appears
in the distance.
Closer view of Delicate Arch. Desert Varnish,
visible on the rockface in the photo, resembles black paint that
has dripped down the sides of rocks, but it is actually a substance
composed of minerals and organisms.
Driving through Arches National Parks, one can see several
windows in the distance.
To get an idea of the size of the arches in the park,
one needs scale. So here are some people to compare this arch to.
I am second from the right, sitting.
The Three Gossips
This photo, which makes up part of the background of this web page,
is one of the many arches located in the Windows section of
the park.
Upon entering the park one of the first sandstone structures you
will see will be: Park Avenue.
ARCHES
NATIONAL PARK WEBSITE
You can find anything you want to know here about visiting
and hiking the park. Not a source for geology or park history.
GO
UTAH
A good site for persons interested in traveling to the park.
AREA
PARKS.COM
A good site for general information on Arches and many other national
parks. Find information on activities, lodging, dining, etc. Good
for persons interested in traveling to the park.
AMERICAN
PARK NETWORK
This website has everything!At a Glance Activities and Programs, Camping,
Flora and Fauna, Geology, History, Lodging and Dining, Photograph,y
Preservation, Sights to See, Special Services, Walking and Hiking,
Weather, and links for Further Reading.
Thank you for visiting this webpage. I hope you enjoyed the photos
and, at the same time,
learned someting about Utah's Arches National Park.
Arches National Park: Natural
Sculptures Arches, made a Utah national park in 1971, has the world's
largest concentration of natural arches; more than 200 dot the park's
desertscape. Just as master sculptors like Michelangelo worked slowly
to carve their masterpieces, so wind, rain, snow, ice, and blowing sand
have taken millions of years to carve the park's varying shapes. Adding
to the intrigue of the forms is the red-to-pink-to-orange colors of
the sandstone from which they are made. Some of the arches stand up
to 100 feet high and span as much as 291 feet across. The arches change
shape daily because the elements never rest from their task of molding
the landscape. So, what you see here today will be different in a few
years. In fact, some things could be different in a few days if one
of the arch's legs breaks and it tumbles down. The arches are here because
at one time the area was an ocean that receded and left a mixture of
sand, silt, lime, and other materials that became a 500-foot-thick layer
of sandstone, called Entrada Sandstone. The combination of materials
in the Entrada is such that it erodes in irregular patterns, depending
on the softness or hardness of the rock, to form the arches and pillars.
The process has taken about 145 million years, and, of course, continues
right now. credits: http://www.letsfindout.com/subjects/america/arches.html
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were.
Desert Varnish is the thin red
to black coating found on exposed rock surfaces in arid regions. Varnish
is composed of clay minerals, oxides and hydroxides of manganese and/or
iron, as well as other particles such as sand grains and trace elements.
The distinctive elements are Manganese (Mn) and Iron (Fe). The color
of rock varnish depends on the relative amounts of manganese and iron
in it: manganese-rich varnishes are black; manganese-poor, iron-rich
varnishes are red to orange; those intermediate in composition are usually
a shade of brown. Varnish surfaces tend to be shiny when the varnish
is smooth and rich in manganese. Desert varnish consists of clays and
other particles cemented to rock surfaces by manganese emplaced and
oxidized by bacteria living there. It is produced by the physiological
activities of microorganisms which are able to take manganese out of
the environment, then oxidize and emplace it onto rock surfaces. These
microorganisms live on most rock surfaces and may be able to use both
organic and inorganic nutrition sources. These manganese-oxidizing microorganisms
thrive in deserts and appear to fill an environmental niche unfit for
faster growing organisms which feed only on organic materials. The sources
for desert varnish components come from outside the rock, most likely
from atmospheric dust and surface runoff. Streaks of black varnish often
occur where water cascades over cliffs. No major varnish characteristics
are caused by wind. Thousands of years are required to form a complete
coat of manganese-rich desert varnish so it is rarely found on easily
eroded surfaces. A change to more acidic conditions (such as acid rain)
can erode rock varnish. In addition, lichens are involved in the chemical
erosion of rock varnish.
credits: http://www.nps.gov/seug/resource/home.htm?/seug/resource/geology/geology.htm
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Wolfe Ranch: The Arches area,
once frequented by hunting parties from the Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan
(Anasazi) peoples, has seen little permanent human habitation. One noteworthy
exception is John Wesley Wolfe, a disabled Civil War veteran. Wolfe
and his son Fred built Wolfe Ranch in 1888. Why they came to this place
is unknown, but they did manage to maintain a small cattle operation
for more than 20 years. A weathered log cabin, a root cellar, a corral,
and a glimpse of the past are all that remain.
credits: http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/ar/history/index.html
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