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Geolor's
Photo Gallery
Web Page Design; All Graphics are © Geolor's
Exclusive Graphic Designs, Geolor's
Photo Gallery, Geolor.com
1999, 2008; All Rights Reserved.
No portion of this page, any graphic images or photographs may be copied
or reproduced
without written permission from Geolor.com.
Thank you for visiting this webpage. I hope you enjoyed the photos
and that you learned something about Utah's Arches National Park.
GEOLOGY
Of ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
AMERICAN
PARK NETWORK: ARCHES GEOLOGY - The Creation of Arches
MORE GREAT PHOTOS
Go Utah
The American Southwest: Arches National Park
Thumbnail
Guide To Arches National Park
Arches National
Park
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.
MAPS
A Relief
Map of Utah
NPS Topo Map in
PDF Format
WANT SOME
PROFESSIONAL TIPS ON PHOTOGRAPHING ARCHES?
VISIT
AMERICAN PARK NETWORK: ARCHES PHOTOGRAPHY
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.
Credit: http://www.letsfindout.com/subjects/america/arches.html
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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.
Credit: 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.
Credit: http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/ar/history/index.html
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One
of the over 200 arches in 
Several
arches located near Wolfe's cabin, site of former