Mala Gosia
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument 1, Utah, USA
© all rights reserved by Mala Gosia.
"The land rises in broad, tilted terraces which form the Grand Staircase. From the south the terraces step up in great technicolor cliffs: Vermilion, White, Gray, Pink. Together these escarpments expose 200 million years of the earth's history in a dramatic geologic library.
The deep, brilliant red Moenkopi sandstone of the Vermilion Cliffs, with their flared bases of Chinle badlands, contain many fossils of fish and early dinosaurs from the Triassic Period. A step north, the nearly unbroken line of the White Cliffs is composed of Jurassic sand dunes solidified into Navajo sandstone.
Above the White Cliffs, the younger, shaley Gray Cliffs present a softer profile. Deposited when an ocean covered the land, they contain evidence of marine life: sea shells, shark's teeth, beds of coal from compressed swamp and marsh plants. At the top of the Grand Staircase, the limey siltstone Pink Cliffs were deposited by an ancient freshwater lake and now lie mostly in Bryce Canyon National Park." From: www.utah.com.
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument 1, Utah, USA
© all rights reserved by Mala Gosia.
"The land rises in broad, tilted terraces which form the Grand Staircase. From the south the terraces step up in great technicolor cliffs: Vermilion, White, Gray, Pink. Together these escarpments expose 200 million years of the earth's history in a dramatic geologic library.
The deep, brilliant red Moenkopi sandstone of the Vermilion Cliffs, with their flared bases of Chinle badlands, contain many fossils of fish and early dinosaurs from the Triassic Period. A step north, the nearly unbroken line of the White Cliffs is composed of Jurassic sand dunes solidified into Navajo sandstone.
Above the White Cliffs, the younger, shaley Gray Cliffs present a softer profile. Deposited when an ocean covered the land, they contain evidence of marine life: sea shells, shark's teeth, beds of coal from compressed swamp and marsh plants. At the top of the Grand Staircase, the limey siltstone Pink Cliffs were deposited by an ancient freshwater lake and now lie mostly in Bryce Canyon National Park." From: www.utah.com.