Checkerboard Mesa
With its distinctive cross-hatching patterns on a cone-shaped White Cliffs formation, Checkerboard Mesa is one of the most recognisable and photogenic landmarks in Zion National Park. It is found some 1,500m into Zion National Park when approached along Utah Route 9 from the east.
The Navajo sandstone of Checkerboard Mesa also forms the spectacular cliffs within Zion. This geographically widespread formation reaches a thickness of 670m in the park and consists almost entirely of desert sand dunes. The Mesa has two sets of lines forming the checkerboard pattern.
The horizontal lines, commonly called cross bedding, represent layers of wind-blown sand that built up into sand dunes. These dunes were then buried, and the sand grains glued together by calcite and iron oxide to form sandstone. Crossbedding can be seen in many place along the Zion Mount Carmel Highway.
The vertical lines are less common. They are actually shallow cracks that result from stress and erosion on the rock surface. These cracks are probably caused by expansion and contraction, temperature changes, wetting/drying, or a combination of these processes.
There is little in the image above to give a sense of scale, but the Mesa tops out some 180m above the road.
Scanned from a negative.
Checkerboard Mesa
With its distinctive cross-hatching patterns on a cone-shaped White Cliffs formation, Checkerboard Mesa is one of the most recognisable and photogenic landmarks in Zion National Park. It is found some 1,500m into Zion National Park when approached along Utah Route 9 from the east.
The Navajo sandstone of Checkerboard Mesa also forms the spectacular cliffs within Zion. This geographically widespread formation reaches a thickness of 670m in the park and consists almost entirely of desert sand dunes. The Mesa has two sets of lines forming the checkerboard pattern.
The horizontal lines, commonly called cross bedding, represent layers of wind-blown sand that built up into sand dunes. These dunes were then buried, and the sand grains glued together by calcite and iron oxide to form sandstone. Crossbedding can be seen in many place along the Zion Mount Carmel Highway.
The vertical lines are less common. They are actually shallow cracks that result from stress and erosion on the rock surface. These cracks are probably caused by expansion and contraction, temperature changes, wetting/drying, or a combination of these processes.
There is little in the image above to give a sense of scale, but the Mesa tops out some 180m above the road.
Scanned from a negative.