Misplaced Pages

#296703

87-500: This rock formation is particularly prominent in southeastern Utah, where it is seen in the main attractions of a number of national parks and monuments. These include Zion National Park , Capitol Reef National Park , the San Rafael Swell , and Canyonlands National Park . The Kayenta Formation frequently appears as a thinner dark broken layer below Navajo Sandstone and above Wingate Sandstone (all three formations are in

174-542: A slot canyon called The Subway , and a panoramic view of the entire area from Lava Point. The Kolob Canyons section, further to the northwest near Cedar City , features Tucupit Point and one of the world's longest natural arches , Kolob Arch . Other notable geographic features of Zion Canyon include Angels Landing , The Great White Throne , the Court of the Patriarchs , The Sentinel , The West Temple , Towers of

261-653: A country have become erodible. For example, on the Madagascar high central plateau , which constitutes approximately ten percent of that country's land area, most of the land area is devegetated, and gullies have eroded into the underlying soil to form distinctive gulleys called lavakas . These are typically 40 meters (130 ft) wide, 80 meters (260 ft) long and 15 meters (49 ft) deep. Some areas have as many as 150 lavakas/square kilometer, and lavakas may account for 84% of all sediments carried off by rivers. This siltation results in discoloration of rivers to

348-468: A dark red brown color and leads to fish kills. In addition, sedimentation of river basins implies sediment management and siltation costs.The cost of removing an estimated 135 million m of accumulated sediments due to water erosion only is likely exceeding 2.3 billion euro (€) annually in the EU and UK, with large regional differences between countries. Erosion is also an issue in areas of modern farming, where

435-455: A favorable article in Scribner's Magazine the next year. The article and paintings, along with previously created photographs, paintings, and reports, led to President William Howard Taft 's proclamation on July 31, 1909, that created Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1917, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service visited the canyon and proposed changing its name from

522-500: A few inches to a few feet thick, and as lenses of limestone conglomerate . Most of the limestone lenses are less than 8 metres (25 ft) long, but two were traced for nearly 150 metres (500 ft) and one for 500 metres (1,650 ft). Viewed as a whole, the Kayenta is readily distinguished from the geologic formations above and below it. It is unlike them in composition, color, manner of bedding, and sedimentary history. Obviously

609-432: A grain, such as pits, fractures, ridges, and scratches. These are most commonly evaluated on quartz grains, because these retain their surface markings for long periods of time. Surface texture varies from polished to frosted, and can reveal the history of transport of the grain; for example, frosted grains are particularly characteristic of aeolian sediments, transported by wind. Evaluation of these features often requires

696-458: A higher density and viscosity . In typical rivers the largest carried sediment is of sand and gravel size, but larger floods can carry cobbles and even boulders . Wind results in the transportation of fine sediment and the formation of sand dune fields and soils from airborne dust. Glaciers carry a wide range of sediment sizes, and deposit it in moraines . The overall balance between sediment in transport and sediment being deposited on

783-426: A hydrodynamic sorting process within the marine environment leading to a seaward fining of sediment grain size. One cause of high sediment loads is slash and burn and shifting cultivation of tropical forests. When the ground surface is stripped of vegetation and then seared of all living organisms, the upper soils are vulnerable to both wind and water erosion. In a number of regions of the earth, entire sectors of

870-470: A result, can cause exposed sediment to become more susceptible to erosion and delivery to the marine environment during rainfall events. Sediment can negatively affect corals in many ways, such as by physically smothering them, abrading their surfaces, causing corals to expend energy during sediment removal, and causing algal blooms that can ultimately lead to less space on the seafloor where juvenile corals (polyps) can settle. When sediments are introduced into

957-571: A series of ledges and slopes between the cliffs of the Navajo and Moenave formation . Dinosaur tracks are fairly common in the siltstone, and fresh water mussels and snails occur but are rare. The Kayenta Formation is colored pale red and adds to the splendor of the Vermilion Cliffs . It accumulated as deposits of rivers. Darwinula Base of the "typical facies" Valves A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) ostracod, type member of

SECTION 10

#1732773241297

1044-643: A special permit, and is limited to daytime hours, as traffic through the tunnel must be one way to accommodate large vehicles. The 5-mile (8.0 km)-long Kolob Canyons Road was built to provide access to the Kolob Canyons section of the park. This road often closes in the winter. In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 , which designated and further protected 124,406 acres (50,345 ha) of park land, about 85% of

1131-788: A tent camp. The Utah Parks Company , a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, acquired Wylie Camp in 1923, and offered ten-day rail/bus tours to Zion, nearby Bryce Canyon , the Kaibab Plateau , and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon . The Zion Lodge complex was built in 1925 at the site of the Wylie tent camp. Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the Zion Lodge in a rustic architectural style, while

1218-649: A trail built from there 1 mile (1.6 km) to the start of the Narrows. Angel's Landing Trail was constructed in 1926 and two suspension bridges were built over the Virgin River. Other trails were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s. Zion National Park has been featured in numerous films, including The Deadwood Coach (1924), Arizona Bound (1927), Nevada (1927), Ramrod (1947) and Butch Cassidy and

1305-874: Is also generally marked by a topographic break. Its weak beds form a bench or platform developed by stripping the Navajo sandstone back from the face of the Wingate cliffs. The Kayenta is made up of beds of sandstone, shale , and limestone, all lenticular , uneven at their tops, and discontinuous within short distances. They suggest deposits made by shifting streams of fluctuating volume. The sandstone beds, from less than 25 millimetres (1 in) to more than 3 metres (10 ft) thick, are composed of relatively coarse, well-rounded quartz grains cemented by lime and iron . The thicker beds are indefinitely cross bedded. The shales are essentially fine-grained , very thin sandstones that include lime concretions and balls of consolidated mud . The limestone appears as solid gray-blue beds,

1392-551: Is expected to be delivered to the outlet of the river. The sediment transfer and deposition can be modelled with sediment distribution models such as WaTEM/SEDEM. In Europe, according to WaTEM/SEDEM model estimates the Sediment Delivery Ratio is about 15%. Watershed development near coral reefs is a primary cause of sediment-related coral stress. The stripping of natural vegetation in the watershed for development exposes soil to increased wind and rainfall and, as

1479-581: Is measured on a log base 2 scale, called the "Phi" scale, which classifies particles by size from "colloid" to "boulder". The shape of particles can be defined in terms of three parameters. The form is the overall shape of the particle, with common descriptions being spherical, platy, or rodlike. The roundness is a measure of how sharp grain corners are. This varies from well-rounded grains with smooth corners and edges to poorly rounded grains with sharp corners and edges. Finally, surface texture describes small-scale features such as scratches, pits, or ridges on

1566-629: Is served by a free shuttle bus from early April to late October and by private vehicles the other months of the year. Other roads in Zion are open to private vehicles year-round. The east side of the park is served by Zion-Mount Carmel Highway ( SR-9 ), which passes through the Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel and ends at US 89 at Mount Carmel Junction . Park features on the east side of the park include Checkerboard Mesa and The East Temple . The Kolob Terrace area, northwest of Zion Canyon, features

1653-930: Is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension in river water and on reaching the sea bed deposited by sedimentation ; if buried, they may eventually become sandstone and siltstone ( sedimentary rocks ) through lithification . Sediments are most often transported by water ( fluvial processes ), but also wind ( aeolian processes ) and glaciers . Beach sands and river channel deposits are examples of fluvial transport and deposition , though sediment also often settles out of slow-moving or standing water in lakes and oceans. Desert sand dunes and loess are examples of aeolian transport and deposition. Glacial moraine deposits and till are ice-transported sediments. Sediment can be classified based on its grain size , grain shape, and composition. Sediment size

1740-501: Is the highest point in the park; the lowest point is the 3,666-foot (1,117 m) elevation of Coal Pits Wash, creating a relief of about 5,100 feet (1,600 m). Streams in the area take rectangular paths because they follow jointing planes in the rocks. The stream gradient of the Virgin River , whose North Fork flows through Zion Canyon in the park, ranges from 50 to 80 feet per mile (9.5 to 15.2 m/km) (0.9–1.5%)—one of

1827-644: The Basketmakers . Basketmaker sites have grass- or stone-lined storage cists and shallow, partially underground dwellings called pithouses . They were hunters and gatherers who supplemented their diet with limited agriculture. Locally collected pine nuts were important for food and trade. Both the Virgin Anasazi and the Parowan Fremont disappeared from the archaeological record of southwestern Utah by c.  1300 . Extended droughts in

SECTION 20

#1732773241297

1914-546: The "typical facies" Shells A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) Bivalve, member of the family Unionidae . Valvata Base of the "typical facies" Shells A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) snail, member of the family Valvatidae . The "Kayenta Fish Fauna" is the last one recovered from the Glen Canyon Group sequence and it is delimited mostly to the silty facies of the Lower-Middle Part of

2001-401: The "typical facies" Shells A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) snail, member of the family Lymnaeidae . Scabriculocypris S. n. sp Base of the "typical facies" Valves A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) ostracod, incertae sedis inside Cypridacea . Differs from all other described species of the genus in being more elongate and from most in being spinose. Unio Base of

2088-483: The 11th and 12th centuries, interspersed with catastrophic flooding, may have made horticulture impossible in this arid region. Tradition and archaeological evidence hold that their replacements were Numic-speaking cousins of the Virgin Anasazi, such as the Southern Paiute and Ute . The newcomers migrated on a seasonal basis up and down valleys in search of wild seeds and game animals. Some, particularly

2175-533: The 3 million short tons (2.7 million metric tons ) of rock and sediment that the Virgin River transports yearly. The Virgin cuts away its canyon faster than its tributaries can cut away their own streambeds, so tributaries end in waterfalls from hanging valleys where they meet the Virgin. The valley between the peaks of the Twin Brothers is a notable example of a hanging valley in

2262-496: The Archaic period and it lasted until c.  500 . Baskets, cordage nets, and yucca fiber sandals have been found and dated to this period. The Archaic toolkits included flaked stone knives, drills, and stemmed dart points. The dart points were attached to wooden shafts and propelled by throwing devices called atlatls . By c.  300 , some of the archaic groups developed into an early branch of seminomadic Anasazi ,

2349-506: The Archaic, Protohistoric and Historic periods. Each period is characterized by distinctive technological and social adaptations. The first human presence in the region dates to 8,000 years ago when family groups camped where they could hunt or collect plants and seeds. About 2,000 years ago, some groups began growing corn and other crops, leading to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Later groups in this period built permanent villages called pueblos . Archaeologists call this

2436-610: The Kayenta Formation. It is a "tongue" of sandstone that merges with the Navajo formation east of Kanab , and it shows that desert conditions occurred briefly in this area during Kayenta time. This tongue is the ledge that shades the lower portion of the Emerald Pool Trail, and it is properly called Navajo, not Kayenta. Fossil mudcracks attest to occasional seasonal climate , and thin limestones and fossilized trails of aquatic snails or worms mark

2523-618: The Kolob Canyons Visitor Center on October 13, 1776, becoming the first people of European descent known to visit the area. In 1825, trapper and trader Jedediah Smith explored some of the downstream areas while under contract with the American Fur Company . In 1847, Mormon farmers from the Salt Lake area became the first people of European descent to settle the Virgin River region. In 1851,

2610-490: The Kolob Terrace Road which is closed when covered with snow. Winter driving conditions last from November through March. Zion National Park has a BSk ( Köppen climate classification ) cold semi-arid climate consisting of very hot summers and mild winters with a limited amount of precipitation throughout the year. Archaeologists have divided the long span of Zion's human history into three cultural periods:

2697-536: The Parowan and Cedar City areas were settled by Mormons who used the Kolob Canyons area for timber, and for grazing cattle, sheep, and horses. They prospected for mineral deposits, and diverted Kolob water to irrigate crops in the valley below. Mormon settlers named the area Kolob which in Mormon scripture is the heavenly place nearest the residence of God. Settlements had expanded 30 miles (48 km) south to

Kayenta Formation - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-473: The Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s. In 1909, President William Howard Taft named the area Mukuntuweap National Monument in order to protect the canyon. In 1918, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service , Horace Albright , drafted a proposal to enlarge the existing monument and change

2871-469: The Southern Paiute, also planted fields of corn, sunflowers , and squash to supplement their diet. These more sedentary groups made brownware vessels that were used for storage and cooking. The Historic period begins in the late 18th century with the exploration of southern Utah by padre Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and padre Francisco Atanasio Domínguez . The padres passed near what is now

2958-483: The Sundance Kid (1969). Zion Canyon Scenic Drive provides access to Zion Canyon. Traffic congestion in the narrow canyon was recognized as a major problem in the 1990s and a public transportation system using propane-powered shuttle buses was instituted in the year 2000. As part of its shuttle fleet, Zion has two electric trams each holding up to 36 passengers. Usually from early April through late October,

3045-634: The TV series Extinct were shot in the park. On March 25, 2020, the park campgrounds were closed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 . The nine known exposed geologic formations in Zion National Park are part of a super-sequence of rock units called the Grand Staircase . Together, these formations represent about 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic -aged sedimentation in that part of North America. The formations exposed in

3132-600: The Utah Parks Company funded the construction. Work on the Zion Mount Carmel Highway started in 1927 to enable reliable access between Springdale and the east side of the park. The road opened in 1930 and park visit and travel in the area greatly increased. The most famous feature of the Zion – Mount Carmel Highway is its 1.1-mile (1.8 km) tunnel, which has six large windows cut through

3219-974: The Virgin, the Altar of Sacrifice , The Watchman , Weeping Rock, and the Emerald Pools. Spring weather is unpredictable, with stormy, wet days being common, mixed with occasional warm, sunny weather. Precipitation is normally heaviest in March. Spring wildflowers bloom from April through June, peaking in May. Fall days are usually clear and mild; nights are often cool. Summer days are hot (95 to 110 °F; 35 to 43 °C), but overnight lows are usually comfortable (65 to 70 °F; 18 to 21 °C). Afternoon thunderstorms are common from mid-July through mid-September. Storms may produce waterfalls as well as flash floods . Autumn tree-color displays begin in September in

3306-658: The Zion Canyon and Kolob Plateau region in the spring of 1872. Hillers returned in April 1873 to add more photographs to the "Virgin River Series" of photographs and stereographs . Hillers described wading the canyon for four days and nearly freezing to death to take his photographs. Paintings of the canyon by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh were exhibited at the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904, followed by

3393-489: The Zion area were deposited as sediment in very different environments: Uplift affected the entire region, known as the Colorado Plateaus , by slowly raising these formations more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) higher than where they were deposited. This steepened the stream gradient of the ancestral Virgin and other rivers on the plateau. The faster-moving streams took advantage of uplift-created joints in

3480-527: The absence of real roads in southern Utah. Old wagon roads were upgraded to the first automobile roads starting about 1910, and the road into Zion Canyon was built in 1917 leading to the Grotto, short of the present road that now ends at the Temple of Sinawava. Touring cars could reach Zion Canyon by the summer of 1917. The first visitor lodging in Zion Canyon, called Wylie Camp, was established that same year as

3567-678: The area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans , one of which was the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Ancestral Puebloans (who used to be called Anasazi by early non-indigenous archeologists ) ( c.  300 CE). Subsequently, what has been called the Virgin Anasazi culture ( c.  500 ) and the Parowan Fremont group developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by

Kayenta Formation - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-462: The area. Desert bighorn sheep were reintroduced in the park in 1973. California condors were reintroduced in the Arizona Strip and in 2014 the first successful breeding of condors in the park was confirmed. Nineteen species of bat also live in the area. Sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion , and

3741-470: The area. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateau lifted the region 10,000 feet (3,000 m) starting 13 million years ago. As stated in the foundation document: The purpose of Zion National Park is to preserve the dramatic geology including Zion Canyon and a labyrinth of deep and brilliantly colored Navajo sandstone canyons formed by extraordinary processes of erosion at

3828-600: The bed is given by the Exner equation . This expression states that the rate of increase in bed elevation due to deposition is proportional to the amount of sediment that falls out of the flow. This equation is important in that changes in the power of the flow change the ability of the flow to carry sediment, and this is reflected in the patterns of erosion and deposition observed throughout a stream. This can be localized, and simply due to small obstacles; examples are scour holes behind boulders, where flow accelerates, and deposition on

3915-579: The body of water. Terrigenous material is often supplied by nearby rivers and streams or reworked marine sediment (e.g. sand ). In the mid-ocean, the exoskeletons of dead organisms are primarily responsible for sediment accumulation. Deposited sediments are the source of sedimentary rocks , which can contain fossils of the inhabitants of the body of water that were, upon death, covered by accumulating sediment. Lake bed sediments that have not solidified into rock can be used to determine past climatic conditions. The major areas for deposition of sediments in

4002-511: The canyon, trapping 450 guests and employees at the Zion Lodge. A one-lane, temporary road was constructed within 24 hours to allow evacuation of the Lodge. A more stable albeit temporary road was completed on May 25, 1995, to allow summer visitors to access the canyon. This road was replaced with a permanent road during the first half of 1996. The Zion–Mount Carmel Highway can be travelled year-round. Access for oversized vehicles requires

4089-566: The canyon. The Great Basin , Mojave Desert , and Colorado Plateau converge at Zion and the Kolob canyons. This, along with the varied topography of canyon – mesa country, differing soil types, and uneven water availability, provides diverse habitat for the equally diverse mix of plants and animals that live in the area. The park is home to 289 bird , 79 mammals , 28 reptiles , 7 fish , and 6 amphibian species. These organisms make their homes in one or more of four life zones found in

4176-417: The coastal regions of the ocean, the proportion of land, marine, and organic-derived sediment that characterizes the seafloor near sources of sediment output is altered. In addition, because the source of sediment (i.e., land, ocean, or organically) is often correlated with how coarse or fine sediment grain sizes that characterize an area are on average, grain size distribution of sediment will shift according to

4263-503: The conditions of sedimentation changed in passing from the Wingate Sandstone formation to the Kayenta and from the Kayenta to the Navajo sandstone, but the nature and regional significance of the changes have not been determined. In some measured sections the transition from Wingate to Kayenta is gradual; the material in the basal Kayenta, beds seems to have been derived from the Wingate immediately below and redeposited with only

4350-471: The contact between the Kayenta and the Navajo in places seems to be gradational, but generally a thin jumbled mass of sandstone and shales, chunks of shale and limestone, mud balls, and concretions of lime and iron, lies at the base of the fine-grained, cross bedded Navajo. Mud cracks, a few ripple marks , and incipient drainage channels were observed in the topmost bed of the Kayenta on Red Rock Plateau ; and in west Glen Canyon, wide sand-filled cracks appear at

4437-419: The discordance characteristic of fluviatile sediments. But in many sections the contact between the two formations is unconformable; the basal Kayenta consists of conglomerate and lenticular sandstone that fills depressions eroded in the underlying beds. In Moqui Canyon near Red Cone Spring nearly 3 metres (10 ft) of Kayenta limestone conglomerate rests in a long meandering valley cut in Wingate. Likewise,

SECTION 50

#1732773241297

4524-422: The edges and corners of particle are. Complex mathematical formulas have been devised for its precise measurement, but these are difficult to apply, and most geologists estimate roundness from comparison charts. Common descriptive terms range from very angular to angular to subangular to subrounded to rounded to very rounded, with increasing degree of roundness. Surface texture describes the small-scale features of

4611-533: The existence of ponds and lakes . The most interesting fossils, however, are the dinosaur tracks that are relatively common in Kayenta mudstone. These vary in size, but all seem to be the tracks of three-toed reptiles that walked upright, leaving their tracks in the muds on the flood plains. Unfortunately, so far no bone materials have been found in Washington County that would enable more specific identification. Apparently during Kayenta time Zion

4698-685: The family Darwinulidae . Kayenta specimens have a distinctive columnar calcitic layer. The Kayenta fauna is similar to the Sinemurian faunas of the Toutunhe Formation of Xinjiang, China. Liratina Base of the "typical facies" Single shell A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) snail, incertae sedis inside Mesogastropoda . Differs considerably from the species from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation , Liratina jurassicum Lymnaea Base of

4785-510: The flow. In geography and geology , fluvial sediment processes or fluvial sediment transport are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by sediments. It can result in the formation of ripples and dunes , in fractal -shaped patterns of erosion, in complex patterns of natural river systems, and in the development of floodplains and the occurrence of flash floods . Sediment moved by water can be larger than sediment moved by air because water has both

4872-407: The formation and limited to several locations with typical lacustrine or fluvial floodplain deposition. Toarcibatidae (= "Archaeobatidae") Indeterminate Gold Spring Quarry 1 Base of the "typical facies" Isolated Tooth A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) toarcibatid . Related originally with Micropristis or Libanopristis , and stated to be reworked from younger Cretaceous deposits,

4959-658: The formation. This Fauna is rather scarce and delimited to several concrete locations with proper lacustrine or fluvial deposition, and are also scarce due to preservation bias . Another aspect that can explain the lack of fish fossils found is the use of different research techniques than used on the Chinle Formation . Hybodontoidea Indeterminate Base of the "typical facies" UCMP 136104, 136105 + ten uncatalogued specimens, teeth A freshwater (lacustrine or fluvial) non-neoselachian shark, incertae sedis inside Hybodontoidea . The remains of sharks are rather rare on

5046-420: The high country; in Zion Canyon, autumn colors usually peak in late October. Winter in Zion Canyon is fairly mild. Winter storms bring rain or light snow to Zion Canyon and heavier snow to the higher elevations. Clear days may become quite warm, reaching 60 °F (16 °C); nights are often 20 to 40 °F (−7 to 4 °C). Winter storms can last several days and make roads icy. Zion roads are plowed, except

5133-528: The horizon. These features indicate that, in places at least, the Wingate and Kayenta were exposed to erosion before their overlying geologic formations were deposited, are it may be that the range in thickness of the Kayenta thus in part (is) accounted for. The red and mauve Kayenta siltstones and sandstones that form the slopes at base of the Navajo Sandstone cliffs record the record of low to moderate energy streams. Poole (1997) has shown that

5220-539: The inside of meander bends. Erosion and deposition can also be regional; erosion can occur due to dam removal and base level fall. Deposition can occur due to dam emplacement that causes the river to pool and deposit its entire load, or due to base level rise. Seas, oceans, and lakes accumulate sediment over time. The sediment can consist of terrigenous material, which originates on land, but may be deposited in either terrestrial, marine, or lacustrine (lake) environments, or of sediments (often biological) originating in

5307-454: The locally unpopular Mukuntuweap to Zion, a name used by the local Mormon community. The United States Congress added more land and established Zion National Park on November 19, 1919. A separate Zion National Monument, the Kolob Canyons area, was proclaimed on January 22, 1937, and was incorporated into the park on July 11, 1956. Travel to the area before it was a national park was rare due to its remote location, lack of accommodations, and

SECTION 60

#1732773241297

5394-406: The long, intermediate, and short axis lengths of the particle. The form ψ l {\displaystyle \psi _{l}} varies from 1 for a perfectly spherical particle to very small values for a platelike or rodlike particle. An alternate measure was proposed by Sneed and Folk: which, again, varies from 0 to 1 with increasing sphericity. Roundness describes how sharp

5481-459: The lower Virgin River by 1858. That year, a Southern Paiute guide led young Mormon missionary and interpreter Nephi Johnson into the upper Virgin River area and Zion Canyon. Johnson wrote a favorable report about the agricultural potential of the upper Virgin River basin, and returned later that year to found the town of Virgin. In 1861 or 1862, Joseph Black made the arduous journey to Zion Canyon and

5568-540: The margin of the Colorado Plateau; to safeguard the park's wilderness character and its wild and scenic river values; to protect evidence of human history; and to provide for scientific research and the enjoyment and enlightenment of the public. The park is located in southwestern Utah mostly in unincorporated areas in Washington , Iron , and Kane counties. The territory of Springdale extends into

5655-435: The marine environment include: One other depositional environment which is a mixture of fluvial and marine is the turbidite system, which is a major source of sediment to the deep sedimentary and abyssal basins as well as the deep oceanic trenches . Any depression in a marine environment where sediments accumulate over time is known as a sediment trap . The null point theory explains how sediment deposition undergoes

5742-555: The massive sandstone cliff. In 1896, local rancher John Winder improved the Native American footpath up Echo Canyon, which later became the East Rim Trail. Entrepreneur David Flanigan used this trail in 1900 to build cableworks that lowered lumber into Zion Canyon from Cable Mountain. More than 200,000 board feet (470 m ) of lumber were lowered by 1906. The auto road was extended to the Temple of Sinawava, and

5829-584: The monument as Zion National Park , and the act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson . The Kolob section was proclaimed a separate Zion National Monument in 1937, but was incorporated into the national park in 1956. Congress designated 85% of the park a wilderness area in 2009. The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine formations that together represent 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic -aged sedimentation . At various periods in that time warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments covered

5916-527: The next couple of years, bringing with them cattle and other domesticated animals. The canyon floor was farmed until Zion became a Monument in 1909. The Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 entered the area after their first trip through the Grand Canyon . John Wesley Powell visited Zion Canyon in 1872 and named it Mukuntuweap , under the impression that that was the Paiute name. Powell Survey photographers John K. Hillers and James Fennemore first visited

6003-477: The park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat ), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert , riparian , woodland , and coniferous forest . Zion National Park includes mountains , canyons , buttes , mesas , monoliths , rivers , slot canyons , and natural arches . The lowest point in

6090-538: The park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain . A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km ) park is Zion Canyon , which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River . The park attracted 5 million visitors in 2023. Human habitation of

6177-502: The park's name to Zion National Monument , Zion being a term used by the Mormons. According to historian Hal Rothman : "The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time. Many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience." On November 19, 1919, Congress redesignated

6264-613: The park, as the Zion Wilderness . In 2011, Zion National Park was featured in the Honest Hearts downloadable content pack for the game Fallout: New Vegas . In September 2015, flooding trapped a party of seven in Keyhole Canyon, a slot canyon in the park. The flash flood killed all seven members of the group, whose remains were located after a search lasting several days. In 2017, some scenes from

6351-645: The park. Geomorphically, it is located on the Markagunt and Kolob plateaus, at the intersection of three North American geographic provinces: the Colorado Plateau , the Great Basin , and the Mojave Desert . The northern part of the park is known as the Kolob Canyons section and is accessible from Interstate 15 , exit 40. The 8,726-foot (2,660 m) summit of Horse Ranch Mountain

6438-704: The park: desert , riparian , woodland , and coniferous forest . Desert conditions persist on canyon bottoms and rocky ledges away from perennial streams. Sagebrush , prickly pear cactus, and rabbitbrush , along with sacred datura and Indian paintbrush , are common. Utah penstemon and golden aster can also be found. Milkvetch and prince's plume are found in pockets of selenium -rich soils. Common daytime animals include mule deer , rock squirrels , pinyon jays , and whiptail and collared lizards. Desert cottontails , jackrabbits , and Merriam's kangaroo rats come out at night. Cougars , bobcats , coyotes , badgers , gray foxes , and ring-tail cats are

6525-491: The relative input of land (typically fine), marine (typically coarse), and organically-derived (variable with age) sediment. These alterations in marine sediment characterize the amount of sediment suspended in the water column at any given time and sediment-related coral stress. In July 2020, marine biologists reported that aerobic microorganisms (mainly), in " quasi-suspended animation ", were found in organically-poor sediments, up to 101.5 million years old, 250 feet below

6612-473: The removal of native vegetation for the cultivation and harvesting of a single type of crop has left the soil unsupported. Many of these regions are near rivers and drainages. Loss of soil due to erosion removes useful farmland, adds to sediment loads, and can help transport anthropogenic fertilizers into the river system, which leads to eutrophication . The Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) is fraction of gross erosion (interill, rill, gully and stream erosion) that

6699-423: The rocks. Eventually, all Cenozoic -aged formations were removed and gorges were cut into the plateaus. Zion Canyon was cut by the North Fork of the Virgin River in this way. During the later part of this process, lava flows and cinder cones covered parts of the area. High water volume in wet seasons does most of the downcutting in the main canyon. These flood events are responsible for transporting most of

6786-576: The same group). Together, these three formations can result in immense vertical cliffs of 600 metres (2,000 ft) or more. Kayenta layers are typically red to brown in color, forming broken ledges. In most sections that include all three geologic formations of the Glen Canyon group the Kayenta is easily recognized. Even at a distance it appears as a dark-red, maroon, or lavender band of thin-bedded material between two thick, massive, cross bedded strata of buff, tan, or light-red color. Its position

6873-399: The scenic drive in Zion Canyon is closed to private vehicles and visitors ride the shuttle buses. The National Park Service has contracted the management of the shuttle bus system to transit operator RATP Dev . On April 12, 1995, heavy rains triggered a landslide that blocked the Virgin River in Zion Canyon. Over a period of two hours, the river carved away part of the only exit road from

6960-535: The steepest stream gradients in North America. The road into Zion Canyon is 6 miles (9.7 km) long, ending at the Temple of Sinawava, which is named for the coyote god of the Paiute Indians. The canyon becomes more narrow near the Temple and a hiking trail continues to the mouth of The Narrows , a gorge only 20 feet (6 m) wide and up to 2,000 feet (610 m) tall. The Zion Canyon road

7047-487: The streams still flowed toward the east depositing from 150 to 210 m (500 to 700 ft) of sediment here. The sedimentary structures showing the channel and flood plain deposits of streams are well exposed on switchbacks below the tunnel in Pine Creek Canyon. In the southeastern part of Zion National Park a stratum of cross bedded sandstone is found roughly halfway between the top and bottom of

7134-445: The surface of the grain. Form (also called sphericity ) is determined by measuring the size of the particle on its major axes. William C. Krumbein proposed formulas for converting these numbers to a single measure of form, such as where D L {\displaystyle D_{L}} , D I {\displaystyle D_{I}} , and D S {\displaystyle D_{S}} are

7221-603: The top predators . Cooler conditions persist at mid-elevation slopes, from 3,900 to 5,500 feet (1,200 to 1,700 m). Stunted forests of pinyon pine and juniper coexist here with manzanita shrubs, cliffrose , serviceberry , scrub oak , and yucca . Stands of ponderosa pine , Gambel oak , Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir , White fir , manzanita and aspen populate the mesas and cliffs above 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Golden eagles , red-tailed hawks , peregrine falcons , and white-throated swifts can be seen in

7308-494: The use of a scanning electron microscope . Composition of sediment can be measured in terms of: This leads to an ambiguity in which clay can be used as both a size-range and a composition (see clay minerals ). Sediment is transported based on the strength of the flow that carries it and its own size, volume, density, and shape. Stronger flows will increase the lift and drag on the particle, causing it to rise, while larger or denser particles will be more likely to fall through

7395-489: Was found due to its asymmetrical cusp to fit within the definition of Toarcibatis , being more likely to be native of the formation. Lophionotus L. kanabensis Zion National Park Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale . Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau , Great Basin , and Mojave Desert regions,

7482-459: Was situated in a climatic belt like that of Senegal with rainy summers and dry winters at the southern edge of a great desert. The influence of the desert was about to predominate, however, as North America drifted northward into the arid desert belt. The Kayenta Formation is approximately 120 metres (400 ft) thick and consists of a fine-grained sandstone interbedded with layers of siltstone. The alternation of these units generally produces

7569-518: Was very impressed by its beauty. The floor of Zion Canyon was settled in 1863 by Isaac Behunin, who farmed corn, tobacco, and fruit trees. The Behunin family lived in Zion Canyon near the site of today's Zion Lodge during the summer, and wintered in Springdale. Behunin is credited with naming Zion, a reference to the place of peace mentioned in the Bible . Two more families settled Zion Canyon in

#296703