A goblet-shaped hoodoo formed in sandstone of the Early Cretaceous-age Burro Canyon Formation. The top is cemented by silica, making it more resistant to weathering than the softer rock at the base.
Near Blanding, San Juan County, Utah. Photo by Don DeBlieux.
Dead Horse Point State Park, Grand County. Photo by Michael Vanden Berg.
Buckskin Gulch—the longest and deepest slot canyon in the United States—cuts through Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone. Deposited as an erg, or a sand-dune sea, the Navajo Sandstone contains beautifully preserved cross-beds.
Buckskin Gulch, Kane County. Photo by Adam Hiscock.
Petrified sand dunes of the Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone.
Snow Canyon State Park, Washington County. Photo by Michael Vanden Berg.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Kane County. Photo by J. Lucy Jordan.
Vibrant orange sand contrasts with sculpted Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone within a large wind-eroded pothole informally referred to as the Cosmic Navel and more scientifically as the Inselberg Pit. The feature is the largest known cylindrical sandstone weathering pit on Earth.
Escalante National Monument, Garfield County. Photo by Michael Vanden Berg.
Along the Green River, Dinosaur National Monument, Uintah County, Utah. Photo by Jen Miller.
Henry’s Fork, High Uintas Wilderness, Summit County, Utah. Photo by Christian Hardwick.
Morning sun casts light on the reddish-brown and grayish-red sandstone, shale, and siltstone of the Precambrian-age formation of Red Castle in the Uinta Mountain Group. Ice-age glaciers carved the broad valleys and basins of the Uinta Mountains.
Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Grand County, Utah. Photo by Adam McKean.
Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah. Photo by Marshall Robinson.
Beautiful hanging gardens decorate an alcove in Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone along the Riverside Walk trail at the mouth of The Narrows in Zion National Park. Rainwater seeps down through porous sandstone until it flows laterally along a less-porous rock layer, ultimately trickling out of the canyon wall.
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. Several specialized programs comprise the UGS: Data Management, Energy & Minerals, Geologic Hazards, Geologic Information & Outreach, Geologic Mapping, Groundwater & Wetlands, and Paleontology.
© Jen Miller
© Christian Hardwick
© Adam McKean
© Marshall Robinson