POTD Capitol Reef, Wayne County

Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah
Photographer: James Kirkland; © 2015

The Late Triassic-age Chinle Formation, marked at its base by the light-colored, gravelly Shinarump Conglomerate Member, overlies red beds of the Early Triassic Moenkopi Formation. Late Triassic rocks record dramatic drying of Utah’s landscape, as drab gray floodplain deposits in the lower Chinle give way to more oxidized, reddish sand dune deposits of the cliff-forming Wingate Sandstone.