POTD February 21, 2017: Goblin Valley State Park

Goblin Valley State Park

Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg © 2017

Early morning sun casts shadows on “goblins” formed within the Entrada Sandstone, which consists of sediment deposited 160 million years ago in tidal flats and coastal dunes. Erosion forms the goblins, leaving resistant sandstone boulders perched atop softer siltstone and shale layers that erode more quickly.

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Light-brown sandstone of the Jurassic-age Curtis Formation caps the underlying reddish siltstone of the Entrada Formation in Cathedral Valley. In places, only boulders remain of the resistant cap rock as the Curtis Formation slowly weathers away. Cathedral Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2015POTD November 18, 2013: Spring-fed Pruess Lake, Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah.
Light-brown sandstone of the Jurassic-age Curtis Formation caps the underlying reddish siltstone of the Entrada Formation in Cathedral Valley. In places, only boulders remain of the resistant cap rock as the Curtis Formation slowly weathers away. Cathedral Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2015POTD February 12, 2016: Cathedral Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah