Carmel Canyon Trail, Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County. Photo by Adam McKean.
Tag Archive for: Goblin Valley State Park
Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman © 2018
Weathering and erosion of the Jurassic-age Entrada Sandstone forms a fantastic array of stone structures locally referred to as “goblins.”
POTD September 12, 2017: Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County
Photographer: Paul Inkenbrandt © 2017
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.
deseretnews.com
A Colorado River ferry operator named Arthur Chaffin created quite a stir more than half-a-century ago in 1949 when, armed solely with his camera, he set off from his cabin in Hite to a remote place in the Utah outback he’d known about for years he called Mushroom Valley.
mnn.com
Named for its thousands of bizarre, goblin-like rock formations, Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park is a hidden gem in the San Rafael Desert. The goblins, known scientifically as “hoodoos,” were formed through the gradual erosion of Entrada sandstone, which was deposited about 170 millions years ago when the area was situated next to an ancient sea.
sltrib.com
Goblin Valley State Park • This iconic park and its hundreds of aptly-named rock formations probably didn’t need the kind of worldwide publicity it received after Glenn Tuck Taylor toppled one of its goblins last October.
Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Stevie Emerson; © 2012
Sandstone hoodoos at Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County.
Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Keith Beisner
At Goblin Valley State Park on the southeast side of the San Rafael Swell, morning sun gives Wild Horse Butte an ethereal glow. The butte exposes all four geologic units present in the park: the Entrada Sandstone and Curtis, Summerville, and Morrison Formations. These strata record profound changes in Utah’s geography during Middle and Late Jurassic time, including the existence of coastal sand dunes, inundation by a shallow inland sea, and then uplift, erosion, and sediment deposition in stream channels and flood plains.
Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Keith Beisner
Certain rock types weather into curious shapes and patterns by combinations of internal factors such as fractures and sediment grain size and external factors such as frost action and salt crystallization. Sandstone, granite, volcanic rocks, and limestone are all excellent mediums for creating bizarre rockscapes that can include smooth, rounded, and undulating forms (hoodoos or “goblins”), pinnacles, tafoni (holes and small alcoves), and honeycomb structures.
Where horizontal bedding, alternating hard and soft rock layers, and vertical fractures combine, the Entrada Sandstone weathers into rounded, columnar “goblins”.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
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.