A Painted Desert with Wood Turned to Stone

Published: June 29, 2008, 8:31 pm

Vivid bands of color on "teepee" shaped buttes. [click to enlarge]The Painted Desert in Arizona is a vivid display of colorful rock formations that stretch from the Grand Canyon State Park to just North of the Little Colorado River. This desert environment is surreal; especially with the clouds giving it a very "Salvador Dali like" feel. Much of this region is located within the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. The Navajo and the Hopi have lived here for approximately 1500 years. The Painted Desert was nick-named by a group of Spanish Explorers, headed by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who called it el Desierto Pintado Francisco Vasquez de CoronadoThe Desert buttes are comprised of layers of minerals and decayed organic matter in bands of gray, red, orange, yellow, and black. These dunes have undergone millions of years of shaping by winds and rainfall to give them their rounded look. There must be thousands of mesas and buttes here. It's amazing how they just shoot straight

[ Full article ]

Blog link

Comments