Bryce Canyon Geology
- Hoodoos Cast Their Spell. Hoodoo – a pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion. ...
- Erosion. Visitors at Bryce Canyon National Park come to see the unique shapes formed in the Claron Formation.
- Climate. ...
- Rock Type. ...
- Ancient Sedimentation. ...
Why are there hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park?
Part of the beauty of the hoodoos comes from their strange patterns. The shape of the hoodoos is attributed to slight variances in the material which comprises the rock. If you recall from the “deposition” section above, there are multiple types of rocks that make up Bryce Canyon.
What is a hoodoo?
The word “hoodoo” means to bewitch, which is what Bryce Canyon’s rock formations surely do. The hoodoos we are talking about are tall skinny shafts of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins.
What type of rock is a hoodoo made of?
Formed in sedimentary rock, hoodoo shapes are affected by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and softer rock layers. The name given to the rock layer that forms hoodoos at Bryce Canyon is the Claron Formation. This layer has several rock types including siltstones and mudstones but is predominantly limestone.
Where did Bryce Canyon get its colorful rocks?
Hoodoos Hoodoos in the very early morning. Brian Roanhorse/NPS Lake Claron existed around 50 Million Years ago, and was the source for the colorful rocks of Bryce Canyon Wikipedia The Three-Step Recipe to Create Bryce Canyon
Why are they called hoodoos in Bryce Canyon?
In certain regions of western North America these rocky structures are called hoodoos. The name is derived from Hoodoo spirituality, in which certain natural forms are said to possess certain powers, but by the late 19th century, this spirituality became associated with bad luck.
What makes a hoodoo?
A hoodoo is a tall, spindly structure that forms within sedimentary rock and protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos form over millions of years of erosion in areas where a thick layer of soft rock is covered by a thin layer of hard rock.
How is a hoodoo formed in Bryce Canyon?
Weathering and Erosion: The Sculpting of Hoodoos Weathering is the breaking down of rock and erosion is the transportation of that broken rock. These two forces of nature work in concert to sculpt Bryce Canyon's hoodoos. The main natural forces of weathering and erosion that create the Hoodoos are ice and rain.
Are the hoodoos at Bryce or Zion?
“We have hoodoos in Zion, and they're formed differently than in Bryce Canyon,” said Michael Plyler, director of the Zion Field Institute. “The cap layer is harder — a mix of iron and manganese over a shaft of softer material.” The top of the shaft is protected from erosion, but not the sides.
Why do they call them hoodoos?
So what is a hoodoo? A spire of rock that has an easily eroded column and a more resistant cap. Sometimes they look like mushrooms. They are kind of eerie, so they're called "hoodoos" and also have other names, from "fairy chimneys" to "goblins."
What a hoodoo means?
Definition of hoodoo 1 : a body of practices of sympathetic magic traditional especially among African Americans in the southern U.S. 2 : a natural column of rock in western North America often in fantastic form. 3 : something that brings bad luck. 4 : nonsense, hokum.
How long do hoodoos take to form?
For ~200 days of the year, the region experiences both above and below freezing temperatures, allowing ice and rain to create the hoodoos. Water seeps into spaces between and within rock. When the temperature lowers, the water within the rock freezes and expands. ice wedging, because as water freezes it expands.
What does a hoodoo look like?
In general, a hoodoo is a spire made of rock and minerals that can range anywhere from five to one hundred and fifty feet tall. There are big, round hoodoos that look like boulders perched on kitchen stools, tall, thin spires that seem to go on forever, and rounded chimneys with large rocks sitting quietly on the top.
How old are hoodoos in Bryce Canyon?
60 million year oldThe hoodoos of Bryce Canyon are 60 million year old sculpted claron rock formations which consist of limestone, dolomite and siltstone layers. The Colorado Plateau has risen over a time period of about sixteen million years.
What is Bryce Canyon famous for?
Bryce Canyon National Park in Southwestern Utah is famous for the largest collection of hoodoos—the distinctive rock formations at Bryce—in the world. Bryce Canyon is also home to horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, scenic vistas, and the dark night sky.
Where is Thor's Hammer Bryce Canyon?
Thor's Hammer, which can be seen from the Navajo Loop Trail at Bryce Canyon National Park, in Utah, is a textbook example of a hoodoo. Hoodoos, shaped sort of like totem poles, are formed when the softer rock layers are eroded away faster than the more resistant rock layers.
How far is Zion from Bryce Canyon?
72.4 milesThe distance from Zion to Bryce Canyon is 72.4 miles (116.5 kilometers), or, a 1 hour and 20 minute drive and it's a beautiful drive!
What type of geologic formation is Utah's Bryce Canyon best known for?
The ancient depositional environment of the region around what is now Bryce Canyon National Park varied from the warm shallow sea (called the Cretaceous Seaway) in which the Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited to the cool streams and lakes that contributed sediment to the colorful Claron Formation that ...
What makes Bryce Canyon unique?
Bryce Canyon National Park in Southwestern Utah is famous for the largest collection of hoodoos—the distinctive rock formations at Bryce—in the world. Bryce Canyon National Park in Southwestern Utah is famous for the largest collection of hoodoos—the distinctive rock formations at Bryce—in the world.
Where are hoodoos found?
Hoodoos are most commonly found in the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains.
What does Hoodoo mean?
The word "hoodoo" means to bewitch, which is what Bryce Canyon's rock formations surely do.
What is the difference between hoodoos and spires?
In common usage, the difference between Hoodoos and spires is that hoodoos have a variable thickness often described as having a “totem pole-shaped body.”. Thors Hammer in Bryce Canyon National Park. Whit Richardson.
Who lived in the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon?
The Paiute people who have inhabited the area for centuries have their own origin story for the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. As the story goes, long before the Paiute people lived in the region, the land was inhabited by the To-when-an-ung-wa, or The Legend People. The To-when-an-ung-wa lived too heavily upon the land.
What is a Hoodoo?
Hoodoos are pillars of rock, typically between 5 and 150 feet high. Unlike a spire (which tapers from bottom to top), hoodoos have a variable, totem pole-like thickness throughout their height. The towers are typically a softer sandstone capped by a more erosion-resistant layer of rock. As the softer rock of the pillar erodes away at a faster rate than the hoodoo cap, seemingly-impossible shapes form.
Where can I find Hoodoos?
You can find hoodoos scattered throughout the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and the Badlands region of the Northern Great Plains. However, Bryce Canyon National Park hosts the highest concentration of them anywhere in the world.
What is the name of the park where the hoodoos are formed?
Bryce Canyon National Park, located on the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, experiences over 200 days of freeze/thaw cycle per year, lending to its propensity for hoodoo formation. As the plateau edge erodes away, it leaves projections or fins. These fins continue to erode beneath the caprock and, eventually, a window forms. As the window continues to open, the pillar can no longer support the weight of the caprock, and the window collapses. This leaves the isolated towers that we know as hoodoos.
What do the Paiute call the hoodoos?
The Paiute people call them Angka-ku-wass-a-wits (red painted faces), referring to the many colors of the hoodoos. However they got here, the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park are a wondrous sight to see. Come and walk among them on your next Utah hiking vacation.
Where are the Hoodoos in Utah?
All About the Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park. When most people think of a southern Utah hiking vacation, most of the images conjured up are of the sheer, towering walls of Zion National Park.
What was deposited at the bottom of the Bryce Canyon?
Eons ago, wind and water deposited layers of mud, sand, and silt across the land. In the case of Bryce Canyon, sediments were deposited at the bottom of a huge ancient lake. These softer layers were then covered by more erosion-resistant layers, such as limestone. Now that the ingredients were in place, the magic could begin.
Where are Hoodoos found?
Hoodoos are common in the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands of the USA. Other spectacular examples are in Cappadocia (Turkey), the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (France), Serbia, Taiwan, and Drumheller (Alberta, Canada). The top of this plateau consists of the pink and white layers of the Claron Formation. The pink is due to the iron and manganese in ...
How Were Hoodoos Formed?
The Flood left behind massive lakes in the continent’s interior, where thick deposits settled at the bottom. Later, these lakes broke free, catastrophically draining away the edges of the lakes.
How does rain affect the sedimentary layers of Bryce?
As the rain passes through the atmosphere, it becomes weakly acidic. That acid eats away at the sediments, especially the limy layers. Furthermore, the sedimentary layers at Bryce contain several sets of parallel cracks called joints. Water enters these cracks, where it freezes at night and thaws during the day—today the region experiences 200 freeze-thaw cycles per year—further weakening the rock layers.
Why are hoodoos pink?
The pink is due to the iron and manganese in the sediments, which reacted with oxygen. The hoodoos were carved out of these layers. The Claron Formation was likely among the first sediment layers deposited in the very early post-Flood period immediately after the last Flood waters receded.
How deep is the Bryce Amphitheater?
The largest and most spectacular is Bryce Amphitheater, about 12 miles (19 km) wide and 800 feet (245 m) deep, sporting thousands of columns. Standing guard along the rim of a natural amphitheater is an army of tall columns, called hoodoos. Conditions were just right after the flood to form them rapidly.
What is the name of the canyon in Utah?
Bryce Canyon, Utah. The visitor overlooks at Bryce Canyon, Utah, provide a breathtaking spectacle of row upon row of towering columns painted pink, red, white, and orange. Together, these columns were formed in a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters, cut into the surrounding cliffs.
Do gullies widen into canyons?
The gullies widen into canyons, exposing more surfaces to erosion along their vertical cracks. Further freeze-thaw cycles expand the cracks and peel off side layers, especially of the softer rocks. Normally we would expect weathered rocks to collapse into piles, rather than leaving behind tall, slender columns.
What is a hoodoo?
Hoodoo (also known as tent rock, fairy chimney or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rocks topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They generally form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations.
How big are hoodoos?
Hoodoos range in size from the height of an average human to heights exceeding a 10-story building . Hoodoo shapes are affected by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and softer rock layers. Minerals deposited within different rock types cause hoodoos to have different colors throughout their height.
Where are Hoodoo stones?
The hoodoo stones on the northern coast of Taiwan are unusual for their coastal setting. The stones formed as the seabed rose rapidly out of the ocean during the Miocene epoch. Efforts have been made to slow the erosion in the case of iconic specimens in Wanli.
How do hoodoos form?
Over time, cracks in the resistant layer allow the much softer rock beneath to be eroded and washed away. Hoodoos form where a small cap of the resistant layer remains, and protects a cone of the underlying softer layer from erosion. The heavy cap pressing downwards gives the pedestal of the hoodoo its strength to resist erosion. With time, erosion of the soft layer causes the cap to be undercut, eventually falling off, and the remaining cone is then quickly eroded.
What is the hike the hoodoos program?
Not only is the - Hike the Hoodoos!" program proving to be wildly popular, but this activity complements First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" Initiative - dedicated to solving the problem of childhood obesity by encouraging kids and their families to eat healthier and exercise more.
How many miles to hike the Hoodoos?
To encourage visitors to stay healthy while having fun, Bryce Canyon National Park has developed a new activity called "Hike the Hoodoos!" Part hike, part scavenger hunt, visitors must hike at least 3 miles on specially-marked trails and find "Hike the Hoodoos" benchmark survey markers along the way.
Bryce Amphitheater
Take the park shuttle all the way to Bryce Point (aka Bryce Amphitheater), and then hike your way back to Inspiration Point, Sunrise Point, and Sunset point on the Rim Trail. The view of Bryce Canyon as you walk along the Rim Trail is simply phenomenal and is definitely a must do for any visitor.
Wall Street Trail
One of the most popular hikes in Bryce Canyon, this is a must do! Wall Street trail starts from Sunset Point and takes you down the canyon for about a mile before intersecting with Navajo trail. The hike down is easy (obviously!) and offers up close views of the Hoodoos.
Navajo Trail
Take the Navajo Trail from Wall Street trail to experience walking among the Hoodoos at the bottom of the Bryce Canyon. A short hike leads to the intersection of Queens Garden trail, which we recommend taking to go back up the canyon to Sunrise Point.
Queens Garden Trail
Queens Garden trail intersects with Navajo Trail (which is where we got on it) and has fantastic views of Bryce Canyon from the bottom up that you normally don’t see in pictures. It’s a mostly flat hike, except when it starts ascending up to the rim of the canyon, heading to Sunrise Point, where it intersects with Rim Trail.
Bryce Scenic Drive
There are many viewpoints in the park that are not covered by the shuttle system. The drive from Visitor Center to Rainbow Point on Highway 63 is 17 miles and is quite scenic. There are several viewpoints along the way that offer different views of the canyon – Ponderosa Point, Agua Canyon, Natural Bridge, Swamp Canyon etc.
Fairyland Point
Fairyland Point is actually the first viewpoint when coming into the park from Bryce but strangely the shuttle does not stop here. (Perhaps because the viewpoint is another 1/2 mile further out from Highway 63 where the shuttle runs).
What Is A Hoodoo?
Where Can I Find Hoodoos?
- You can find hoodoos scattered throughout the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and the Badlands region of the Northern Great Plains. However, Bryce Canyon National Park hosts the highest concentration of them anywhere in the world. You can also find hoodoos in other countries around the world. In the south of France, hoodoos are known as demoiselles coiffées (…
How Do Hoodoos form?
- Hoodoos tend to form in arid badlands with sporadic, heavy rainfall. In these climates, differential weathering and erosion of horizontal rock strata carve out these magnificent towers. But let’s roll back the clock a little. Eons ago, wind and water deposited layers of mud, sand, and silt across the land. In the case of Bryce Canyon, sediments were deposited at the bottom of a huge ancient lak…
The Paiute Story
- The Paiute peoplewho have inhabited the area for centuries have their own origin story for the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. As the story goes, long before the Paiute people lived in the region, the land was inhabited by the To-when-an-ung-wa, or The Legend People. The To-when-an-ung-wa lived too heavily upon the land. They would drink up all of the streams and rivers in spring, leavin…