Natural Bridges National Monument
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Natural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about northwest of the
Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...
boundary of southeast
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, in the
western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
, at the junction of White Canyon and Armstrong Canyon, part of the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
drainage. It features the thirteenth largest
natural bridge A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion fr ...
in the world, carved from the white
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
sandstone of the
Cedar Mesa Formation Cedar Mesa Sandstone (also known as the Cedar Mesa Formation) is a sandstone memberThe Cutler Formation is sometimes classified as the Cutler Group, in which case Cedar Mesa Sandstone is classified as a formation rather than a member. of the Cutle ...
that gives White Canyon its name. The three bridges in the park are named ''Kachina'', ''Owachomo'', and ''
Sipapu A (a Hopi word) was a small hole or indentation in the floor of a (pithouse). Kivas were used by the Ancestral Puebloans and continue to be used by modern-day Puebloans. The symbolizes the portal through which their ancient ancestors first e ...
'' (the largest), which are all
Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
names. A
natural bridge A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion fr ...
is formed through
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
by water flowing in the stream bed of the canyon. During periods of flash floods, particularly, the stream undercuts the walls of rock that separate the meanders (or "goosenecks") of the stream until the rock wall within the meander is undercut and the meander is cut off and the new stream bed then flows underneath the bridge. Eventually, as erosion and gravity enlarge the bridge's opening, the bridge collapses under its own weight. There is evidence of at least two collapsed natural bridges within the Monument.


History

Humans have lived in the area around Natural Bridges since as early as 7500 BCE, as shown by rock art and stone tools found at nearby sites. Around 700 CE ancestors of modern Puebloan people moved to the site, and constructed stone and mortar buildings and granaries. These structures share similarities with those found in Mesa Verde National Park, which can be seen distantly, to the east, from the
Bears Ears The Bears Ears are a pair of buttes located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, United States. They are protected as part of and the namesake of the Bears Ears National Monument, managed by the Bureau of Land Management and United States F ...
on the park's eastern border. Like the people of Mesa Verde, the residents of Natural Bridges seem to have left the region around the year 1270. Europeans first visited the area in 1883 when gold prospector, Cass Hite followed White Canyon upstream, from the Colorado River, and found the bridges near the junction of White and Armstrong canyons. In 1904, the '' National Geographic Magazine'' publicized the bridges and the area was designated a National Monument April 16, 1908 by President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
. It is Utah's first National Monument. The Monument was nearly inaccessible for many decades as reflected by the visitor log kept by the Monument's superintendents. Reaching the site from Blanding, Utah, the nearest settlement, would take a three-day horseback ride. The park received little visitation until after the uranium boom of the 1950s, which resulted in the creation of new roads in the area, including modern day Utah State Route 95, which was paved in 1976.


Geology

The bridges and other features present on the
Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...
today were molded by the processes of erosion. The destructive forces of wind and rain, running water, and freezing temperatures attacked the uplifts as soon as all the tectonic havoc started in the Late Cretaceous. The Colorado Plateau has been uplifted about since the end of the Cretaceous about 66 million years ago. Some of this uplift occurred geologically rapidly. As the rate of uplift increased, so did the rate of erosion. The Colorado River, for example, carved its present course within the last 6 million years. With uplift, streams throughout the Colorado Plateau began to dissect the topography into the landscape we see today with unprecedented vigor, carving the rocks and carrying away the dismantled strata into the landscape we see today. The Monument's elevation ranges up to . The Monument's vegetation is predominantly pinyon-juniper forest, with grass and shrubs (brittle brush, Mormon tea, sage, etc.) typical of high-elevation Utah desert. In the canyons, where there is more water and seasonal streams, riparian desert plants, such as willow, oak and cottonwood trees, thrive. Because the Monument has been closed to grazing for nearly a century, and off-road motorized travel is restricted, Natural Bridges contains extensive areas of undisturbed, mature
cryptobiotic soil Biological soil crusts are communities of living organisms on the soil surface in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. They are found throughout the world with varying species composition and cover depending on topography, soil characteristics, climate, ...
s.


Bridge collapse

Potential bridge collapse is possible at Natural Bridges National Monument, especially along the span of Owachomo Bridge in Armstrong Canyon which is only thick at the crest of its span. Earthquake potential is high along the Moab Fault in nearby Arches National Park, Southeast Utah Group (SEUG). While this and other faults in the Paradox Basin are associated with salt structures, the Colorado Plateau interior does possess a low level of seismic hazard. Ground shaking from earthquakes may impact the bridges at Natural Bridges National Monument causing catastrophic failure of one or more of the bridges.


Attractions

The main attractions are the natural bridges, accessible from the Bridge View Drive, which winds along the park and goes by all three bridges, and by hiking trails leading down to the bases of the bridges. There is also a campground and picnic areas and a visitor center within the park. Electricity in the park comes entirely from a large solar array near the visitor center. In 2007, the
International Dark-Sky Association The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a United States-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician/amateur astronomer. The mission of the IDA is " ...
named Natural Bridges the first International Dark-Sky Park, which is a designation that recognizes not only that the park has some of the darkest and clearest skies in all of the United States, but also that the park has made every effort to conserve the natural dark as a resource worthy of protection. To date, Natural Bridges has the only
night sky The night sky is the nighttime appearance of celestial objects like stars, planets, and the Moon, which are visible in a clear sky between sunset and sunrise, when the Sun is below the horizon. Natural light sources in a night sky include ...
monitored by the NPS Night Sky Team that rates a Class 2 on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, giving it the darkest sky ever assessed. Horsecollar Ruin is an Ancestral Puebloan ruin visible from an overlook a short hike from Bridge View Drive. The site was abandoned more than 700 years ago but is in a remarkable state of preservation, including an undisturbed rectangular kiva with the original roof and interior, and two granaries with unusual oval shaped doors whose shape resembles horse collars (hence the site's name).


Biology

Animal species found in the National Monument include birds such as the pinyon jay, canyon wren, and
turkeys The turkey is a large bird in the genus ''Meleagris'', native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocellat ...
(which were reintroduced by the State of Utah to the table-lands above the Monument) and mammals like rabbits, pack rats,
bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
s,
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...
s, bears, mule deer, and mountain lion. The Monument's pygmy rattlesnakes have been the subject of occasional study; several species of lizard common to southern Utah are abundant. In May 2006, KSL Newsradio reported a case of
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
found in dead field mice and chipmunks at Natural Bridges. Native plant species include willow, cottonwood,
Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
, ponderosa pine,
pinyon pine The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in southwestern North America, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. The trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple food of Native Americans, and widely eaten as a snack and as an ingredient in New ...
,
juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
, grasses, annuals and perennials such as asters, penstemons, buckwheats, and Indian paintbrush, and various shrubs such as dwarf oaks, bayberry, manzanita, buffaloberry, rabbitbrush, blackbrush, brittlebrush, Apache's plume, sage, yucca, and
Mormon tea ''Ephedra'' is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs. The various species of ''Ephedra'' are widespread in many arid regions of the world, ranging across southwestern North America, southern Europe, northern Africa, southwest and central Asia, northern ...
. Invasive species include tumbleweeds, certain thistles, dandelions, and tamarisk. Much of the Monument's ground is covered in communities of cryptobiotic soil crusts, which prevents soil erosion and promotes retention of soil nutrients.


Climate

Natural Bridges National Monument has a cold
semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
( Köppen: ''BSk'') with cold winters and hot summers.


See also

*
Arches National Park Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, a ...
*
Dark Canyon Wilderness Dark Canyon Wilderness is a National Wilderness Preservation System, designated Wilderness Area in the heart of southeast Utah's canyon country, part of the Bears Ears National Monument. The wilderness is named for its high steep walls that narr ...
*
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon i ...
* Manti-La Sal National Forest * Muley Point *
Rainbow Bridge National Monument Rainbow Bridge National Monument is administered by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, southern Utah, United States. Rainbow Bridge is often described as the world's highest natural bridge. The span of Rainbow Bridge was reported in 1974 by ...
*
Bears Ears National Monument Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. The monument protects of public land su ...
*
Hite, Utah Historic Hite is a flooded ghost town at the north end of Lake Powell along the Colorado River in western San Juan County, Utah, United States. Lake Powell, and all of its points of interest, are in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, manage ...


References


External links

* by the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

Information
by AmericanSouthwest.net {{authority control National Park Service National Monuments in Utah Colorado Plateau Natural arches of Utah Protected areas of San Juan County, Utah Parks in Utah Protected areas established in 1908 Dark-sky preserves in the United States 1908 establishments in Utah Natural arches of San Juan County, Utah Geotopes