The Pink Cliffs are a series of highly dissected cliffs on the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

, and

Kane Kane or KANE may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Fictional entities *Kane (comics), the main character of the eponymous comic book series by Paul Grist * Kane (''Command & Conquer''), Tiberium universe character in the ''Command & Conquer'' ...

counties in southwestern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Contrary to the implication of the name, the cliffs are not a single set of rock formations, but actually a

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

that manifests itself in multiple sets of rock formations.

Description

The cliffs form a large number of unique rock formations, many of which are protected by either the

Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along ...

or the

Cedar Breaks National Monument Cedar Breaks National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the U.S. state of Utah near Cedar City. Cedar Breaks is a natural amphitheater, stretching across , with a depth of over . The elevation of the rim of the amphitheater is over ...

. Most of the other formations are located within the

Dixie National Forest Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres (8,000 km2) and stretches for about across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it ...

Geologically Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

the cliffs are pink- and red-colored Claron Formation

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

s, forming the upper riser of the

Grand Staircase The Grand Staircase is an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretches south from Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, through Zion National Park, and into Grand Canyon National Park. C ...

(which descends southward to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

). The Pink Cliffs, as well as the other layers of the Grand Staircase, were named by geologist

Clarence Dutton Clarence Edward Dutton (May 15, 1841 – January 4, 1912) was an American geologist and US Army officer. Dutton was born in Wallingford, Connecticut on May 15, 1841. He graduated from Yale College in 1860 and took postgraduate courses there until ...

in the 1870s. While it is not an uncommon belief that the extent of the Pink Cliff is limited to the Bryce Canyon National Park area (being one of the best and most popular areas to view the cliffs), geographically, the cliffs actually extend well beyond the national park, forming a rough, but wide, "U" shape that spans three counties. The westernmost part of the cliffs are located on the western edge of the

Markagunt Plateau Markagunt Plateau is a volcanic field in southern Utah, United States. Formed in a region of older volcanics, it consists of several cinder cones and associated lava flows. Some of the lava flows feature lava tubes such as Mammoth Cave, while ot ...

(mostly within Cedar Breaks National Monument) in southeastern Iron County and the easternmost part of the cliffs are located on the southeastern edge of the

Paunsaugunt Plateau The Paunsaugunt Plateau (pronounced "PAWN-suh-gant") is a dissected plateau, rising to an elevation of , in southwestern Utah in the United States. Located in northern Kane County and southwestern Garfield County, it is approximately wide, and ...

in southwestern Garfield County (mostly within Bryce Canyon National Park). From the national monument on the west, the cliffs wrap south around the southern edge of the Markagunt Plateau (roughly along the border of the

) and run just south of Navajo Lake in northeastern Kane County. After being bisected by the Long Valley and the valley of

Kanab Creek Kanab Creek ( ) is one of the many tributaries of the Colorado River. It begins in Kane County, Utah, just south of the drainage divide, watershed to the Great Basin and flows south to the Colorado River. The stream headwaters arise at at an el ...

, the cliffs wrap around the southern and southeastern edges of the Paunsaugunt Plateau and extend north through and just beyond the national park.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Pink Cliffs Bryce Canyon Cliffs of Utah Sandstone formations of the United States Colorado Plateau Geology of Utah Landforms of Garfield County, Utah Landforms of Iron County, Utah Landforms of Kane County, Utah Bryce Canyon National Park Cedar Breaks National Monument Dixie National Forest

Description

See also

References

External links