Close Up View Of The Vermilion Cliffs In Arizona

The Vermilion Cliffs are the second "step" up in the five-step

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 ...

of 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 ...

, in northern

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 ...

and southern

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 ...

in the southwestern United States. They extend west from near

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

, Arizona, for a considerable distance, in both Arizona and Utah. of the region were designated as the

Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness The Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is a National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness area located in northern Arizona and southern Utah, United States, within the arid Colorado Plateau region. The wilderness is composed of broa ...

in 1984. An even greater area was protected within

Vermilion Cliffs National Monument Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is located in northern Coconino County, Arizona, United States, immediately south of the Utah state line. This national monument, in area, protects the Paria Plateau, Vermilion Cliffs, Coyote Buttes, and P ...

in 2000.

Geology

The Vermilion Cliffs are composed of the resistant red sandstone beds of the Lower Jurassic Moenave and Kayenta Formations. They are made up of deposited

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

and desert dunes, cemented by infiltrated

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...

s and intensely colored by red

iron oxide An iron oxide is a chemical compound composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Ferric oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of which is rust. Iron ...

and other minerals, particularly bluish

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

. They are in the physiographic High Plateaus Section and Canyon Lands Section of the Colorado Plateau Province.

History

The Vermilion Cliffs were on an important route from Utah to Arizona used by settlers during the 19th Century. The area was explored by the

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

pioneer and missionary

Jacob Hamblin Jacob Hamblin (April 2, 1819 – August 31, 1886) was a Western pioneer, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and a diplomat to various Native American tribes of the Southwest and Great Basin. He a ...

, who started a ranch at the base of the cliffs in House Rock Valley. Present day U.S. Highway 89A basically follows the old wagon route past the cliffs through House Rock Valley and up the

Kaibab Plateau The Kaibab Plateau is a plateau almost entirely in Coconino County, Arizona (but extending slightly north into Kane County, Utah) in the Southwestern United States. The high plain is also known as the Buckskin Mountain, Buckskin Plateau, and Ka ...

to Jacob Lake. Famous locations in the cliff area include

Lee's Ferry Lees Ferry (also known as Lee's Ferry, Lee Ferry, Little Colorado Station and Saints Ferry) is a site on the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona in the United States, about southwest of Page and south of the Utah–Arizona state l ...

Glen Canyon Glen Canyon is a natural canyon carved by a length of the Colorado River, mostly in southeastern and south-central Utah, in the United States. Glen Canyon starts where Narrow Canyon ends, at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Dirty ...

and the

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 Canyo ...

, The Wave,

Coyote Buttes Coyote Buttes is a section of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It spans extreme south-central Utah and north-central Arizona, south of US 89 halfway between Kanab, Utah and Page, Ariz ...

, and others.

Geography

Reddish or

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

-colored cliffs are found along U.S. Highway 89A near

Navajo Bridge Navajo Bridge is the name of twin steel spandrel arch bridges that cross the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon National Park (near Lees Ferry) in northern Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The newer of the two spans carries vehicular t ...

, and may be seen from

U.S. Highway 89 U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern sectio ...

close to Bitter Springs. Highway 89A runs alongside the Vermilion Cliffs for most of its route between Jacob Lake and

Marble Canyon Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for riv ...

, and offers a great view of the cliffs. In the spring, after a good winter rain, the valley between Highway 89 and the Vermilion Cliffs will be covered with a carpet of

desert mallow Desert mallow is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Sphaeralcea ambigua'' *''Sphaeralcea fulva ''Sphaeralcea fulva'', commonly known as desert mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to n ...

and other spring flowers. In the image below, Highway 89A is atop the yellow rocks capping the first step of the series, the

Chocolate Cliffs The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a Geological unit, group ...

, and will turn east (to the right) upon entry to the valley below, ultimately crossing the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

via the

References

External links

Bureau of Land Management Condor viewing.
– Condor viewing in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument {{authority control Cliffs of Utah Colorado Plateau Cliffs of Arizona Geology of Arizona Geology of Utah Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Landforms of Kane County, Utah

Geology

History

Geography

See also

References

External links