Sandstone Erosion

Southern Utah's scenery is based largely on erosion. Most of the rock is soft sedimentary, with sandstone predominant. A good 150 days a year feature freezing and thawing. If a little water wedges into a seam in the sandstone, the freeze/thaw cycle forms amazing patterns in the rock. Hole patterns such as this are not unique to this area; you can see them in many other places, including Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Australian outback.The result is surrealistic art.

In addition to erosion, shifts in the earth's crust have tilted many of the sandstone layers...but not all. The result is stratified rock lying at crazy angles. More surrealistic art.

This is a common pattern in the canyons of Capitol Reef. Water collects in a seam between layers of sandstone. When it freezes, it expands in pockets all along the seam. The result is a straight line of holes in the rock.