Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Arizona's White Pocket, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona











 The White Pocket is an isolated, notoriously hard-to-reach patch of sandstone hidden within the desert expanse of Vermillion Cliffs National Monument near the Arizona/Utah border. The entire area is covered in a gray rocky layer, sometimes only a few centimeters thick, above the red sandstone where the formations heave and drip that makes the entire landscape look like as if it was covered with icing sugar. In some spots the stone layers are completely twisted, just like an enormous marble cake.




The extraordinary geology at White Pocket is not easily explained. Some geologist proclaim that White Pocket is a result of “soft sediment deformation”, meaning the contortions and twisting and turning at White Pocket occurred back in Jurassic time while the sand was saturated and before the sand was completely turned into rock.


















































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