Grand Staircase
November 13, 2013
Photographer: Scott Honodel
Summary Author: Scott Honodel
The top stairs of the Grand Staircase in Bryce Canyon National Park are shown above. Grand Staircase is a regionally huge sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch from the Grand Canyon (lower and oldest layers), north through Zion National Park (middle layers) and finally into Bryce Canyon. The eroded hoodoos in the foreground and mid-ground are the more weather resistant remains of sedimentary mudstones/siltstones of the Claron Formation. Pink and orange colors of this rather recent rock formation are attributable to heavy oxides of iron and manganese. Differential erosion resulting primarily from freeze-thaw cycles helped to shape the fascinating hoodoos, found here below the edge of Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. A ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) clutches a narrow ledge in the foreground at left. Photo taken August 29, 2013.
Photo details: Camera Model: Canon PowerShot A1200; Focal Length: 5mm; Aperture: f/2.8; Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000); ISO equiv: 80.