EPOD - a service of USRA
The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.
Dance Hall Rock and Tafoni
February 24, 2023
TomMc_EPOD.DancehallRockTom (004)
TomMc_EPOD.TafoniWithinTafoniDanceHallRock2022 (003)
Photographer: Thomas McGuire
Summary Author: Thomas McGuire
In 1879 a group of 236 Mormons answered the call to trek 200 miles
(320 km) from their homes in southwestern Utah eastward across
partially explored high desert to populate the San Juan River
Valley. They had selected an unexplored “shortcut” to avoid an extra
hundred miles of travel.
This natural alcove (top photo), called Dance Hall Rock, provided a
place for the travelers to rest and to re-purpose themselves as scouts
looking for a way to access the Colorado River, more than 1,000
feet (305 m) down a sheer cliff. They found a cleft in the rock where
they had to chisel and dynamite an extremely steep and narrow ascent;
so steep that both wagons and horses had to be lowered separately on
ropes to the river below. After nearly a year of treacherous travel,
they arrived two persons stronger than they left with no fatalities and
two babies born along the journey.
The alcove probably resulted from a layer of resistant, Jurassic
aged Entrada sandstone, including many tafoni (bottom photo),
overlying less resistant sandstone layers that over time had been
hollowed out by wind and rain. Photos taken on May14, 2022
Dance Hall Rock, Utah Coordinates: 37.357151, -111.100474
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More...
Geography Links
* Atlapedia Online
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* GPS Visualizer
* Holt Rinehart Winston World Atlas
* Mapping Our World
* Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
* Types of Land
* World Mapper
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