Geology

Bryce Canyon was not formed by a river, but water helped expose the canyon's millions of years of geological history.

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Geology Details

Bryce Canyon was formed by water, but it's not really a canyon but rather the eroded edge of the Bryce Plateau, aided by frost wedging and chemical weathering. As with a canyon cut by a river, however, erosion has revealed the long geological history of this part of Utah. The rock layers found in Bryce Canyon range from the late Cretaceous Period to the middle of the Cenozoic period and include Dakota Sandstone and Tropic Shale. The famous hoodoos of the Bryce Amphitheater are part of the Claron Formation, colorful sedimentary rock deposited here by streams and lakes between 63 and 40 million years ago. Geological uplift created vertical joints that exposed the Claron Formation to erosion: the Pink Cliffs of the formation were more easily eroded and became the hoodoos, while the more resistant White Cliffs eroded into monuments. The soft limestone of the hoodoos is protected by "cap stones" of harder rock that slows the erosion of the columns and also provides the "heads" of these human-like formations. Like the formations found in Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon are part of the Grand Staircase, a huge area of sedimentary rock raised 5,000 to 10,000 feet by tectonic uplift. Of these, Bryce Canyon has the youngest rocks.

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