Hoodoos

Erosion causes solid rock to break into fins, then windows form and break down into hoodoos.

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Hoodoos Details

Hoodoos, the distinctive, human-like rock formations of the Bryce Amphitheater, are the stuff of legend: the Paiute Indians believed that they were the remains of the "Legend People" turned to stone by the trickster spirit Coyote. Geologists offer a different explanation. Millions of years ago, an ancient basin slowly accumulated sediment rich in calcium carbonate, which hardened into limestone. When tectonic forces later thrust this rock layer -- known as the Claron Fourmation -- upward, it was exposed to erosional forces. The Claron Formation consists of two types of limestone rock, known as the Pink Cliffs and the White Cliffs. The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon are made up of the more erosion-prone pink limestone, while the white limestone erode more slowly. That helps explain why the tall narrow hoodoos are all pink, while the broader monuments in the area tend to be white. As the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, the Bryce Canyon area broke off and began a long sink into the Great Basin. The Bryce Amphitheater, home to the hoodoos, sits right at the edge of this breaking point. In fact, Bryce Canyon isn't a canyon at all, since it was not formed by a river: instead, the hoodoos and the park's other features were formed by freezing and thawing plus the action of acidic rainwater, which dissolves limestone. Expanding ice causes cracks and fractures in the rock, and as rain washes away debris, fins are formed. Windows then form in the fins, and when these collapse, the pinnacles known as hoodoos are created. Harder stone "caps" sit on top of the fins, somewhat protected the bodies of the hoodoos and lending them a human appearance.

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