This park contains more than 2,000 natural arches—the
greatest concentration in the country. But numbers have no significance beside
the grandeur of the landscape—the arches, the giant balanced rocks, spires,
pinnacles, and slickrock domes against the enormous sky.
Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of
southern Utah's extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of
weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the
large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated—29 times
in all—leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and
boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the salt
beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the
overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it, forming it into domes and
ridges, with valleys in between.
Most of the formations at Arches are made of soft red
sandstone deposited 150 million years ago. Much later, groundwater began to
dissolve the underlying salt deposits. The sandstone domes collapsed and
weathered into a maze of vertical rock slabs called "fins." Sections
of these slender walls eventually wore through, creating the spectacular rock
sculptures that visitors to Arches see today.
The land has a timeless, indestructible look that is
misleading. More than 700,000 visitors each year threaten the fragile high
desert ecosystem. One concern is a dark scale called biological soil crust
composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in sandy areas
in the park. Footprints tracked across this living community may remain visible
for years. In fact, the aridity helps preserve traces of past activity for
centuries. Visitors are asked to walk only on designated trails or stay on slickrock
or wash bottoms.
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| Spectacular Night view |
Picture Source: Collected from Internet
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