San Rafael Swell #219
by Mark Smith
Title
San Rafael Swell #219
Artist
Mark Smith
Medium
Photograph
Description
—The San Rafael Swell landscape reveals a geological history laid bare through millennia of upheaval and erosion. The geologic history of the San Rafael Swell area began 40 to 60 million years ago when a massive uplift formed a geologic antic line. This bulge in the earth’s crust eventually eroded to leave high mesas, deep canyons, domes, spectacular arches, and spires. The terrain varies from the sheer cliffs and dazzling canyons to more gently carved badlands broken by shallow washes. The fins and folds of the San Rafael Reef jut through the southeast side of the area with dramatic sheer-walled cliffs, pinnacles, the knobs of Goblin Valley, twisted canyons, and valleys of stunning colors. Few canyons can compare to the entrenched, narrow gorges of the Black Boxes of the San Rafael River which twists and turns through the San Rafael Swell. At the Head of Sinbad, water flows to the north, south, east, and west
Uploaded
February 20th, 2014
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