San Rafael Swell

by Mark Smith

Title

San Rafael Swell

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

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February 23rd, 2014

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