Broad, tilted terraces form the Grand Staircase. From the south the terraces step up in great technicolor cliffs: Vermilion, White, Gray, Pink. Together these escarpments expose 200 million years of the earth's history in a dramatic geologic library.
A step north, the nearly unbroken line of the White Cliffs is composed of Jurassic sand dunes solidified into Navajo sandstone. It was formed by the deposition of sand in ancient sand dunes. This step is most easily seen in the Escalante and Calf Creek areas. Above the White Cliffs, the younger, shaley Gray Cliffs present a softer profile. Deposited when an ocean covered the land, they contain evidence of marine life: seashells, shark's teeth, and beds of coal from compressed swamp and marsh plants. This step is seen in the central portion of the Monument, especially along the Hole-in-the-Rock Road. At the top of the Grand Staircase, the limey siltstone Pink Cliffs were deposited by an ancient freshwater lake and now lie mostly in Bryce Canyon National Park. This last step was formed as mud, silt and limestone were deposited in a series of lakes. In this staircase of cliffs and terraces, the Paria River and its tributaries have carved a landscape of isolated mesas, valleys, buttes, and narrow canyons easily seen around the town of Tropic. |
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The deep, brilliant
red Moenkopi sandstone of the Vermilion Cliffs, with their flared bases of Chinle
badlands, contain many fossils of fish and early dinosaurs from the Triassic Period. This
step is easy to see near Kanab, Utah (at the southern edge of the monument).