The Geologic Story of Arches National Park: Geological Survey Bulletin 1393Lohman, Stanley William
Science
The Geologic Story of Arches National Park: Geological Survey Bulletin 1393
Lohman, Stanley William
Arches National Park (Utah); Geology -- Utah -- Arches National Park -- Guidebooks
[Illustration: “BABY ARCH,” just southwest of Sheep Rock in
Courthouse Towers area. For details, see text. (Fig. 15)]
Before giving examples of arches in each of the three classes, it is
appropriate to remark that the arches and other erosion forms in the
park represent but a fleeting instant in geologic time. Many of the
pinnacles or piles of rock may be the broken remains of former arches,
and many of the arches we see may be gone tomorrow, next year, or a few
hundreds of years and, certainly, before many thousands of years. On the
other hand, many new arches will form by the processes described above
as the geologic clock ticks on.
[Illustration: BROKEN ARCH, reached by a ½-mile trail leading
northward across field that separates Fiery Furnace from Devils
Garden. White thin-bedded unit at top is the Moab Member, which
rests upon the massive salmon-colored Slick Rock Member. Opening is
59 feet wide and 43 feet high. (Fig. 16)]
Examples of Arches
Tunnel Arch (fig. 14) is a good example of an arch eroded entirely
within the massive Slick Rock Member. Just southwest of Sheep Rock (fig.
31) is an unnamed opening in the lower part of the Slick Rock Member
which I call “Baby Arch,” because it is one of the newest ones visible
from the park road (fig. 15). It is only 25½ feet wide and 14 feet high
and penetrates a wall 14 feet thick. Note that the breakthrough probably
began along the prominent recessed bedding plane at the base of the
arch. Its youthfulness is also indicated by the sharp, angular breaks in
the ceiling and by the pile of freshly fallen rocks. Some visitors have
asked park personnel why they have not cleared away such debris! Despite
its youthfulness, the ceiling has already taken on the shape of an arch.
Broken Arch (fig. 16) was formed near the top of the Slick Rock Member
and is strengthened and protected by the more resistant overlying Moab
Member, which forms the upper half of the span. The crest is only 6 feet
thick at the thinnest point and is not broken as the name seems to
imply.
Double Arch (fig. 17), “one” of the most beautiful in the park, is in
The Windows section near the east end of the road. The southeast arch,
which is 160 feet wide and 105 feet high, is the second largest in the
park, but the west arch measures only 60 feet wide and 61 feet high. In
common with most arches in The Windows section, these two arches of the
Slick Rock Member rest upon bases of the weak, easily eroded Dewey
Bridge Member. More rapid erosion of the Dewey Bridge undercut the
arches and hastened their development.
[Illustration: DOUBLE ARCH, in The Windows section. (Fig. 17)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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