Turret Arch, one of many natural geological structures in the Windows Area of Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah, USA.
It is one of three arches found in the Windows Secton, a two-square-mile area of Arches N.P. which has many iconic sandstone structures.
A natural arch is “a rock exposure that has a hole completely through it formed by the natural, selective erosion of rock, leaving a relatively intact frame.”
The Natural Arch and Bridge Society
The arches of Windows section formed as the result of erosion through weak parts of sandstone fins.
This web page from the Utah Geological Survey explains why there are so many natural arches in Utah, but in essence it’s a perfect combination of specific compositions of sandstone, a semi-arid climate. an abundance of regional, parallel joint systems or sequences of bedrock fractures and “variability in the mineral cements of many of Utah’s exposed sandstone layers”.
This image is copyright © Liz Leyden, all rights reserved.
It is for sale as wall art or as various home or personal accessories at Pixels.com.
The original photo from which this image is derived is available to license as a Stock Photo from iStock.
This alternative view of Turret Arch is also available to license as a stock photo from my portfolio at iStockphoto.
It is also for sale as wall art and home and personal accessories on Pixels.com.
