Antelope Canyon, A Real Jurassic Park

Following up on the previous post, I am adding a few close-ups of the Navajo Sandstone in Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. The beautiful slot canyon lies within the Navajo Nation, and is a tribal park. The upper canyon is known by the Navajo name Tse' bighanilini, which means "the place where water runs through rocks", while the lower canyon is referred to as Hasdestwazi, or "spiral rock arches."

Crossbedding occurs in dunes as sand is carried up and over the crest and cascades down the lee slope (the "slipface"). The layers form with a distinct slope, at variance with the usual horizontal nature of sediments. The size of the sand grains varies with windspeed, and erosion brings out the those variations, as seen in the pictures above.

The Navajo Sandstone is a beautiful rock...