This clause first appeared in Issue 3 of our free digital magazineCURIOUS .
The Grand Staircase is a 160 - kilometer ( 100 - mile ) reach of sedimentary rock that was first conceptualized by geologistClarence Duttonin the 1870s . Dutton saw it as an huge stairway that at one final stage rises out of the Grand Canyon and at the other reaches up to a gamy tableland upon which sitsBryce Canyon National Park , representing a little sliver in the final step of this epic,200 - million - year - oldformation .
Bryce Canyon ’s emergence began around50 million year agowhen part of Utah were still covered in an ancient lake and floodplain system during which time level of sediment began to amass . As the acres dried up and the layers were place to the area ’s geologic record book , the tableland was uplifted by home plate architectonics , exposing the alternating layers of rock made up of different durability and colorations .
Sat atop the Grand Staircase, Bryce Canyon is a veritable theme park for geology fans. Image credit: John A. Anderson/Shutterstock.com
Bryce Canyon ’s rocks arrest limestones , dolostones , mudstones , siltstone , and sandstones . As weathering broke down these layer at different rates , erosion stripped the weak parts aside until , eventually , they carved out hoodoos : a geological term used to describerock spirescarved out by born forces .
chicken feed and rainfall are the key sculptors to give thanks for the astonishing foundation that is Bryce Canyon National Park , now home to the greatest concentration of hoodoos on Earth . The extreme elevation of the canyon is part to blame , putting it at a height where freezing temperatures are experienced for more than half of the twelvemonth .
The invariant freeze and thawing of pee in the rock results in what ’s screw as “ ice wedging ” , where H2O turning to ice expands and break the rock and roll apart . These breaks often start as walls , then become holes , and later morph into fetish .
deal ice and freezing temperatures have been so pivotal in Bryce Canyon ’s formation , it ’s a germ of concern for geologist as to what might happen to the realm in the face of the mood crisis . With freeze - thaw days apparently on the decline , warm temperatures could efface Bryce Canyon ’s iconic hoodoos . However , fiddling research has been done on the theme and , as Clare Crise reason for theNational Park Service“without the skill , we can not hope to call or adapt to climate change ’s impacts on them . ”
How to get there
The closelipped flight destination is Cedar City Regional Airport , which is or so a two - hour drive from Bryce Canyon National Park . For international flight , Las Vegas and Salt Lake City airports are effective choice .
