by The American Geosciences Institute Friday, December 29, 2017
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This locality in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone exhibits soft-sediment deformation that occurred after deposition, possibly by a submarine landslide. Groundwater bleaching here has leached color from the sandstone and weathering has broken the surface into polygons.
It lies east of a more famous undulating outcrop of the Navajo Sandstone, and both fall within the bounds of the same colorfully named national monument near the border of Utah and Arizona.
Getting to this remote spot is not easy: You must drive for an hour and a half through deep sand, turning at corrals and farmhouses, watching for washouts and crossing cattle gates (close them behind you!). The national monument has no services, so visitors must be prepared.
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Answer: White Pocket, a formation in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument near the border of Utah and Arizona, exhibits soft-sediment deformation that occurred after deposition, possibly by a submarine landslide. Photo by Gregg Beukelman.
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