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Stop 7: Strike Valley

Encounter rock from a long-ago riverbed.

Stop 7: Strike Valley

Reddish sandstone rock from the Moenkopi Formation.

Thin beds of reddish sandstone are river deposits of a vast Middle Triassic floodplain. These rocks of the Moenkopi Formation are softer than underlying sandstones and limestones and overlying sandstones and conglomerates. Thus, they form a “strike valley” between two ridges (cuestas).

A closeup view under a microscope of a thin slice of Moenkopi sandstone.

Moenkopi sandstone at the microscopic level

This page was last updated on: February 11, 2022.