Picture of the week

The Cosmic Ashtray

Found at a remote section within the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  I visited this location as part of a canyoneering exploration of some nearby slot canyons in the Red Breaks area.

A quite unusual sandstone formation reminicent of the "Alcove" within the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument south of the "Wave" (see the last image below).  The formations are similar and look to have been shaped in a similar manner; Originally from water carving out the side of a petrified dune, and has since become a trap of sands that collect in the bowl, swirling around its edges.  When first seeing this formation, I thought the orange material at the bottom of the bowl was water and mud, but on a more careful inspection shows it to be sand.  Interestingly, the sandstone rock at the middle of this bowl when viewed from the side looks like a giant petrified alien head.