 EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes
and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and
archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


 Slickrock: A Rock Surface, A Town, and A Geological Unit

   December 21, 2021

    Tom_EPOD.SlickrockGlenCanyonDamLakePowell (003)

    Tom_EPOD.SlickRockMember (002)


   Photographer:  Thomas McGuire

   Summary Author:  Thomas McGuire

   The word slickrock has several meanings; all of them can be associated
   with the American Southwest. Slickrock is a name applied to places
   where the early settlers found it difficult to travel because of the
   sandstone rock surfaces where horses and the metal-rimmed wheels
   couldn’t get safe traction. But hikers and vehicles with rubber tires
   find them anything but “slick. In fact, the slickrock area above Moab,
   Utah, is world renowned for its challenging and sinuous,
    roller-coaster mountain bike trails over the  Navajo Formation
   slickrock surface.

    Slick Rock is also a community in southwestern Colorado. That
   community has given its name to the lowest member of the  Entrada
   Sandstone formation.

   The photo above shows the photographer looking out over  slickrock
   sandstone country, approximately 0.5 mile (0.8 km) west of the  Glen
   Canyon Dam, near Page, Arizona. The stratigraphic positions of the
   photograph and of the Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone are
   shown on the stratigraphic diagram (below), which gives the relative
   ages of mapable geologic formations. These sandstone formations
   resulted from geologic history’s greatest erg (sea of sand), created
   during the  Jurassic Period, some 200 million years ago.
     * Glen Canyon (0.5 miles west), Arizona Coordinates:  36.932167,
       -111.499872

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Geology Links

     *  Earthquakes
     *  Geologic Time
     *  Geomagnetism
     *  General Dictionary of Geology
     *  Mineral and Locality Database
     *  Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness
     *  This Dynamic Earth
     *  USGS
     *  USGS Ask a Geologist
     *  USGS/NPS Geologic Glossary
     *  USGS Volcano Hazards Program

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   Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the  Universities
   Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu
 
