Monument Valley is a region of the
Colorado PlateauThe Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. The province covers an area of 337,000 km2 within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico,...
characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone
butteA butte is a conspicuous isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; it is smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landform tables. In some regions, such as the north central and northwestern United States, the word is used for any hill...
s, the largest reaching 1000 ft (304.8 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the northern border of
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
with southern
UtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
(around 36°59′N 110°6′W), near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the
Navajo NationThe Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163.
Geography and Geology
The area is part of the
Colorado PlateauThe Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. The province covers an area of 337,000 km2 within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico,...
. The floor is largely
siltstoneSiltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...
of the
Cutler FormationThe Cutler is a rock unit that is spread across the U.S. states of Arizona, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. It was laid down in the Early Permian during the Wolfcampian stage. In Arizona and Utah it is often called the Cutler Group but the preferred USGS name is Cutler...
, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from
iron oxideIron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from
manganese oxideManganese oxide is a generic term used to describe a variety of manganese oxides and hydroxides. It may refer to:* Manganese oxide, MnO* Manganese oxide, Mn3O4* Manganese oxide, Mn2O3* Manganese dioxide, , MnO2...
.
The
butteA butte is a conspicuous isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; it is smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landform tables. In some regions, such as the north central and northwestern United States, the word is used for any hill...
s are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is
Organ Rock shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, the middle
de Chelly sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and the top layer is
Moenkopi shale capped by
Shinarump siltstone. The valley includes large stone structures including the famed Eye of the Sun.
Between 1948 and 1967, the southern extent of the Monument Upwarp was mined for
uraniumUranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
, which occurs in scattered areas of the Shinarump siltstone;
vanadiumVanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...
and
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
are associated with uranium in some deposits (see
Uranium mining in ArizonaUranium mining in Arizona has taken place since 1918. Prior to the uranium boom of the late 1940s, uranium in Arizona was a byproduct of vanadium mining of the mineral carnotite.-Carrizo Mountains:...
).
In media
Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s. It is perhaps most famous for its use in many
John FordJohn Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
films, including
Stagecoach and
The SearchersThe Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
. It has also been featured in the
Robert ZemeckisRobert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
film
Forrest GumpForrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
and, most recently, was featured in the popular
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television show
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in the two episodes
The Impossible Astronaut"The Impossible Astronaut" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 23 April 2011 in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States...
and
Day of the Moon"Day of the Moon" is the second episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 30 April 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the...
.
Tourism
Monument Valley is officially a large area which includes much of the area surrounding
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, a Navajo Nation equivalent to a
national parkA national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
.
OljatoOljato-Monument Valley is a census-designated place in San Juan County, Utah, United States. The population was 864 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Oljato-Monument Valley is located at ....
, for example, is also within the area designated as Monument Valley.
Visitors can pay an access fee and drive through the park on a 17 miles (27.4 km) dirt road (a 2-3 hour trip). Tours are also available, and the fee varies between about $40 and $100 per person depending on the services provided and route. There are parts of Monument Valley which are only accessible by guided tour, such as Mystery Valley and
Hunts MesaHunts Mesa is a rock formation located in Monument Valley, just south of the border between Utah and Arizona in the United States and just west of the border between Arizona's Navajo County and Apache County...
.
Horseback rides are also available from various establishments both inside the park and in the general Monument Valley area, and rates vary widely depending on the length of the ride. Rides may be only an hour, or overnight camping trips. Additionally, hot air balloon flights are available May 1 through October 31, and small airplane flights are sometimes available.
Monument Valley is part of the Grand Circle, which includes the
Grand CanyonThe Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
,
Mesa VerdeMesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. It was created in 1906 to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world...
,
Bryce Canyon National ParkBryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon which, despite its name, is not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau...
, Zion Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef,
Natural Bridges National MonumentNatural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about north west of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah, in the western United States, at the junction of White Canyon and Armstrong Canyon, part of the Colorado River drainage...
, Hovenweep,
Arches National ParkArches National Park is a U.S. National Park in eastern Utah. It is known for preserving over 2000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations....
, and many other attractions.
Monument Valley panoramics
External links