1. Slot Canyon Definition

Coordinates: 37°25′41″N110°58′52″W / 37.428°N 110.981°W

Red Breaks Slot – Big West Fork The Big West Fork of Red Breaks, located off of Harris Wash, can be accessed from Hole in the Rock Road, east of Escalante, Utah, in Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument.

The Canyons of the Escalante is a collective name for the erosional landforms created by the Escalante River and its tributaries—the Escalante River Basin. Located in southern Utah in the western United States, these sandstone features include high vertical canyon walls, numerous slot canyons, waterpockets (sandstone depressions containing temporary rainwater deposits), domes, hoodoos, natural arches and bridges. This area—extending over 1,500 square miles (3,885 km²) and rising in elevation from 3,600 ft (1,097 m) to over 11,000 ft (3,353 m)—is one of the three main sections of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and also a part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, with Capitol Reef National Park being adjacent to the east.

Geography[edit]

The headwaters of the Escalante River are located on the slopes of the Aquarius Plateau, in Utah's Garfield County, just west of the town of Escalante. The Escalante River begins at the confluence of Birch Creek and North Creek,^[1] with the flow of Pine Creek added just below the town.^[2] The river runs a total distance of 80 mi (130 km) from the Birch/North Creek confluence before emptying into the Colorado River in Kane County.^[3] The lower section of the river, southeast of Coyote Gulch, is now beneath the surface of Lake Powell.

Numerous side canyons also feed the main river, accounting for the large size of the basin. From the west, the major tributaries are Harris Wash, Twentyfive Mile Creek, Coyote Gulch, Fortymile Gulch, and Fiftymile Creek, along with the smaller Phipps, Fence, Scorpion, Davis, Clear, and Indian Creeks. Most of these larger creeks flow from the top of the Kaiparowits Plateau or from the base of its eastern edge, the Straight Cliffs Formation. An even greater number of tributaries flow in from the north and east, including Death Hollow and Calf Creeks, the combined Boulder and Deer Creeks, The Gulch, Wolverine and Silver Falls Creeks, and Choprock, Moody, Stevens, and Cow Canyons. Streams from the north flow from Boulder Mountain, while those from the northeast originate in the Circle Cliffs area, near the Waterpocket Fold in Capitol Reef National Park.

Geology[edit]

The sandstone layers now exposed in the Canyons of the Escalante were deposited during the Mesozoic era, 180 to 225 million years ago,^[4] when this area was part of a large area of sand dunes. Near the end of the Cretaceous period, about 80 million years ago, the entire western section of North America entered an era of uplift and mountain-building, an event known as the Laramide orogeny. More recently, additional uplift formed the Colorado Plateau province. These episodes of uplift raised the Aquarius Plateau to the extent that there were strong erosional forces acting on the Escalante River Basin. Wetter climates during the recent ice ages of the Pleistocene period contributed to deep cutting of the canyon walls.

Sandstone exposed in canyons nearer to the Colorado River are typically from the Glen Canyon Group. The dark red cliffs of Coyote Gulch, for example, are composed of Navajo Sandstone. The lighter sandstone domes of Dance Hall Rock and Sooner Rocks are formed from the higher Entrada sandstone layer. Due to tilting of layers throughout the area, sandstone exposed at higher elevations near the town of Escalante (e.g. Deer Creek) may actually be from a lower layer, Wingate Sandstone.^[5]

Gallery[edit]

• Zebra Canyon

• Stevens Arch, near the mouth of Coyote Gulch

• Neon Canyon

• Calf Creek Canyon

• Spooky Gulch

• Peek-a-Boo Gulch

See also[edit]

• Geology of the Bryce Canyon area - to the west of the basin
• Geology of the Capitol Reef area - to the east of the basin
• Hole in the Rock Trail - unpaved access road to the canyons
• Utah State Route 12 - only paved highway through the basin

References[edit]

1. ^'Escalante River Watershed Water Quality Management Plan (PDF)'(PDF). deq.utah.gov. Millennium Science & Engineering, Inc. and Pocket Water Inc. August 26, 2005. p. 8 (of PDF; page 4 of original document). Archived(PDF) from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
2. ^USGS topo map
3. ^'Groundwater Discharge from the Navajo Sandstone in the Escalante Basin'. ut.blm.gov. BLM. n.d. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
4. ^Escalante Canyon at utah.com
5. ^Geologic Map of Capitol Reef National Park and vicinity (large PDF)

Bibliography[edit]

• Hiking the Escalante, by Rudi Lambrechtse (1985), ISBN0-915272-27-X
• Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau, by Michael R. Kelsey (1995), ISBN0-944510-11-6
• Canyons of the Escalante, Trails Illustrated Map (1994), ISBN0-925873-98-5

External links[edit]

• Escalante Canyon at Utah.com (archive)

Slot Canyon Definition

A slot canyon is a long, narrow, deep and tortuous channel or drainageway with sheer rock walls that are typically eroded into either sandstone or other sedimentary rock. A slot canyon has depth-to-width ratios that typically exceed 10:1 over most of its length and can approach 100:1. The term is especially used in the semiarid western United States, including the Colorado Plateau region. Slot canyons are subject to flash flooding and commonly contain unique ecological communities that are distinct from the adjacent, drier uplands.^[1] Some slot canyons can measure less than 1 metre (3 ft) across at the top but drop more than 30 metres (100 ft) to the floor of the canyon.

Many slot canyons are formed in sandstone and limestone rock, although slot canyons in other rock types such as granite and basalt are possible. Even in sandstone and limestone, only a very small number of streams will form slot canyons due to a combination of the particular characteristics of the rock and regional rainfall.

• 1Slot canyons around the world

Slot canyons around the world[edit]

Slot canyons are found in many parts of the world, predominantly in areas with low rainfall. Some of the best-known slot canyons are to be found in the Southwestern United States. Other significant areas include the Sierra de Guara in northern Spain, the Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain, and the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia.

Australia[edit]

The largest known area of slot canyons in Australia is in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. They occur in a narrow band of sandstone that runs roughly 30 kilometres (19 mi) from east to west, and about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from south to north. The majority of these canyons are in the Wollemi Wilderness, and are difficult to access. A small number are regularly visited by canyoners on weekends in summer. The Grand Canyon, near Blackheath, has a tourist track along its rim, but requires abseiling (rappelling) or swimming to visit fully.

Sandstone slot canyons can also be found in a few more remote parts of Australia, including Karijini National Park and the Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park, both in Western Australia, and Carnarvon Gorge in Queensland.

United States[edit]

Southern Utah has the densest population of slot canyons in the world with over one thousand slot canyons in the desert lands south of Interstate 70.^[2] Utah's slot canyons are found in Zion National Park at The Narrows, along Canyonlands National Park's Joint Trail, throughout Capitol Reef National Park, within the San Rafael Swell and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, especially along the Escalante River drainage including Coyote Gulch. Many more slot canyons are located on public Bureau of Land Management and state-owned lands in southern Utah, in areas surrounding the aforementioned parks and monuments. Buckskin Gulch—one of the longest slot canyons in the world—begins in southern Utah and continues into northern Arizona within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Northern Arizona also has a high concentration of slot canyons including Antelope Canyon and Secret Canyon, which are two of the most famous slot canyons located near Page on land owned by the Navajo Nation. Slot canyons are also located in the valley between U.S. Route 89 and the Vermilion Cliffs in Arizona, and can be seen as one descends into the valley on U.S. 89, but these are on the Navajo reservation and are closed to the public. The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument's slot canyon trail in New Mexico is unique as it was carved into tuff (volcanic ash). In California, several slot canyons are located within Death Valley National Park.

Drowning danger[edit]

Local as well as distant storms can cause dangerous flash flooding in slot canyons, and hikers should not enter them if there is any sign of rain in the surrounding area.^[3] In many slot canyons, it can be miles before a safe exit or rescue is possible.

On August 12, 1997, eleven tourists, including seven from France, one from the United Kingdom, one from Sweden and two from the United States, were killed in Lower Antelope Canyon by a flash flood.^[4][5] Very little rain fell at the site that day, but an earlier thunderstorm had dumped a large amount of water into the canyon basin, seven miles upstream. The lone survivor of the flood was tour guide Francisco 'Poncho' Quintana, who had prior swift-water training. At the time, the ladder system consisted of amateur-built wood ladders that were swept away by the flash flood. Today, ladder systems have been bolted in place, and deployable cargo nets are installed at the top of the canyon. A NOAA Weather Radio from the National Weather Service and an alarm horn are stationed at the fee booth.^[6]

Gallery[edit]

• The Siq and Al-Khazneh (the Treasury), Petra, Jordan

• Taminaschlucht, Tamina River, Switzerland

• The Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah

• Kasha-Katuwe, New Mexico

• The Great Channels, Virginia

References[edit]

1. ^ This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of Agriculture document: 'Soil Survey of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Area, Parts of Kane and Garfield Counties, Utah'(PDF). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. p. 305. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
2. ^Zion slot canyons
3. ^'Safety Tips'. blm.gov. Bureau of Land Management. 2016-03-24. Archived from the original on 2016-09-30. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
4. ^'Flash Flood Antelope Canyon'. Retrieved 2006-03-20.
5. ^'Antelope Canyon'. Archived from the original on 17 March 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-20.
6. ^Kramer, Kelly (2008). 'Man vs. Wild'. Arizona Highways. 84 (11): 23.

External links[edit]

Media related to Slot canyons at Wikimedia Commons