Horseshoe Bend (Arizona)

Last updated
Horseshoe Bend Grand Canyon Horseshoe Bend.jpg
Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, Arizona, United States. [1] It is also referred to as the "east rim of the Grand Canyon." [2]

Contents

Horseshoe Bend is located 5 miles (8 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Page. [1] [3]

It is accessible via hiking a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) round trip from a parking area just off U.S. Route 89 within southwestern Page. [1] The land south of the Bend's parking area, trail, and overlook are on the Navajo Nation territory. [4]

Horseshoe Bend is popular just before sunset, as large groups of tourists make the 1/2 mile long hike down to the overlook point. (2019) Horse Shoe Bend Hike.jpg
Horseshoe Bend is popular just before sunset, as large groups of tourists make the 1/2 mile long hike down to the overlook point. (2019)

Horseshoe Bend can be viewed from the steep cliff above. [5]

The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (1,000 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop. [5]

Geology

Horseshoe Bend is a superb example of an entrenched meander. [1] Six million years ago, [6] [7] the region around Horseshoe Bend was much closer to sea level, and the Colorado River was a meandering river with a nearly level floodplain. Between six [8] [9] and five [1] million years ago, the region began to be uplifted. This trapped the Colorado River in its bed, and the river rapidly cut downwards to produce Horseshoe Bend as we see it today. [1]

The cause of this uplift is still a matter of research. [10] [11] One hypothesis is that uplift was a result of delamination, where the lowest layer of the North American tectonic plate below the Colorado Plateau detached and sank into the underlying mantle. This would have allowed hotter rock from the asthenosphere, the part of the Earth's mantle that underlies its tectonic plates, to rise and lift the overlying crust. [9] Another possibility is that the uplift was the result of heating at the base of the crust. This transformed the lowest crustal rock from eclogite, a relatively dense rock (3.6 g/cm3) to garnet granulite, which is significantly less dense (2.9 g/cm3). This would have produced the buoyant forces needed to uplift the region. [12]

Whatever the cause of the uplift, it resulted in the erosion of up to a mile of overlying sediments from the eastern Grand Canyon. [10] This exposed the Navajo Sandstone, the surface rock found throughout the Horseshoe Bend area, [1] which also forms the entire depth of the canyon walls of the Grand Canyon at Horseshoe Bend. [13] This sandstone is notable for its crossbedding and iron concretions. [1]

The Rincon on Lake Powell in southern Utah. It is an incised cutoff (abandoned) meander. Lake Powell and The Rincon, Utah - NASA Earth Observatory.jpg
The Rincon on Lake Powell in southern Utah. It is an incised cutoff (abandoned) meander.

It is likely that the Colorado River will eventually cut through the neck of the bend, producing a natural bridge like those found at Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah. [1] The river will then abandon Horseshoe Bend, leaving a cutoff meander resembling The Rincon further north along the Colorado River in Utah.

Tourism

For a long time Horseshoe Bend was mostly popular with nearby residents, but the yearly visitor count sharply increased with exposure through social media. [14] Currently the lookout is a major tourist destination with more than 2 million visitors a year. [15] The overlook is now a fee area charging $10 (as of 2021) per vehicle. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Canyon</span> Steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canyon</span> Deep chasm between cliffs

A canyon, gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado River</span> Major river in the western United States and Mexico

The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river, the 5th longest in the United States, drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural Bridges National Monument</span> National monument in San Juan County, Utah, US

Natural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about 50 miles (80 km) northwest 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. It features the thirteenth largest natural bridge in the world, carved from the white Permian sandstone of the Cedar Mesa Formation that gives White Canyon its name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Powell</span> Reservoir in Utah and Arizona, United States

Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It holds 24,322,000 acre-feet (3.0001×1010 m3) of water when full, second in the United States to only Lake Mead - though Lake Mead has fallen below Lake Powell in size several times during the 21st century in terms of volume of water, depth and surface area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of the Grand Canyon area</span> Aspect of geology

The geology of the Grand Canyon area includes one of the most complete and studied sequences of rock on Earth. The nearly 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old. Most were deposited in warm, shallow seas and near ancient, long-gone sea shores in western North America. Both marine and terrestrial sediments are represented, including lithified sand dunes from an extinct desert. There are at least 14 known unconformities in the geologic record found in the Grand Canyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lees Ferry</span> Historical Colorado River ferry crossing

Lees Ferry is a site on the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona in the United States, about 7.5 miles (12.1 km) southwest of Page and 9 miles (14 km) south of the Utah–Arizona state line.

The exposed geology of the Bryce Canyon area in Utah shows a record of deposition that covers the last part of the Cretaceous Period and the first half of the Cenozoic era in that part of North America. The ancient depositional environment of the region around what is now Bryce Canyon National Park varied from the warm shallow sea in which the Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited to the cool streams and lakes that contributed sediment to the colorful Claron Formation that dominates the park's amphitheaters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Plateau</span> Plateau in southwestern United States

The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, southern and eastern Utah, northern Arizona, and a tiny fraction in the extreme southeast of Nevada. About 90% of the area is drained by the Colorado River and its main tributaries: the Green, San Juan, and Little Colorado. Most of the remainder of the plateau is drained by the Rio Grande and its tributaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arizona Strip</span> Part of Arizona north of the Colorado River

The Arizona Strip is the part of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. Despite being larger in area than several U.S. states, the entire region has a population of fewer than 10,000 people. Consisting of northeastern Mohave County and northwestern Coconino County, the largest settlements in the Strip are Colorado City, Fredonia, and Beaver Dam, with smaller communities of Scenic, Littlefield and Desert Springs. The Kaibab Indian Reservation lies within the region. Lying along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon creates physical barriers to the rest of Arizona. Only three major roads traverse the region: I-15 crosses the northwestern corner, while Arizona State Route 389 and U.S. Route 89A cross the northeastern part of the strip, and US 89A crosses the Colorado River via the Navajo Bridge, providing the only direct road connection between the strip and the rest of the state. The nearest metropolitan area is the St. George, Utah, metro area, to which the region is more connected than to the rest of Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cutler Formation</span> Geologic formation in the Four Corners, US

The Cutler Formation or Cutler Group is a rock unit that is exposed 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 epoch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moenkopi Formation</span> Geologic formation in the southwestern United States

The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a group in Arizona. Part of the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range, this red sandstone was laid down in the Lower Triassic and possibly part of the Middle Triassic, around 240 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Canyon Group</span> Group of geologic formations in the Colorado Plateau, USA

The Glen Canyon Group is a geologic group of formations that is spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, north west New Mexico and western Colorado. It is called the Glen Canyon Sandstone in the Green River Basin of Colorado and Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humpback chub</span> Species of fish

The humpback chub is a federally protected fish that lived originally in fast waters of the Colorado River system in the United States. This species takes its name from the prominent hump between the head and dorsal fin, which is thought to direct the flow of water over the body and help maintain body position in the swift currents of the Colorado river. The body is almost entirely scaleless, retaining only about 80 mid-lateral scales along the lateral line. The fish is very streamlined, with a thin caudal peduncle and a deeply forked tail. The back is a light olive gray, the sides silver, and the belly white. The dorsal fin usually has nine rays, and the anal fin 10 or more. Maximum recorded length is 38 cm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Course of the Colorado River</span> Route and confluences of the Colorado River in the United States and Mexico

The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. Its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains where La Poudre Pass Lake is its source. Located in north central Colorado it flows southwest through the Colorado Plateau country of western Colorado, southeastern Utah and northwestern Arizona where it flows through the Grand Canyon. It turns south near Las Vegas, Nevada, forming the Arizona–Nevada border in Lake Mead and the Arizona–California border a few miles below Davis Dam between Laughlin, Nevada and Needles, California before entering Mexico in the Colorado Desert. Most of its waters are diverted into the Imperial Valley of Southern California. In Mexico its course forms the boundary between Sonora and Baja California before entering the Gulf of California. This article describes most of the major features along the river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esplanade Sandstone</span> Geologic unit found in the Grand Canyon

The Lower Permian Esplanade Sandstone is a cliff-forming, resistant sandstone, dark red, geologic unit found in the Grand Canyon. The rock unit forms a resistant shelf in the west Grand Canyon, south side of the Colorado River, at the east of the Toroweap Fault, down-dropped to west, southeast of Toroweap Overlook, and west of Havasupai. The red, sandstone shelf, The Esplanade is about 20-mi long. At Toroweap Overlook region, Toroweap Valley with Vulcan's Throne, Uinkaret volcanic field, the resistant Esplanade Sandstone is described in access routes exploring the Toroweap Lake area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wescogame Formation</span> Geological formation in the Grand Canyon

The (Upper) Late Pennsylvanian Wescogame Formation is a slope-forming, sandstone, red-orange geologic unit, formed from an addition of eolian sand, added to marine transgression deposits, and found throughout sections of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, Southwest United States. It is one of the upper members of the Supai Group 'redbeds', with the Supai Group found in other sections of Arizona, especially in the Verde Valley region, or as a basement unit below the Mogollon Rim, just eastwards or part of the basement Supai Group of the southwest & south Colorado Plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supai Group</span> Section of red bed deposits at the Colorado Plateau

The Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Colorado Plateau. The group was laid down during the Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian. Cliff-forming interbeds of sandstone are noticeable throughout the group. The Supai Group is especially exposed throughout the Grand Canyon in northwest Arizona, as well as local regions of southwest Utah, such as the Virgin River valley region. It occurs in Arizona at Chino Point, Sycamore Canyon, and famously at Sedona as parts of Oak Creek Canyon. In the Sedona region, it is overlain by the Hermit Formation, and the colorful Schnebly Hill Formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Rim Sandstone</span> Geologic formation in Utah, United States

The White Rim Sandstone is a sandstone geologic formation located in southeastern Utah. It is the last member of the Permian Cutler Group, and overlies the major Organ Rock Formation and Cedar Mesa Sandstone; and again overlies thinner units of the Elephant Canyon and Halgaito Formations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shinarump Conglomerate</span>

The Shinarump Conglomerate is a geologic formation found in the Four Corners region of the United States. It was deposited in the early part of the Late Triassic period.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Horseshoe Bend Hiking Guide" (PDF). National Park Service. October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 9, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ "The Truth About Visiting Horseshoe Bend in Page, AZ". Backstreet Nomad. 2019-06-18. Archived from the original on 2020-07-19. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  3. ↑ "Horseshoe Band". yourhikeguide.com. June 11, 2015. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Horseshoe Bend - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Archived from the original on 2020-07-26. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  5. 1 2 "Horseshoe Bend". visitarizona.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ Ranney, Wayne (2012). Carving Grand Canyon : evidence, theories, and mystery (2nd ed.). Grand Canyon, Ariz.: Grand Canyon Association. ISBN   9781934656365.
  7. ↑ Fillmore, Robert (2010). Geological evolution of the Colorado Plateau of eastern Utah and western Colorado, including the San Juan River, Natural Bridges, Canyonlands, Arches, and the Book Cliffs. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 304. ISBN   9781607810049.
  8. ↑ Fillmore 2010, pp. 304–305.
  9. 1 2 Ranney 2012, p. 113.
  10. 1 2 Ranney 2012, p. 110.
  11. ↑ Fillmore 2010, pp. 304–308.
  12. ↑ Fillmore 2010, pp. 305–306.
  13. ↑ Phoenix, D.A. (1963). Geology of the Lees Ferry area, Coconino County, Arizona (Report). Vol. 1137. U.S. Geological Survey. doi: 10.3133/b1137 . Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "Horseshoe Bend New Parking Fees". Arizona Central. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  15. ↑ "National parks officials grappling with high volume as Instagram tourism booms". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  16. ↑ Craven, Scott (August 9, 2018). "How Horseshoe Bend Went Viral and What's Being Done to Manage the Crowds". The Arizona Republic . Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2018.

36°52′46″N111°30′50″W / 36.87944°N 111.51389°W / 36.87944; -111.51389


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.