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Geological Formations

Wahweap Hoodoos

Erosional and Karst Formations

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The Wahweap Hoodoos stand along the base of the cliffs on the west side of Wahweap Creek, in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument about 5 miles north of the small settlement of Big Water, Utah. They are carved from soft, fast-eroding Entrada sandstone that appears grey, light brown, pale green or pure white, and they began forming more than 100 million years ago. As a hoodoo forms, a hard caprock protects the softer sandstone column beneath it, so where cracks allow erosion to reach the softer rock the pillar wears away except under its resistant cap; the Wahweap towers range from broad and short to tall and slender, some topped by dark sandstone blocks and others by unusual purple conglomerate boulders. This entity documents the Wahweap Hoodoos specifically as a geological formation.

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