Wingate Sandstone

The Wingate Sandstone is a geologic formation of the Glen Canyon Group on the Colorado Plateau of the southwestern United States, cropping out in northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada and Utah and especially prominent in southeastern Utah, including Capitol Reef National Park, the San Rafael Swell and Canyonlands National Park. It spans the Rhaetian to Hettangian stages, roughly 206 to 199 million years ago, with part of the formation dated to the Late Triassic and its upper section to the Early Jurassic, and it consists of pale orange to red eolian sandstone deposited as wind-blown sand dunes. The Wingate typically underlies the Kayenta Formation and Navajo Sandstone, and together the three can form immense vertical cliffs of 2,000 feet or more.