Sandstone Wave, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah

This wave-like formation adorns the crest of the Cockscomb Monocline in the Paria Canyon watershed of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This monocline (uplift) was created by an underground fault which did not break the surface during the Laramide Orogeny which created the Rocky Mountains to the east beginning about 60 million years ago. This geologic feature is actually the northern end of the Kaibab uplift which forms the high plateaus of Grand Canyon over 100 miles to the south. The Navajo Sandstone is exposed along much of its length and thanks to varying degrees of hardness within the rock has eroded into a bizarre variety of forms, such as this standing wave.