National park of the Arches - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Located in Utah, in the west of the the United States, the national park of the Arches ( Arches National Park ) is known for its formidable concentration of natural rock arches.

Some figures

Many listed natural arches: approximately 2000 whose opening is equal or higher than one meter.
Surface of the park: 310 km ²
Altitude: between 1245 meters and 1723 meters
Precipitations annual averages: 250 mm (desert climate)
the temperatures are contrasted because of altitude
practicable Routes: 34 km

Geological genesis

150 million years ago, with the Jurassic era, of thick layers of sand settled. A sea indeed recovered the current plate of Colorado. With time, some petrified and formed thick layers of sandstone. These layers of sandstone ochers (Entrada Sandstone and Navajo Sandstone) then eroded by the wind, the rain, freezing and the sun like by the movements of the Faille of Moab.
erosion continues and modifies unceasingly the landscape: in 1991, a block of 18 meters on 3 meters crumbled under Landscape arch.
a natural arch is a geological formation which resembles a bridge. It is formed by erosion of a cliff due to the sea, a river, the wind, the rain and freezing. These eroding agents dig a fault or a hole in the wall and widens it until a piece falls and forms an arch.
the development of the arches is done in several stages:

1 - Phase of development: Is characterized by a relatively small opening in the “sandy mass”.
2 - maximum Stage of the development: characterized by an arch low thickness.
3 - destructive Phase: collapse of the arch, it does not remain that the base of the arch.

History of the site

the first traces of human presence in the current park date from the end of the last glaciation, there is more than 10.000 years. The archeologists found vestiges of the first tribes: arrows, tools out of stone… The first indices of the agricultural activity go back only to approximately 2000 years before the Christian era: corn, beans and of pumpkins. One can thus suppose that the population of the time was sedentary. They lived certainly in dwellings similar to those of the Pueblos (Mesa Verde) even if there are of them no vestiges. On the other hand, one could find Pétroglyphe S. the Paiute Indians then replaced them. They left drawings on rocks representing of the scenes of hunting.

the first Europeans come in the area were Spaniards. Denis Julien, an American of French origin, left an inscription on a rock of the park: “Denis Julien, June 9,1844”. In 1855, a colony of Mormons is established in current Moab. But they must leave the places because of the animosity of the Utes Indians. At the end of the 19th century, stockbreeders, farmers and gold diggers definitively settled in the area. Towards 1898, a veteran of the civil war, John Wesley Wolfe installs a ranch, of which there remain vestiges.
Alexander Ringhoffer made known the area to classify it “national park”. In 1929, the president Herbert Hoover signed the act of creation of Arches National Monument in order to preserve the geological formations. It is in 1971 that the Congress changed its statute to make a national park of it. Finally during the mandate of Bill Clinton, it was increased (1998).

Natural curiosities

Delicate Arch : The most photographed of the 2000 arches of the park. The inhabitants of the area initially called it “breeches of teacher”, then “breeches of old maid” and finally “legging of cowboy”. Become the symbol of Utah: it is found drawn on the number plates, the stamps. The relay of the Olympic torch of the plays of 2002 passed below. Its name was allotted to him by Frank Beckwith during one of its forwardings in 1933-1934. Its age is estimated at 70.000 years and its life expectancy would be from 10 to 15.000 years. This is why, in the years 1950, the administration of the park had thought of protecting it from erosion by a plastic transparent coating. But the idea was quickly abandoned.
Park Avenue : At the entry of the park, one crosses Park Avenue and his cliffs similar to the skyscrapers of the famous avenue of New York. A scene of the film Thelma and Louise was turned to this place.
Balanced Rock'n'roll : A rock which holds in balance.
Double O Arch : Two arches located one beside the other
Landscape Arch : She is in Devil' S Garden (the garden of the devil), the greatest concentration of arches of the park. With its 89 meters length, with 32 meters above the ground, Landscape Arch is the largest natural arch of the world. At the meanest place, its width is of 3,35 meters and its thickness from only 1,80 meter.

Comic fact: During the initial attribution of the names of the arches, the person who was in responsibility of place the panels of the arches in front of those was mistaken and reversed the names of Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch , from where the fact that their name does not correspond to their morphology.

Strange

The first scene of the film Indiana Jones and the last crusade were turned here.

A scene of race in the desert of Star Wars Episode I took as a starting point this park.

Vegetable and animal lives

This part of Utah is a desert, which does not prevent the life from developing in forms varied and adapted to the natural constraints.

Flora

On the surface of the desert, the lichens, algae and mushrooms are necessary for the protection of the rocks against erosion and to the growth of the plants. When the rain falls, the desert covers wild flowers. The other vegetable formations are connected with the bush: bushes, cactus, yuccas adapt to the aridity and the salinity of the ground.

Fauna

The majority of the mammals which populate the park are night (10 species of bat like Mollossidae). However some species leave at the end of the day: small reptiles (lizards, snakes), Roe-deer S, Fox S, Coyote S, Porcupine, Puma S, hares, squirrels… In the sky, one can observe the blue Geai and the Golden eagle (273 species listed in the park). The evening one can hear the song of thousands of frogs.

List of some animals of the park of the arches:

Mammalian: Felis concolor (puma), Vulpes macrotis and Urocyon cinereoargenteus (fox), Ovis canadensis netsoni (Canadian Moufflon), Antilocapra americana
Birds: eagles: Pandion hahaetus , Haliaeetus leucocephalus , Guiraca caerulea , Pipilo erythrophthalmus , Catherpes mexicanus , Sayornis saya , Amphispiza bilineata , Sternella neglecta , Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus , Aphelocoma coerulescens , Dendroica nigrescens .
Amphibians: Rana pipiens , Hyla arenicolor , Ambystoma tigrinum
Reptiliens: Cnemidophorus tigri , Sceloporus magister , ATU stansburiana , Crotalus oreganus concolor , Crotalus viridis , Masticophis taeniatus , Thamnophis elegans .

animals of the park:

Random links:

Zacharie (pope) | Teatina scraped | Leonardo studio | Uccle | 500 miles of Indianapolis 1979