Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the
Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone
butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
s, the largest reaching above the valley floor.
It is located on the
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
-
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
state line, near the
Four Corners
The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...
area. The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...
Reservation, the
Native American people of the area.
Monument Valley has been featured in
many forms of media since the 1930s. Director
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
used the location for a number of his
Westerns; critic
Keith Phipps wrote that "its have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the
American West
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
."
Geography and geology
The area is part of the
Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from above sea level. The floor is largely
siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...
of the
Cutler Group
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.
Descri ...
, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from
iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of wh ...
exposed in the weathered
siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...
. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from
manganese oxide Manganese oxide is any of a variety of manganese oxides and hydroxides.Wells A.F. (1984) ''Structural inorganic chemistry'' 5th edition Oxford Science Publications, . These include
* Manganese(II) oxide, MnO
* Manganese(II,III) oxide, Mn3O4
* Man ...
.
The
butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
s are clearly
stratified
Stratification may refer to:
Mathematics
* Stratification (mathematics), any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols
* Data stratification in statistics
Earth sciences
* Stable and unstable stratification
* Stratification, or st ...
, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is the
Organ Rock Shale, the middle is
de Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the
Moenkopi Formation
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. ...
capped by
Shinarump Conglomerate. The valley includes large stone structures, including the "Eye of the Sun".
Between 1945 and 1967, the southern extent of the Monument Upwarp was mined for
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
, which occurs in scattered areas of the Shinarump Conglomerate;
vanadium and
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
are associated with uranium in some deposits.
Major formations include
West and East Mitten Buttes
The West and East Mitten Buttes (also known as the Mittens) are two buttes in the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in northeast Navajo County, Arizona. When viewed from the south, the buttes appear to be two giant mittens with their thumbs ...
,
Merrick Butte
Merrick Butte is a butte located in Monument ValleyMitten Buttes Quadrangle, Arizona-Utah, 7.5 Minute Series, US Geological Survey, 1738 ed. and is part of the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, similar to its neighbors West and East Mitten Butte ...
, and
Hunts Mesa.
Tourism
Monument Valley includes much of the area surrounding Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, a Navajo Nation equivalent to a
national park
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
.
Oljato, for example, is also within the area designated as Monument Valley.
Visitors may pay an access fee and drive through the park on a dirt road. Parts of Monument Valley, such as Mystery Valley and
Hunts Mesa, are accessible only by guided tour.
Climate
Monument Valley experiences a desert climate with cold winters and hot summers. While the summers may be hot, the heat is tempered by the region's high altitude. Although the valley experiences an average of 54 days above annually, summer highs rarely exceed . Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures
drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Even in the winter, temperatures below are uncommon, though possible. Monument Valley receives an occasional light snowfall in the winter; however, it usually melts within a day or two.
In visual media
Monument Valley has been featured in numerous computer games, in print, and in motion pictures, including multiple Westerns directed by John Ford that influenced audiences' view of the American West, such as: ''
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...
'' (1939), ''
My Darling Clementine'' (1946), ''
Fort Apache'' (1948), ''
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' (1949) and ''
The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...
'' (1956).
Many more recent movies, with other directors, were also filmed in Monument Valley, including Sergio Leone's ''
Once Upon a Time in the West'' (in 1967), the first
Spaghetti Western
The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
to be filmed outside Europe, and
Gore Verbinski's ''
The Lone Ranger''.
In Airwolf: The Movie and the subsequent series, a hollow mesa in Monument Valley was the hiding place for the fictional helicopter. It was referred to as 'Valley of the Gods'.
Gallery
File:Monument Valley Anticipating Sunrise.jpg, Monument Valley before sunrise
File:Mittens and Merrick after Sunset.jpg, West, East Mittens and Merrick Butte after sunset
File:Monument Valley (34283289923).jpg
File:Snow covered Monument Valley sunrise in January.jpg, Snow-covered Monument Valley sunrise in January
File:Monument Valley, 6AM.jpg, Monument Valley West and East Butte at 6 in the morning
File:Sandstorm in Monument Valley, Arizona - Utah, USA.jpg, Sandstorm in Monument Valley
File:Monument Valley, Utah, USA - 23638754781.jpg, Vegetation of Monument Valley
File:Monument Valley, Utah, USA - 23426578800.jpg, Monument Valley landscape
File:Golden_Monument_Valley.jpg, View on the Monument Valley from Hunts mesa
File:Mitten Shadow Event, September 13, 2013.jpg, Mitten Shadow Event, Sept. 13, 2013
Panorama
See also
*
List of sandstones
*
Valley of the Gods
*
Uluru
Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...
*
Goulding's Lodge
References
Further reading
*
External links
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{{Authority control
Native American culture
Buttes of Arizona
Landforms of Apache County, Arizona
Landforms of Navajo County, Arizona
Colorado Plateau
Regions of Arizona
Valleys of Arizona
Rock formations of Arizona
Valleys of Utah
Rock formations of Utah
Regions of Utah
Landforms of San Juan County, Utah
Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America
Protected areas of Apache County, Arizona
Protected areas of Navajo County, Arizona
Protected areas of San Juan County, Utah
Sacred mountains
Sacred rocks
Tourist attractions in Utah
Geography of the Navajo Nation