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Matt Ginnow Matthew Ginnow #mattginnow #matthewginnow

Last light falls on Delicate Arch. 

At Arches National Park in Utah, a park with over 2,000 arches, Delicate Arch stands out as a geologic celebrity…a real ROCKstar. 🌟

Water shapes these rocks more than any other force. Rain erodes the rock and carries sediment down washes and canyons to the Colorado River. In winter, snowmelt pools in fractures and other cavities, then freezes and expands, breaking off chunks of sandstone. Small recesses develop and grow bigger with each storm. Little by little, this process turns fractured rock layers into fins, and fins into arches. 

Over time, the same forces that created these dazzling arches will continue to widen them until they collapse. Standing next to a monolith like Delicate Arch, it’s easy to forget that arches are not permanent and we are so lucky to be alive during their moment in geologic time. 

Photo by Jeff Brunton (sharetheexperience.org) Photo description: A large stone arch rises up from layered rock as a pink sunset sky fades into the background. 

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Matthew Ginnow Matt Ginnow #mattginnow #matthewginnow

People peer through a natural window in the castellated cliffs above the river in White Cliffs, Montana, 1971. Photograph by Volkmar K. Wentzel, National Geographic Creative

Matthew Ginnow Matt Ginnow #mattginnow #matthewginnow