Capitol Reef # 1

This picture taken from the Scenic Drive Road just South of the Visitor Center in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.  The vivid colors shown here are from impurities in the sedimentary rock acting as pigments.  Iron, called "Nature's Paintbrush", is the most common coloring agent found in Capitol Reef.  Nearly 10,000 feet of sedimentary strata are found here from the Permian period (275 million years ago) to the Cretaceous period (80 million years ago).  Although one is on the Western fringes of the Waterpocket Fold, one can see just how massive this 100 mile long warp in the Earth's crust is.