Balanced Rock: Arches National Park

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N/S ? ??.??? W/E ??? ??.???  [] In Utah, United States

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Balanced Rock in Arches NP is a striking erosional feature, carved by wind, water, and ice wedging, from two members of the Entrada Formation. The upper, the Slick Rock member, is relatively resistant to erosion. The lower, the Dewey Bridge member, is eroded more easily. That difference leads to the formation of balanced rocks and spectacular arches in Arches National Park.

Directions:

Enter Arches NP from Highway 191 north of Moab. Follow the road and signage to the turnout near the posted coordinates. It is a short hike on a well marked path up a gentle grade to the base of the feature.

Objectives:

1. To understand how balanced rocks are formed;
2. To be able to identify the Navajo and Entrada Formations within Arches NP.
3. To be able to describe “ice wedging” as an erosional process.

Educational Requirement: To get credit for this EarthCache you must email us your answer to any one of the Study Questions and let us know how many people were in your party.

Study Questions [Azimov-Rated]:

1. College-Bound AP As you travel through the Park try to identify rock formations that might someday become balanced rocks. Post a picture of such a formation, along with its lat-lon coordinates.
2. College-Bound AP What differences do you see between the Navajo and the Entrada formations?
3. Freshman What differences do you see between the Slick Rock and Dewey Bridge members of the Entrada Formation?
4. Freshman What is the difference between mechanical weathering and chemical weathering? What is “ice wedging”? Which processes are operating here?
5. Graduate What is a cap-rock? How are balanced rocks like inverted valleys? Hint:
6. Ph.D. How would carbonic acid accelerate the erosion of sandstone? See Link Hint: What “cements” the grains of sand?

Links and Resources:

Weathering (Wikipedia)

More Weathering

Additional Hints ( No hints available ) 

(Decrypted Hints)

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Logged Visits ( 345 total. Visit the Gallery (148 images) )

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Cache Logs

October 23 by Landondena (753 found) Came to Moab, UT from Cincinnati, OH. Today we went to Arches National Park to see some of the great arches and Balance Rock. We found everything would could imagine and hope for in a Western National Park. Thanks for doing these Geocaches and highlighting the beautiful scenery!! Landon [view this log] IMG_3402

October 21 by Cariboubous (96 found) TFTC. Out caching with Dumpa. Will send email with answers. [view this log]

October 19 by 2spacecadets (1124 found) We were camping in Arches and also spent some time in the Fiery Furnace. We love this area and are happy to take a stab at the PhD question. E-mail on its way. TFTeC. [view this log]

October 15 by JohnnyCacheAz (11333 found) Another EarthCache we found while on tour of Arches. [view this log]

October 14 by superkato (96 found) Found it with opjim: he sent the email [view this log]

Current time: 11/22/2009 3:24:48 AM
Last Updated: 11/6/2009 2:57:08 PM
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum