Link to USGS home page
USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS
Coastal & Marine Geology InfoBank

USGS CMG InfoBank: Past Deserts

Skip navigational links
Search InfoBank
Home tab FACS tab Activities tab Atlas tab Geology School tab More tab More tab Geology School tabs
   
Dictionaries: The USGS and Science Education   USGS Fact Sheets   Topics   Keywords   Data Dictionary   Metadata Dictionary   Computer Terminology   Digital Formats
InfoBank Terms: Activity ID   activity overview   crew   formal metadata   lines   metadata   NGDC   port stops   project/theme   region   ship   stations   time   virtual globe   year  
Data Types: bathymetry   geodetic positioning   gravity   ground penetrating radar   imagery   LIDAR   magnetics   metering equipment   navigation   samples   seismic   definitions disclaimer  
Data Formats: ARC coverage   E00   FGDC metadata   gridded/image   imaging   material   scattered/swath   Shapefile   vector/polygon  
   
Comment: 07:38 - 08:29 (00:51)

Source: Annenberg/CPB Resources - Earth Revealed - 22. Wind, Dust and Deserts

Keywords: "Southwestern United States", desert, "fossil dune", "Grand Canyon", sandstone, "Zion National Park", "cross-bedding", oxidation, iron, "dry land", plant, animal, fossil, forest, "geologic time", "plate tectonics", orogeny, mountain, "rain shadow"

Our transcription: In the Southwestern United States, too, there's evidence of a once widespread desert that existed 200 million years ago.

Fossil dunes are preserved in the upper wall of the Grand Canyon and in the sandstones of Zion National Park.

The buried surfaces of the shifting sand dunes appear as crisscrossing sets of beds.

Their large size and coloration from the oxidation of iron show that they formed on dry land.

Since that time, plant and animal fossils indicate that this region became moist and forested.

But in recent geologic time conditions have become dryer in response to plate motions, mountain building, and the development of rain shadows.

Geology School Keywords

Skip footer navigational links


InfoBank   Menlo Park & Santa Cruz Centers   St. Petersburg Center   Woods Hole Center   Coastal and Marine Geology Program   Geologic Information   Ask-A-Geologist   USGS Disclaimer  

FirstGov button   Take Pride in America button