The Mittens at Sunrise, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona, USA

Sunrise behind West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte and Merrick Butte, The Mittens at Sunrise, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona,... more

by Neale And Judith Clark

Title

The Mittens at Sunrise, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona, USA

Artist

Neale And Judith Clark

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Sunrise behind West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte and Merrick Butte, The Mittens at Sunrise, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona, USA

Monument Valley Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii meaning valley of the rocks is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona–Utah state line (around 36°59′N 110°6′WCoordinates: 36°59′N 110°6′W), near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163
Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s. Director John Ford used the location for a number of his best-known films and thus, in the words of critic Keith Phipps, "its five square miles [13 square kilometers] have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West
The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 m) above sea level. The floor is largely siltstone of the Cutler Group, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.

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 facing inwards.

The Mittens are about 0.6 mi (0.97 km) from the Arizona–Utah state line and West Mitten Butte is 1.1 mi (1.8 km) northeast of the park headquarters. The summit of West Mitten Butte is 6,176 ft (1,882 m) and East Mitten Butte is 6,226 ft (1,898 m) in elevation. The Mittens form a triangle with Merrick Butte about 2⁄3 mi (1.1 km) to the south and, with Sentinel Mesa, a more extensive plateau, towards the northwest.

The buttes are made of three principal rock layers. The lowest layer is Organ Rock Shale, the middle is de Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the Moenkopi Formation, capped by Shinarump Conglomerate.


Alamy ref: 2DXM6GK

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December 24th, 2020