Taken together, these layers reveal a picture of a planet Earth that is forever changing on a time scale beyond human comprehension. A layer of shale contains the relics of a swampy river floodplain ruled by dinosaurs and giant trees. A section of sandstone tells the story of wind-blown dunes from a time that was even drier than it is today. A band of limestone might indicate the presence of an inland sea complete with colorful reefs. Each layer represents a different environment that existed here in the past. The area is a virtual layer cake of rock miles thick, a celebration of sandstones, mudstones, shales, salts, and limestones all stacked one upon another. Simply put, another answer to the question “Why?” is, “So nature can make room for something else.”Ĭonsider this: Arches National Park contains a lot of rocks. Beyond the sadness or sense of loss that the collapse might evoke, there is a realization that something will eventually fill the void where Wall once stood. Whatever the immediate cause, though, there is also a more hidden dimension to the incident worth considering. Perhaps that was the night that nature wedged off one piece of rock or sand grain too many. In the case of Wall Arch, that breaking point was August 4. It’s a bit like sucking on a mint or a candy cane: it slowly dissolves in your mouth but will usually break up into pieces before it’s completely gone.
Eventually there wasn’t enough of this cement left to withstand the pull of gravity, and so the whole structure finally came crashing down. For countless eons, rain, ice, and groundwater slowly but relentlessly ate away at the natural calcium “cement” holding the arch’s sand grains together. Erosion and gravity reign supreme over sandstone. So when the remains of the ancient arch were found resting peacefully on the Devils Garden hiking trail the next morning, it came as no surprise that the main question surrounding the collapse was “Why?” And, most notably, it was still there on August 4 when everybody went to bed. It was still holding strong when the Declaration of Independence was being signed in 1776. It stood defiantly while the mighty Roman Empire was collapsing an ocean away. It was already curving gracefully when the Egyptian pyramids were still under construction. After all, Wall Arch had spanned a 71-foot gap in the rock since time immemorial.
0 kommentar(er)
