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Canyon de Chelley

     Canyon De Chelley (actually two tributaries) is located in just east of the small town of Chinle in northeastern Arizona. Tsaile Creek cut the northernmost branch – Canyon del Muerto – or Canyon of the Dead. The Chinle Wash creek cut the largest branch, Canyon de Chelly itself. (The name “de Chelly” is a Spanish corruption of the Navajo word “tségi,” or “rock canyon.”) The two westward-flowing, intermittent streams join forces near the Navajo community of Chinle, where they issue from the canyons and often die in the desert sands. The history of human occupation of the canyon began about 2,000 years ago (but may have been earlier). The Anasazi (pueblo dwellers) lived in the canyons for nearly a thousand years but vanished from the region in the mid 1200s. The modern Navajo peoples migrated into the region after the Anasazi had vanished or migrated elsewhere. For a interesting account of a trip to the canyon and more information about the Anasazi GO TO THIS SITE.
     The oldest (and lowest) sedimentary rock formation in the canyon is the Supai Formation , deposited in Pennsylvanian time (about 280 million years ago) in the era before dinosaurs when the Colorado Plateau region was a hot and humid coastal plain. Today, these dominantly reddish-brown mudstone layers are exposed along the base of the canyon. This formation is also conspicuous in the walls of the Grand Canyon. The massive, high cliffs that form the walls of the canyon are De Chelley Sandstone . The De Chelley Sandstone consists of sand deposited in giant sand dunes in a subtropical to arid environment in Early Triassic time (about 250 to 230 million years ago). The caprock along the canyon consists of a comparitively thin unit of Shinarump Conglomerate. The Shinarump Conglomerate of the lower Chinle Formation is of latest Triassic to Jurrasic age (around 200 million years old) and consists of stream deposited sand and gravel. Another prominant place the Shinarump formation outcrops is along the banks of the Virgin River south of Zion National Park. Younger strata that once covered the region has long since eroded away. The canyon is carved into the Defiance Plateau, a broad, upland surface covered with juniper and pinyon pine in northeastern Arizona. (USGS)
1. Canyon Overlook 2. Canyon Overlook 3. Spider Rock and Canyon 4. White Horse Ruin 5. White Horse Ruin
6. Junction Ruin 7. Horses 8. Mountain Goats 9. Carol & cross beds 10. Carol and River