The Narrows (Zion National Park)

The Zion Narrows ( Zion bottlenecks ) are a sequence of narrow canyons of the Virgin River in Zion National Park in southwest Utah. There are layers of rock breakthroughs through the soft Navajo sandstone, which were created from the river over millions of years. The Narrows have a length of 26 km and passable at low tide walking on the Riverside Trail.

Geography

The Virgin River is formed from two source rivers, the East Fork Virgin and the North Fork Virgin. The Narrows are made from North Fork Virgin, which rises in Kane County, Utah, in 2800 m height and initially flows in a westerly direction. After about 18 km the river reaches the Chamberlain 's Ranch, which provides access to the trail through the canyon. After three kilometers, he crossed the border to Zion National Park, where it forms a 150 m deep canyon. In this area there are about 3.5 m high waterfalls, the North Fork Falls. Six kilometers further at the mouth of Deep Creek gorge is already 400 m deep and the river bends to the south. From here the canyon is flat and wide, the sandstone walls are only 10 to 30 meters high and have trees on both sides. After another four miles to Big Spring, the canyon narrows again, the walls are higher and the actual Narrows begin. From the west, the only temporary water leading Orderville Canyon opens into the Narrows. The canyon is now on both sides of the river vertical sandstone cliffs and ends after six kilometers and numerous bends. Two kilometers south of the river passes the Temple of Sinawava and reaches the 400 to 800 m wide Zion canyon features soaring sandstone formations on both sides, reach a height up to 730 m above the canyon floor.

Geology

As in the Tertiary large lakes covered the North American continent, to sedimentary deposits of different thickness formed, preferably including the Navajo sandstone. This will light yellowish depending on lighting conditions, orange, red to purple. The entire area in southwestern Utah is part of the Grand Staircase, the most important layer is made of soft Navajo sandstone and is responsible for the many canyons in the area. The underlying harder Kayenta layer prevents further erosion of the canyon floor.

The Navajo Sandstone is relatively porous and permeable. The Kayenta formation, however, is less leaky. Rain and melt water seeps slowly from the canyon rim down until it hits the impermeable Kayenta Formation and is laterally derived. Finally, it occurs at the foot of the sandstone wall as a source or leachate to the outside. Such springs and seeps are frequently encountered in Zion National Park. These are typically alkaline and contain a significant proportion of dissolved calcium and other minerals. They are rock deposits that are called tuff and are very often found at the river bank and later on the Rock. Everywhere in Zion Canyon, the sources and seeps are responsible for the lush Hanging Gardens, as Weeping Rock.

The North Fork of the Virgin River rises near Cascade Falls in Cedar Breaks National Monument, a 2,800 m high. Together with its tributaries it performs on his way to the southwest masse sediment with it, which are deposited in the Narrows and further downstream, even up to 300 m below Lake Mead in about 320 km away. This normal flow of water caused only 10 percent of erosion during flood (flash floods ) in spring and heavy rain make up 90 percent during thunderstorms.

About 16 km south of the northern boundary of the National Park begin the Narrows, an impressive gorge that has cut deeply into the Navajo sandstone of the river. The erosion of the relatively soft sandstone is located 1.5 km upstream of the mouth of Orderville Canyon particularly spectacular. Here the canyon is only partially a width of five meters at the Canyon floor and a height of around 300 meters.

History

The Anasazi inhabited the area from about 500 to 1200 AD and left cliff dwellings and rock paintings in the entire National Park. After that, there were members of the Southern Paiute, an Indian tribe from the cultural area of ​​the Great Basin. Today Paiute Indians come occasionally for religious reasons in the park, but also to collect rare plants. The Mormon Nephi Johnson was led by a Paiute Indians to Zion Canyon in 1858 and was probably the first white man who got the Narrows to face. 1861 and 1862 the towns of Virgin and Springdale were south of the present national park founded by Mormons. The following year, Isaac Behunin built a hut in the upper Zion Canyon to farm there in the summer a farm and was the first white settler in the canyon. After 1863 settled numerous other farmers the canyon. In the early 20th century David Flanigan ran a transport system in the canyon to create wood from the forests in the amount to around 650 m deep canyon floor.

1872 Coming researched John Wesley Powell and the geologist Grove Karl Gilbert of the Grand Canyon, the entire region, which they examined on behalf of the U.S. government and mapped. They passed the first horse to the Narrows and called the Zion Canyon Mukuntuweap (straight Canyon ) because they thought it would be the Paiuteausdruck for this canyon. 1909 signed by President William Howard Taft issued a proclamation for the protection of Zion Canyon and the surrounding area. The first road to Zion Canyon was opened in 1917. Under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson, the sanctuary was enlarged, renamed in 1918 in Zion National Monument and received a year later, the status of a national park. In the early years of tourism to Zion National Park, visitors could cross the Narrows on horseback. From 1960, the hiking on the Riverside Trail through the Narrows became popular.