My professor in Sedimentology 101 kept saying 'sandstone is just old beach', but that's only true for some of it.

I finally understood the difference after a field trip to the Navajo Sandstone outcrops near Moab, where seeing the massive cross-beds made it clear this was a desert dune system, not a shoreline deposit.

3 comments

3 Comments

robin_roberts8418d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that reminds me of a trip to the desert where I got totally lost trying to find a trailhead. All that sand looks the same after a while!

troy83218d ago

Wait you went into the desert without marking your start? That's asking for trouble. I'd be freaking out after like ten minutes of everything looking the same.

holly71318d ago

Oh I've been there! Always bring a real compass, not just your phone. Mark your starting point with something tall like a hiking pole with a bright bandana tied on it. That way you can look back and spot your marker from a distance.