Grand vista at Goosenecks State Park
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Moab, Utah
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2008. All Rights Reserved
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- Search LEARN NC for Colorado Plateau, geology, gooseneck, Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Goosenecks State Park, incised meander, meander, Moab, rivers, San Juan River, tectonic uplift, and Utah.
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A visitor to Goosenecks State Park stands on a rocky ledge looking at the river below. The Goosenecks of the San Juan River are a good example of incised (or entrenched) meanders. Meanders form when a waterway of any size erodes sediment from the outer banks and deposits it on the inner banks, forming serpentine, tortuous curves. Incised meanders occur when the area around a waterway experiences later tectonic uplift. The San Juan, for instance, formerly flowed on a fairly level plain. The Colorado Plateau began to rise, and as it rose, the river continued to erode the underlying rock and sediment layers, creating deep, curving valleys.
