Falls at the Lower Emerald Pool in Zion National Park, Utah
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Zion National Park, Utah
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2008. All Rights Reserved
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- Search LEARN NC for Colorado Plateau, Emerald Falls, Emerald Pools, geology, hanging garden, hiking, Lower Emerald Pool, Mukuntuweap National Monument, National Monument, national parks, plants, sandstone, Utah, Virgin River, William Howard Taft, and Zion National Park.
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The falls at Lower Emerald Pool in Zion National Park, Utah. The falls drop over a rock cliff stained with desert varnish past several small trees and shrubs. The Lower Emerald Pool trail follows the North Fork of the Virgin River and is shaded by cottonwood and box elder trees. The mist from its falls and moisture from the rock walls supports lush hanging gardens in the rock crevices around the pool. This pool is more popular than the Middle Pools and Upper Pool, due to the ease of its trail. Moss and algae make the water of these pools a deep green, hence the name, “Emerald Pools.”
The area was protected as Mukuntuweap National Monument by President William Howard Taft in 1909 and was later renamed Zion National Park. Zion is located on the Colorado Plateau, but borders the Basin and Range Province. Elevations in the park range from 3,600 to 8,700 feet, allowing for a wide range of animal and plant life, all of which are adapted to the area’s arid conditions. Elevation differences and geologic processes such as tectonic uplift, erosion, and sedimentation have created environments ranging from high plateaus and riparian environments to deserts and deep sandstone canyons. The park is located in Washington, Iron and Kane Counties in southwestern Utah.
