Remnants of a Frozen Sahara
Remnants of a Frozen Sahara The pale rock you see here is Navajo sandstone. This rock caps the top of the Vermilion Cliffs for more than 80 miles. Navajo sandstone also forms the high canyon walls at Zion National Park. Imagine an enormous Sahara-like desert, full of wind-blown sand dunes, stretching from today’s Wyoming to southern California. Geologists theorize that such a desert became the Navajo sandstone. When covered by a vast inland sea, that desert solidified in place. Minerals like calcium and iron cemented the ancient dunes together. 
Along the Vermilion Cliffs and in Zion National Park the Navajo sandstone formation can be more than 2,000 feet thick.
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Did You Know?
On January 19, 1854, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adopted the Deseret alphabet. The new alphabet consisted of 38 to 40 characters and was developed mostly by George D. Watt. It was an attempt to help simplify spelling in the English Language.