Sound of Silence Trail Stop 5

Nugget Sandstone formed from windblown sand dunes in a vast desert.

NPS Photo/Dan Johnson

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Scenic View/Photo Spot

The rounded bluffs of Nugget Sandstone towering above you are remnants of a vast desert that once covered much of what is now the western United States. Thin diagonal layers called cross-beds formed as wind blown sand dunes moved across the desert 200 million years ago. The steep fronts of these dunes were hundreds of feet high. Trace fossils in the Nugget Sandstone include the tracks of scorpions, spiders, and Brasilichnium, an early relative of mammals. Bones from an early Triassic dinosaur have also been found in this rock layer.