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| This view shows the Bears Ears in the Manti LaSal National Forest to the northeast of Natural Bridges National Monument. The Bears Ears consist of erosional remnants of the Wingate Sandstone. The Wingate Sandstone is a massive cliff-forming sandstone deposited in ancient coastal sand dune environments that covered much of the Colorado Plateau Region in latest Triassic to early Jurassic time (between about 220 to 200 million years ago). The Wingate Formation forms a prominent escarpment pretty much everywhere it is exposed in the Colorado Plateau. It forms massive cliffs throughout Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks. In the foreground, mixed pinyon, juniper , and Gamble Oak forests cover the mesa top created by the dense and erosionally resistant slickrock of the Cedar Mesa Sandstone. |
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