White Mesa Arch Sunrise - Navajo Nation Arizona

This White Mesa Arch spans 53 feet wide and towers 84 feet. The sandstone layers of this natural arch consists of white limestone and varying strata of red, white, yellow and pink sandstone, referred to as ‘Navajo sandstone.’

The Navajo Sandstone consists of thick layers of cross-bedded sandstone formed by windblown sand dunes in a vast ancient desert. In the early Jurassic, the climate of the Colorado Plateau dried significantly, creating desert conditions over a broad region. The Navajo Sandstone is the result of the largest known sand desert in the history of our planet, which covered the area of today’s Colorado Plateau and beyond.