Little Finland, Gold Butte National Monument. (4-25-22)

A spectacular place in Gold Butte National Monument, southeastern Nevada. The "Finland" is a pun--it has nothing to do with the country, it's because harder layers weather out as fins! (And blades, and ridges, and even more complex shapes.) The rock unit is the Aztec Sandstone, a red sandstone unit that accounts for lots of scenery in this part of the world. It's the same as the Navajo Sandstone in Arizona and Utah--the different name here is from those "historical reasons." The palm trees are California palms, native to the southern part of that state. They're well north of their usual range here, and it's unclear how they got established. They _are_ attractive, in any case!

A spectacular place in Gold Butte National Monument, southeastern Nevada. The "Finland" is a pun--it has nothing to do with the country, it's because harder layers weather out as fins! (And blades, and ridges, and even more complex shapes.) The rock unit is the Aztec Sandstone, a red sandstone unit that accounts for lots of scenery in this part of the world. It's the same as the Navajo Sandsto…  (read more)

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