Great White Throne, Zion National Park, Utah

The Great White Throne rises more than 2400′ above the floor of Zion Canyon, and is visible from much of the scenic drive running through the canyon. The Zion Canyon Shuttle stops at a view point for the Great White Throne and the nearby Organ. There are no trails to the top of the Great White Throne, but it is a magnificent white topped monolith and perhaps the most famous of all Zion National Park landmarks. The structure is composed of white Navajo Sandstone, and it is one of the world’s largest sandstone bodies. The top of the Great White Throne is white, but the base is red. One theory is that at one time the Navajo was a huge petroleum reservoir. As the sandstone began to be exposed through erosion, the oil and gas escaped, along the way erasing the red sandstone pigments through chemical reduction.

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