Natural Bridges National Monument
Natural Bridges National Monument
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Sipapu Natural Bridge |
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location | near Blanding , San Juan, Utah, USA | |
surface | 30.9 km² | |
WDPA ID | 1041 | |
Geographical location | 37 ° 37 ′ N , 109 ° 59 ′ W | |
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Setup date | April 16, 1908 | |
particularities | since 2006 International Dark Sky Park Gold , DSAG class 2a |
The Natural Bridges [ ˈnætʃrəl ˌbrɪdʒɪz ] (German natural bridges ) are a national monument in San Juan County in the US state of Utah . They are located on the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau in White and Armstrong Canyon .
Three natural stone bridges - Sipapu , Kachina and Owachomo - were carved out over millions of years by sudden spring tides in the otherwise relatively dry, around 150 m deep stream bed. Anasazi Indians used the upper rocky ranks in the canyon for settlement until around 700 years ago. Remnants of this settlement can be seen during a circular hike in the canyon.
In 2002, 100,000 visitors came to the protected area.
As of March 6, 2006, the natural monument was also recognized as a light protection area by the International Dark Sky Association as International Dark Sky Park (IDSP, in gold), the first of its kind worldwide. Since then it has also been called Natural Bridges International Dark Sky Park .
See also
Web links
- National Park Service: Natural Bridges National Monument (official site; English)
Individual evidence
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↑ International Dark-Sky Park Designation (Gold Tier) - Natural Bridges National Monument Nomination Package ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2007 (pdf, darksky.org; 2.2 MB);
Dark Midnight Skies , nps.gov;
Jeffrey G. Olson: Natural Bridges named the world's first international dark-sky park , National Park Service, nps.gov, April 5, 2007.