| On a drive thru the Valley of Fire State Park on 03/22/2012, I spotted this grouping of weather worn hole on a rock outcropping just outside the Visitor Center. Almost everywhere you look you in this park you find rock that is punctuated with holes. These holes are called “Wind Holes”. Over thousands of years the sandstone, weakened by weathering, often develops small pits which are then enlarged by the action of wind and water. As the moisture dissolves away the minerals that cement the sand grains together, winds whirl the loosened sand within the pit, literally sand-blasting the holes. Though it’s not Halloween yet, I thought the image above looked like a carved Halloween pumpkin. Connie was the one who came up with the name, “Stone Fright”. |
