Upheaval Dome
Upheaval Dome is a circular geological feature in Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County, Utah, about 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Moab. It is roughly 6.2 miles (10 km) across and is less than 170 million years old, dating to the Middle Jurassic or younger. The dome is easy to spot on the surface as light and dark brown concentric rings.
The center of the dome exposes rocks from the Permian period, starting with Organ Rock Shale and overlain by White Rim Sandstone, both sometimes considered part of the Cutler Formation. Above these are Triassic and Jurassic layers, including the Moenkopi, Chinle, Wingate, Kayenta, and the crossbedded Navajo Sandstone. Structurally, the dome is unusual because most Canyonlands rocks are flat; near the center some layers tilt steeply, with dips up to about 70 degrees. A circular syncline surrounds the center, primarily visible in the Navajo Sandstone, about two miles across, and there is an anticline to the north that also follows the circular pattern.
Two main ideas have been proposed about its origin. One says Upheaval Dome is a salt dome formed when buried salt moved upward. The other suggests it is an eroded meteor impact crater, similar to Meteor Crater in Arizona. In the 1990s, a NASA and University of Nevada, Reno team used seismic refraction and rock mapping and supported the impact-crater theory. In 2008, the discovery of shocked quartz, along with other impact-related features, strengthened the meteorite explanation.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:37 (CET).