Hoodoo Voodoo

The hoodoos in Bryce Canyon are a result of a various geological forces starting from 2 million years ago. According to the article "Hoodoos: The Odyssey of an Oddity" found in the Bryce Canyon visitor's guide, "sediment eroded from mountains in northwestern Utah was deposited into a lake, lithified (turned to stone), and later uplifted to be re-eroded into hoodoos."




There are 3 steps in forming hoodoos. First, naturally acidic rainwater dissolves the limestone, creating fins. Then, ice and snow melt during the day and the refreeze at night creates cracks in the fins, making holes or windows. When the windows collapse, the pinnacles, or hoodoos, are formed.





Their spectacular colors come from two types of limestone rocks. The reddish type comes from a more marsh-like environment where plant roots helped oxidize iron to give sediments a red color. In the pink layer, grey layers formed, suggesting that there were ponds in the marsh that were so salty and/or mineralized that only certain bacteria could survive. As for the white top limestone layer, it suggests that eventually the basin transitioned to purer lakes where the less iron-rich limestone was deposited, hence creating these spectacular layers of color.

These hoodoos are amazing reminders of what a tiny speck of time we occupy in the continuum of the life of the earth.