Coyote Buttes
{{Short description|Rock formation in Coconino County, Arizona, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
Image:South-coyote-buttes-magic-crest.jpg
Coyote Buttes is a section of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It spans extreme south-central Utah and north-central Arizona, south of US 89 halfway between Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona.
It is divided into two areas: Coyote Buttes North and Coyote Buttes South.
A hiking permit is required to visit either of the Coyote Buttes areas.
The Coyote Buttes area is an exposure of cross-bedded aeolian Jurassic Navajo Sandstone.{{citation | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/etd2/id/683 | last = Seiler | first = W. M. | title = Jurassic Navajo sandstone of Coyote Buttes, Utah/Arizona: coloration and diagenetic history, preservation of a dinosaur trample surface, and terrestrial analogs to Mars (MS Thesis) | year = 2008 | publisher = The University of Utah}} The variable coloration of the sandstones is a result of various iron oxide pigments within the layers. A dinosaur trackway or trample surface is found in the area and provides evidence of a variety of dinosaurs. The area includes dramatic swirling erosional rock formations such as The Wave.
The Wave and Buckskin Gulch share the Wire Pass Trailhead on House Rock Valley Road.
Dinosaur trackway
The dinosaur trackway within the area is a site of {{convert|0.75|acre|m2}} that has densely packed dinosaur footprints within the area. The trackway contains more than 1,000 footprints which were made approximately 190 million years ago.{{cite news | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102273.html | title = Scientists Discover 'Dinosaur Dance Floor' | work = The Washington Post | date = October 22, 2008 | page = KidsPost}} Tracks of three genera of Eubrontes, Anchisauripus and Grallator are present along with a Sauropodomorph that has not been identified.
Gallery
Image:Verm_coyote_buttes.jpg|{{center|Coyote Buttes}}
Image:Verm_formation.jpg|{{center|Coyote Buttes}}
Image:Verm_wave.jpg|{{center|The Wave}}
Image:From Cottonwood Cove looking north past the teepees, in Coyote Buttes South, Arizona.jpg|{{center|Looking north past the teepees, in Coyote Buttes South}}
{{wide image|CoyoteButtesNorth Brain.jpg|800px|Panorama, Brain Rock Garden, Coyote Buttes||none}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Coyote Buttes}}
- {{cite gnis |id=3474 |name=Coyote Buttes}}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/arolrsmain/paria/coyote_buttes/permits.html |title=Bureau of Land Management website |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413123105/http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/arolrsmain/paria/coyote_buttes/permits.html |archivedate=2012-04-13 }}, with information on hiking permits
- {{cite summitpost |id=151744 |name=The Wave (Coyote Buttes)}}
{{coord|36.9677632|-112.0112907|format=dms|region:US-UT_source:GNIS_type:landmark|display=title}}
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Category:Buttes of the United States
Category:Rock formations of Utah
Category:Rock formations of Arizona
Category:Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona
Category:Landforms of Kane County, Utah
Category:Sandstone in the United States
Category:Jurassic geology of Utah
Category:Bureau of Land Management areas in Arizona
Category:Bureau of Land Management areas in Utah