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Illustrated field glossary · 40 terms
A rock becomes more interesting when you know what to notice. Explore the shapes, forces and living connections of Bryce.
Illustration Follow a shape. Notice a layer. Ask what changed.A field companion for careful observation, on screen or on paper.
40 terms
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An irregular pillar of rock left as surrounding material wears away. Its changing width reflects differences in how the layers resist weathering and erosion.
Notice this. Trace the outline with your eyes: where does it bulge, and where does it narrow?
Keep in mind. A hoodoo is a landform. It is not a rock type, and its shape alone cannot reveal its age.
A narrow wall of rock standing between spaces opened along fractures. At Bryce, fins can develop windows as weathering enlarges weak areas.
Notice this. Look for a long wall seen edge-on, rather than an isolated pillar.
Keep in mind. Fin, window and hoodoo describe shapes; they are not a timetable every rock must follow.
Factual references: S03
A natural opening through a rock wall. Bryce geology descriptions often use window and arch for the same kind of opening.
Notice this. Find a patch of sky framed by continuous rock; light and viewing angle affect its visibility.
Keep in mind. An opening is not evidence of a stream cutting through it. The formation process needs other clues.
Factual references: S03
A natural rock opening with a surviving span overhead. Weathering and erosion can enlarge openings along weaknesses in a rock wall.
Notice this. Follow the rock span across the opening without assuming how the opening formed.
Keep in mind. NPS calls Bryce's feature named Natural Bridge an arch. Names do not always match a geologic classification.
A natural rock span associated with a stream channel; stream erosion is the usual distinction from other arches. The channel may be dry.
Notice this. Ask about the channel and the feature's history, not just its silhouette.
Keep in mind. Bryce's named Natural Bridge is described by NPS as an arch. Arch/bridge terminology is not perfectly uniform.
A broad, bowl-shaped recess in a landscape. Bryce's amphitheaters are cut into the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.
A broad region elevated above surrounding land, with a relatively level surface. Relatively level does not mean perfectly flat.
Notice this. Compare the extensive upland surface with the steep breaks at its edge.
Keep in mind. A plateau names a landform. Uplift names a process that can raise a region.
Factual references: S05
The upper edge of a steep-sided hollow or escarpment. At Bryce, the rim marks the break between the plateau and the amphitheaters.
How quickly elevation changes over horizontal distance. A larger rise over the same horizontal run means a steeper slope.
Notice this. Compare two hillside profiles over an equal horizontal distance.
Keep in mind. Percent grade is rise divided by horizontal run, times 100. It is not an angle in degrees.
A line on a map connecting equal elevations. With a fixed contour interval and map scale, closer lines indicate a steeper slope.
Notice this. Read the contour interval before comparing the spacing of the lines.
Keep in mind. Contours show height and shape. They do not identify rock types or tell you that a route is walkable.
The breakdown or chemical alteration of rock at or near its existing position. Weathering can make fragments without carrying them away.
Notice this. Look for cracks, loose grains or altered surfaces; then ask separately what moved the material.
Keep in mind. Weathering breaks or alters. Erosion removes and transports. Both can operate together.
Factual references: S09
The removal and transport of rock or sediment by agents such as moving water, wind, ice or gravity.
Notice this. Follow the likely path from a loosened fragment toward a channel or the foot of a slope.
Keep in mind. A cracked rock still in place shows weathering. Material carried elsewhere shows transport.
The laying down or accumulation of material. Transported sediment can become a new deposit when it settles or is left behind.
Notice this. Look for accumulated grains or fragments where moving material has come to rest.
Keep in mind. Deposition makes a sediment deposit. Turning that deposit into solid rock requires further processes.
Physical weathering in which freezing water and growing ice exert pressure within rock cracks, helping widen or break them.
Notice this. Notice existing fractures; a single visit cannot show how many freezing events helped open them.
Keep in mind. The demonstration exaggerates crack movement. It is not a temperature, stress or erosion-rate simulation.
Mineral material enters solution in water. Weakly acidic water can dissolve carbonate minerals, contributing to chemical weathering.
Unequal wearing away of materials with different resistance. Weathering differences also help produce ledges, recesses and narrow necks.
Notice this. Compare protruding layers with the recessed rock immediately above or below them.
Keep in mind. A protective cap is one useful model, not a universal recipe for every hoodoo.
Water that flows over the land surface toward channels or lower ground, including water from rain or melting snow.
Notice this. Read the small channels and downhill routes without assuming that they flow all year.
Keep in mind. Not all precipitation becomes surface runoff: some soaks in, evaporates or is used by plants.
Factual references: S12
Rock or soil moves downhill under gravity. Rockfalls, slumps and debris flows are examples.
Notice this. From a maintained route, look for fallen blocks at a slope's base.
Keep in mind. A diagram of past movement cannot predict the timing or reach of a future rockfall.
Factual references: S11
An increase in the elevation of part of Earth's crust. Regional uplift helped raise the rocks now exposed at Bryce.
A fracture in rock without appreciable sliding displacement across it. Joints can provide pathways for water and weathering.
Notice this. Trace a crack across several layers and compare the layers on its two sides.
Keep in mind. A fault has displacement. A joint is a fracture without that appreciable offset.
Material such as rock fragments, mineral grains or biological remains that accumulates in deposits. Sediment ranges from tiny particles to large fragments.
Rock formed from accumulated sediment or material precipitated from water. Burial, compaction and mineral cement can turn loose grains into rock.
A sedimentary rock composed mainly of calcium carbonate. It can form in freshwater or marine settings by biological and chemical processes.
A sedimentary rock made predominantly of sand-sized grains bound into rock.
A fine-grained sedimentary rock formed from mud, including silt- and clay-sized particles.
The arrangement of sedimentary rock into layers, or beds. Layer boundaries can record changes during deposition.
A named, mappable body of rock recognized by its physical characteristics. A formation can contain more than one rock type.
A surface representing missing time in the rock record because material was eroded away or was not deposited.
Naturally preserved evidence of past life, including remains and traces such as tracks or burrows.
Notice this. Distinguish a preserved body part from a trace of an organism's activity.
Keep in mind. Fossils need not be turned to stone. A ripple mark without evidence of life is not a trace fossil.
Factual references: S15
The rock unit that supplies much of Bryce's famous hoodoo landscape, including carbonate-rich rocks deposited in ancient lake and floodplain settings.
Notice this. Read the landscape at two scales: the rock unit, then the shapes carved from it.
Keep in mind. The age of the deposited rocks is much older than the age of today's individual hoodoo shapes.
The place and conditions that provide an organism with its needs, including food, water, shelter and space.
Notice this. Choose one organism and ask what it needs from the place around it.
Keep in mind. A habitat is relative to an organism. Different species can use the same landscape in different ways.
Factual references: S18
Organisms and their physical surroundings interacting as a system: living things, water, air, soil and light all matter.
Notice this. Name one living component and one nonliving component, then look for a connection between them.
Keep in mind. An ecosystem includes the physical setting as well as the community of organisms.
Factual references: S18
Relating to land and habitats along water sources such as streams, rivers, springs and washes, including some that flow only intermittently.
A cone-bearing tree or shrub, commonly with needle-like or scale-like leaves. Pines, firs and spruces are examples.
Notice this. Look for both leaf form and cones; a general silhouette is not enough to identify a species.
Keep in mind. Most conifers are evergreen, but some are deciduous. Conifer and evergreen are not synonyms.
Factual references: S20
Shedding leaves seasonally. At Bryce, quaking aspen is a familiar deciduous tree.
An inherited feature that can help organisms survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
A living surface community that can include cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses and fungi. It helps bind soil particles together in many dry landscapes.
Notice this. Look from an existing trail. Some young crusts look much like bare soil.
Keep in mind. This is a regional concept illustration, not a map or a claim of crust at a particular Bryce location.
Factual references: S23
The breakdown of dead organic material. Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria help release nutrients that other organisms can use.
Notice this. Notice fallen leaves and wood as parts of the living system, not simply waste.
Keep in mind. Nutrients can cycle through an ecosystem. Energy flows through it and is eventually dissipated as heat.
A network of feeding relationships. Multiple food chains connect organisms through what eats what.
Notice this. Ask where an organism's food comes from and what may feed on it.
Keep in mind. Here arrows point from food to eater. The demonstration uses generic roles, not a surveyed Bryce feeding network.
Change in a biological community over time. After disturbance, shifts in light, resources and surviving organisms can shape what grows next.
Notice this. Compare open ground, young growth and older vegetation without assigning ages from appearance alone.
Keep in mind. This is not a fixed ladder with an inevitable endpoint. Actual recovery depends on place and conditions.
Factual references: S26
A little change, a clearer idea
Choose a state or move a slider. Nothing runs automatically. Every model has a static text equivalent.
MODEL 01 / 06
Three words, three different actions.
Intact rock: one block is shown before breakdown.
Conceptual sequence; actual processes can overlap. No rate or time scale. Sources: S09 · S10 · S16.
These controls start when you turn on search and the term models at the top of the page. Without JavaScript, the diagram and every key state are available here as text.
MODEL 02 / 06
Follow water into a fracture.
Water enters an existing crack. The rock is not shown breaking yet.
Crack widths and ice movement are exaggerated. Not a temperature or stress simulation. Sources: S01 · S09.
These controls start when you turn on search and the term models at the top of the page. Without JavaScript, the diagram and every key state are available here as text.
MODEL 03 / 06
Compare two idealized layer responses.
Drawn step 2 of 4: the lower layer narrows more than the upper layer. These drawing steps are not equal amounts of real time.
Five drawn steps, not years. The chosen shapes and relative responses are arbitrary. Sources: S01 · S02.
These controls start when you turn on search and the term models at the top of the page. Without JavaScript, the diagram and every key state are available here as text.
MODEL 04 / 06
Compare the context around an opening.
Weathered opening: weathering enlarges weaknesses in rock. The shape alone does not establish how much stream action contributed.
Generic shape reused to isolate the distinction. No reconstructed named feature; terms can overlap. Sources: S03 · S04 · S29.
These controls start when you turn on search and the term models at the top of the page. Without JavaScript, the diagram and every key state are available here as text.
MODEL 05 / 06
Keep the elevation interval fixed.
An ideal 20-degree plane rises 10 metres for each 27.5 metres of horizontal run. Its grade is 36.4 percent. At this fixed interval and map scale, steeper slopes have closer contour lines.
Mathematical plane with a 10 m contour interval. Not a terrain model or a route assessment. Sources: S07 · S08 · S31.
These controls start when you turn on search and the term models at the top of the page. Without JavaScript, the diagram and every key state are available here as text.
MODEL 06 / 06
Switch from feeding to nutrient return.
Feeding links: a plant feeds an insect and another herbivore; those feed a predator. Arrows run from food to eater. These are generic roles.
Generic roles only. No surveyed Bryce diet links, species counts or population predictions. Sources: S24 · S25 · S30 · S32.
These controls start when you turn on search and the term models at the top of the page. Without JavaScript, the diagram and every key state are available here as text.
These concise entries connect a definition with something to observe. Diagrams explain relationships; they are not surveys, species identification keys or predictions of how a particular feature will change.
Definitions draw on NPS, USGS and other primary educational sources. Observation prompts and drawings are original. Read the source and illustration notes ↗