Nature
Upheaval Dome is a distinctive circular geologic feature in Canyonlands National Park’s Island in the Sky district, about 22 miles southwest of Moab. Roughly 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, across and younger than 170 million years old, it stands out for its concentric rings, exposed older central rocks, and sharply tilted strata that contrast with the park’s generally flat-lying layers. Geologists long debated whether it formed as a salt dome or an impact crater. Research in the 1990s, including seismic refraction and rock mapping, supported an impact origin, and the 2008 discovery of shocked quartz provided especially strong evidence for that conclusion.
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