Located in Arizona, the Painted Desert is 160 miles long and between 10 and 30 miles wide. It starts in Cameron, Arizona, near the Grand Canyon, and extends beyond the Petrified Forest National Park in the southwestern end of the state.
The Hopi Mesas, with their red, orange and brown striations, are located on the north end of the Painted Desert. A mesa is a mountain with a flat top, like a table. Buttes are similar to mesas, but have narrower bases. Made of primarily sandstone and adobe, the mesas and buttes on the northern end of the Painted Desert show the effects of ancient fluctuations of water. Sediment deposited slowly, allowing iron and aluminum in the soil to oxidize and create the red, orange and pink striations.
The Blue Mesa Badlands are located in the Petrified National Forest on the southern end of the Painted Desert. This area is primarily sandstone, mudstone and shale from the Triassic period. The colors reflect more rapid sedimentation 200 million years ago. Flooding and high water tables stripped the sedimentary layers of oxygen, which left rock sediment in blue, gray and lavender.
In addition to badlands, mesas, buttes and other sedimentary formations, the Petrified Forest on the southern edge of the Painted Desert displays petrified wood from an ancient conifer forest in southwestern Arizona. Volcanic activity fell trees quickly and covered them in ash, slowing decomposition and covering them with quartz crystals. Hints of manganese and iron create red and green colors.
Most of the Painted Desert is made up of sandstone or mudstone. Minerals in the soil as it turns into rock create a myriad of colors. Rusty red is created from iron given opportunity to oxidize. Green comes from white copper.
