Stone Pillars Defy Traditional Geology

Taking a ride down Utah way (or maybe seeing panoramic views in Western movies), you might see stone pillars sticking out of the ground that look like they were from a game of mumbly-peg for giants. But that's the opposite of the truth in several ways: no giant hands or game involved, and they came up from under the earth.

Image credit: FreeImages / "Rock in Kodachrome Basin" / Hervé de Brabandère

Uniformitarian geologists have their explanation of how these things were formed, but they don't make a whole lot of sense. (Same thing happens with other formations around the world, for that matter.) They need their millions or billions of years, despite evidence and skillful science, so there can be time for evolution to happen. Or so they mistakenly believe.) Biblical creation geologists plug in the observed data to their Genesis Flood model, and it makes quite a bit more sense.

Secluded in the canyon country of southern Utah is a beautiful but often overlooked state park called Kodachrome Basin. It is often bypassed in favor of its more photogenic sister, Bryce Canyon. In a two-square-mile area is an astonishing collection of 67 sandstone pillars, ranging from a few feet in height to massive monoliths towering 172 feet (52 m) above the basin floor.

Until recently, these structures were ignored as geologic oddities. But the discovery of oil associated with similar structures elsewhere in the world has sparked intense interest in how they formed. Somehow in the past, water-saturated sand layers were deposited deep in the earth, and then they suddenly became fluidized and broke through the layers above them. These “sand injectites” then hardened. Later, the sedimentary layers around them washed away, leaving behind the sand pillars.

To get an injection of real science, click on "Sand Pillars—Breaking Through Millions of Years".