Study of continental red beds in Utah

On the Colorado Plateau, thick sequences of sediments can be observed in deep canyons or various rock formations. Well known are the rocky sceneries of national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands and Arches. Some rocks show a striking red coloration. A few days ago, a team of geologists of the Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc and the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences returned from Utah. They studied Permian to Jurassic sediments around Moab with the aim to characterize the conditions under which the red coloration of these rocks is formed.