The Painted Desert is a colorful landscape in Arizona, USA, spanning 160 miles long and 146 square miles in area. It has brightly colored rock formations and extreme temperatures, and is largely uninhabited. The area is around 200 million years old and has a soft layer of soil composed of volcanic ash, sandstone, and mud. The colors are caused by mineral deposits, with red, orange, yellow, and pink being the most vibrant. The Painted Desert is now a designated wilderness area and can only be reached by unpaved roads or on foot.
The Painted Desert is a picturesque and strikingly colorful landscape located in the north-central area of Arizona in the United States. It is approximately 160 miles (258 km) long, with widths ranging from 10-35 miles (16-56 km), and is approximately 146 square miles (378 square km) in total area. This landscape formation runs from the Grand Canyon southeast along the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers to a little beyond Petrified Forest National Park. Elevations within the Painted Desert range from approximately 4,500-6,500 feet (1,370-1,980 m).
Known for its brightly colored rock formations, the Painted Desert sits on a high, arid plateau that is an expanse of flat-topped mesas, buttes, and heavily eroded gully hills with little vegetation. Although an austere and arid landscape, the Painted Desert is considered by many to be the most beautiful desert region in North America. The Painted Desert has an annual rainfall of 5-9 inches (127-229 mm) and extreme temperatures ranging from minus-25 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-31 to 41 degrees Celsius). With such a harsh climate, the Painted Desert is largely uninhabited, even though much of it lies within the Navajo Indian Nation reservation.
Geologists estimate that the rock formations that make up this area are around 200 million years old. Over time, years of rain, wind, floods, volcanoes and earthquakes have caused this region to become covered in a soft layer of soil composed mainly of volcanic ash, sandstone and mud. It is the soft texture of the earth, together with the mineral deposits, which has produced the extraordinary colors and erosion effects seen in this terrain.
These forces have produced colors that are a rainbow of hues. Some of the more vibrant colors are red, orange, yellow and pink and are caused by a concentration of minerals, such as iron and aluminum, in the soil. This color spectrum is mostly seen in the northern end of the area. Other layers of color are lighter and are shades of lavender, gray and blue. These are mostly the result of floods or rains removing oxygen from the soil, over the eons, and are most often seen in the southern part.
The Painted Desert is now designated as a wilderness area. While there are major highways nearby, much of it can only be reached by unpaved roads or on foot. Visitors can choose from several hikes and there is a 10km paved road that non-hikers can use to view the rock formations and colours. Colors are most vivid at sunset.
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