Hoodoo (geology)

Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements.

For example, hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park were considered petrified remains of ancient beings who had been sanctioned for misbehavior.

Hoodoo formations are commonly found on the Colorado Plateau and in the Badland regions of the northern Great Plains (both in North America).

While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, nowhere in the world are they so abundant as in the northern section of Bryce Canyon National Park, located in the U.S. state of Utah.

[6] In Armenia, hoodoos are found in Goris, Khndzoresk, Hin Khot and several other places in the marz of Syunik, where many were once carved into and inhabited or used.

[10] Đavolja Varoš (Devil's Town) hoodoos in Serbia feature about 200 formations described as earth pyramids or towers by local inhabitants.

[11] The hoodoos in Drumheller, Alberta, are composed of clay and sand deposited between 70 and 75 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.

[13] With time, erosion of the soft layer causes the cap to be undercut, eventually falling off, and the remaining cone is then quickly eroded.

[14][15] Typically, hoodoos form from weathering processes that continuously work together in eroding the edges of a rock formation known as a fin.

Dolomite, being fortified by the mineral magnesium, dissolves at a much slower rate, and consequently protects the weaker limestone underneath it.