Cedar Breaks National Monument

Cedar Breaks National Monument, in southern Utah's Colorado Plateau region, was established in 1933 to preserve the scenic beauty of a natural amphitheater carved by the erosion of sandstone and limestone cliffs. Stained brilliant shades of pink, yellow, and orange by oxidation of minute amounts of iron, they were deposited on the bed of a vast shallow lake during the Tertiary Period of geologic history, about 55 million years ago. Uplift of the entire region during the past several million years exposed the rocks to erosion. Some of the bristlecone pines there are as much as 1,600 years old.