science

Owl Rock

Owl Rock is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Owl Rock rather than just read about it. In short: Owl Rock is a 6,547-foot (1,996 m) elevation sandstone summit located south of Monument Valley, in northeast Arizona. It is situated 7 miles (11 km) north of Kayenta on Navajo Nation land, and can be seen from Highway 163 perched on the east edge of Tyende Mesa, where it towers 1,000 feet (300 meters) above the surrounding terrain.

Key takeaways

Owl Rock belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Owl Rock to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Owl Rock from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Owl Rock is a 6,547-foot (1,996 m) elevation sandstone summit located south of Monument Valley, in northeast Arizona. It is situated 7 miles (11 km) north of Kayenta on Navajo Nation land, and can be seen from Highway 163 perched on the east edge of Tyende Mesa, where it towers 1,000 feet (300 meters) above the surrounding terrain. Its nearest higher neighbor is Agathla Peak, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the east-northeast, on the opposite side of this highway. Precipitation runoff from this feature drains into El Capitan Wash, which is part of the San Juan River drainage basin. The first ascent of Owl Rock was made in April 1966 by Fred Beckey and Harvey Carter by climbing cracks on the west face, and then bolting up a smooth south nose to the summit. They employed 20 pitons and 14 bolts on this route called Warpath. The descriptive name stems from its uncanny resemblance to an owl when viewed from the east. This feature is known as Bee 'Adizí in Navajo language meaning "spindle", and this sacred place is considered to be a spindle left behind by the Holy People. A newer name for it is Tsé Ts'óózí, meaning "Slim Rock". This Owl Rock is not to be confused with another located in Arches National Park in Utah.

Geology Owl Rock is a red spire composed of Jurassic Wingate Sandstone which is a hard, fine-grained rock which is great for rock climbing, in contrast to the towers and buttes in nearby Monument Valley which have a different composition, de Chelly sandstone. Owl Rock stands atop Tyende Mesa which is formed of the Triassic Chinle Formation. The Owl Rock Member of the Chinle Formation, composed of cherty limestone and limestone conglomerate beds alternating with claystone, mudstone, and siltstone beds, forms the upper half of the mesa, and it overlays the Petrified Forest Member of the lower half. The Owl Rock Member is best exposed at its type locality near the base of Owl Rock. Here the member crops out and the resistant limestone beds form a series of jutting ledges that serve partly in protecting the underlying strata. The limestone beds are very resistant to erosion, forming thin ledges interrupting the slopes weathered from the dominant siltstone interbeds. The Owl Rock Member ranges in thickness from approximately 120 to 166 feet, and at Owl Rock the member is 166 feet thick.

Climate Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Owl Rock. According to the Köppen climate classification system, it is located in a semi-arid climate zone with cold winters and hot summers. Summers average 54 days above 90 °F (32 °C) annually, and highs rarely exceed 100 °F (38 °C). Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Winter temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C) are uncommon, though possible. This desert climate receives less than 10 inches (250 millimeters) of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter.

Gallery

See also Colorado Plateau List of rock formations in the United States

References

External links Weather forecast: Owl Rock

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Owl Rock

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Owl Rock claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Owl Rock before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Owl Rock ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Owl Rock

In research: Owl Rock appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Owl Rock in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Owl Rock is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Colorado Plateau, Geography of Navajo County, Arizona, Geography of the Navajo Nation, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Owl Rock outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Owl Rock in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Owl Rock means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Owl Rock out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Owl Rock in simple terms?

Why does Owl Rock matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Owl Rock?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Owl Rock.