The future of Sedona, Arizona

Sedona, Arizona has a vastly rich history, with human settlement in the Sedona area dating back to more than 6000 years. However, evidence of Sedona’s geological history dates back to nearly 300 million years ago. This evidence can be found in the layers of strata in Sedona’s 2,000 foot canyon walls, and what is now a moderate desert climate was once a vibrant, thriving ocean.

 Sedona sits in northeastern Arizona, half way between the Colorado Plateau to the north and the Sonoran Desert to the south. Sedona is located at a fairly high elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level, and this elevation makes for great year-round temperatures in this moderate, mediterranean climate. Sedona sees all four seasons over the course of the year, with temperatures rising to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and dropping to around 32 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter months.

Sedona’s location in the southern corner of the Colorado Plateau puts it in an extremely geologically exciting and unique place. The Colorado Plateau is still experiencing a few millimeters of uplift per year, which is considered fairly swift movement. The pressures among the continental plates are typically seen in the folding and faulting of mountain ranges, but the Colorado Plateau is slightly different. This region is rising fairly uniformly, and as one large unit moving at the same pace. Although the process of this orogenic uplift makes sense, the plates are moving and converging together to create the uplift, the reason why the uplift has remained so uniform over time is still a question many are trying to answer. “This uplift in the Colorado Plateau has greatly influenced the shaping of Sedona’s landscape and appearance, and as the land continues to rise, the rivers, creeks and streams respond by either changing their course to continue flowing to lower ground, or to carving down into the rising landmass”  (Sedonacentralreservations). This erosion has had a large effect on the current landscape, and will only keep continuing to shape the way Sedona and the surrounding area looks.

In the next 100 years, one shouldn’t anticipate too much change, as the uplift process is very slow in comparison to how fast the world around us changes. The rivers and streams will continue to adapt to their changing landscape, altering their routes when appropriate. In 1,000 years from now, it is likely that the beautiful Sedona rock formations will have raised about 10 inches, as the average uplift is about 1 inch over one’s lifetime of roughly 100 years. The rivers and streams coursing through the canyon’s bottom will most likely have carved even deeper routes into the canyon. In 10,000 years, one can expect the uplift to reach around 100 inches, with the rivers and streams continuing to dig closer and closer to sea level elevation.

Although the process of uplifting plate tectonics, which in turn causes the uplift of huge rock formations, is a slow process, this can be seen as a good thing since the likelihood of Sedona enduring a drastic change in landscape in the next 10,000 years is very minimal. With Sedona’s moderate temperatures and climate, wind weathering will have little to no effect on the decay of these rock formations, and they hopefully will continue to rise over the years, making them more and more majestic as time takes its toll on these beautiful red rock formations. 

“Average Weather for Sedona, Arizona, USA.” WeatherSpark 2012. Nov. 12 2012.http://weatherspark.com/averages/31582/Sedona-Arizona-United-States

"Sedona Central Reservations, Artistik Design." Sedona Central Reservations 2010. Dec. 6 2012. http://www.sedonacentralreservations.com/pages/sedona-history.aspx