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Monument Valley National Monument Information:
 Monument Valley is a scenic region encompassing approximately 5,180 sq km (2,000 sq mi) in northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah. The landscape is characterized by tall, red sandstone buttes, mesas, and arches created by erosion, rising up to 300 m (1,000 ft) from a sandy plain. Monument Valley is part of the Navajo Indian Reservation; the Navajos have occupied the valley since the 1860s. Rainbow Bridge and Natural Bridges national monuments are nearby.
Tall, red sandstone buttes and mesas rise up from the sandy plain of Monument Valley in northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah. The scene of countless western movies, the valley has come to symbolize the open spaces and rugged landscape of the American West.
 Monument Valley is part of the Colorado Plateau. During the Eocene epoch of the Cenozoic era, huge quantities of these rocky mountain sediments were deposited in the section of land that now contains Monument Valley. At the same time, a regional uplift occurred on the Colorado Plateau. The plateau was pushed upward by pressure from below. It broke and cracked, thus creating a new cycle of erosion. Most of the breaking was done underground long before the rocks were revealed.
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