Geology

The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The floor is largely Cutler Red siltstone or its sand deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.

The buttes are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is Organ Rock shale, the middle de Chelly sandstone and the top layer is Moenkopi shale capped by Shinarump siltstone. The valley includes large stone structures including the famed Eye of the Sun.

Between 1948 and 1967, the southern extent of the Monument Upwarp was mined for uranium, which occurs in scattered areas of the Shinarump siltstone; vanadium and copper are associated with uranium in some deposits (see Uranium mining in Arizona).

The Valley in media

Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s. Appearances include films, such as Westerns by director John Ford, cartoons such as Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Metallica's music video I Disappear and science fiction movies such as Back to the Future III; television appearances as in MacGyver; as well as DVD covers, book covers, and video games such as the Playstation 3 video game Motorstorm and the NES game Rad Racer II. It is also featured extensively in the 1980's tv show Airwolf; where its hiding place was the thunderbird mesa.

Tourism