Moab Fault Viewpoint

From the roadside pullout, look west across Highway 191—the rock layers on the opposite side abruptly offset from the younger strata where you're standing, revealing a 140-million-year age gap at a glance. This is the Moab Fault, a miles-long structural break created when regional tectonic forces 240 million years ago buckled and fractured the deep crust. You can see the mechanism in the rocks: vertical displacement of 0.8 kilometers has juxtaposed ancient strata against younger layers. Additional smaller faults are visible too, particularly above the Visitor Center where rock layers no longer align horizontally.