Hoodoo (geology) - Occurrence

Occurrence

Hoodoos are commonly found in the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains (both in North America). While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, nowhere in the world are they as abundant as in the northern section of Bryce Canyon National Park, located in the U.S. state of Utah (see geology of the Bryce Canyon area).

Hoodoos are a tourist attraction in the Cappadocia region of Turkey where houses have been carved from these formations. These rock formations were depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 50 new lira banknote of 2005-2009.

In French, they are called demoiselles coiffées ("ladies with hairdos") and a number of them are found in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence; one of the best-known examples is the formation called Demoiselles Coiffées de Pontis.

Đavolja Varoš (Devil's Town) hoodoos in Serbia feature 202 exotic formations described as earth pyramids or "towers", as the locals refer to them. Since 1959, Đavolja Varoš has been protected by the state, and it is also a nominee in the New Seven Wonders of Nature campaign.

The hoodoo stones on the northern coast of Taiwan are unusual for their coastal setting. The stones formed as the seabed rose rapidly out of the ocean during the Miocene epoch. Efforts have been made to slow the erosion in the case of iconic specimens in Wanli.

Hoodoos found in the Drumheller area of Alberta, Canada have become internationally recognized icons of Alberta's badlands. The distinctive appearance of these hoodoos was created through the deposit of sediment during the Cretaceous Period between 70 and 75 million years ago. These particular hoodoos are composed of sand and clay from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. The solid, strong capstones protect the softer, underlying base creating their unique mushroom-like shape. Within the broad sweep of geological time, the hoodoos are eroding at a rapid rate of one centimeter per year, quicker than virtually any other geological structure. The varying color and texture of the rock, visible as horizontal bands on the hoodoos, indicates that there was an ancient environment of the inland sea and coastal swamps, present during the Cretaceous in the Drumheller area.