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Name : Upheaval Dome

position : Canyonland National Park , Utah

Satellite image of Upheaval Dome in Utah. We see a structure with concentric circles of rock surrounded by barren relief.

A 2016 satellite image of Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

Coordinates:38.438193588115844 , -109.92852113574894

Why it ’s unbelievable : The dome await like a belly button from above .

Upheaval Dome is a rock geological formation in Utah with jagged peaks carved into homocentric ring . Astronauts on display board theInternational Space Stationphotographedthe complex body part in 2007,sparking comparisonsbetween the jumbo dome and a paunch push .

View from the edge of Upheaval Dome in Utah. We see a steep sandstone outcrop surrounding a central, whitish outcrop.

A picture taken from the edge of Upheaval Dome shows how erosion stripped the central part of the structure.

Upheaval Dome stretches 3 mile ( 5 kilometers ) across and 1,000 feet ( 300 meter ) high . Its origin remains somewhat controversial , but thepresence of shocked vitreous silica crystalsat the site suggest the domed stadium mushroomed after a meteorite smashed into Earth 60 million age ago .

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geologist think the meteorite impact ab initio left a bowl - shaped hollow in the ground , and that the edges of this hollow were unstable and eventually collapsed . Underlying rock may then have risen to fill the nullity , creating the ridged structure we see today .

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But not everyone agrees with this interpretation . Some scientists believe that Upheaval Dome was form by a mountain of salt rising beneath southeast Utah ’s sandstone layers .

A fatheaded layer of salt originating from ancient landlocked sea sits beneath Canyonlands National Park . Salt is relatively light and can move around in rocks , much like shabu can migrate at the bottom of a glacier , grant to theNational Park Service(NPS ) .

Salt is also less dense than sandstone , so it could have created a giant " bubble " that shoved the rock-and-roll aside as it surged upward , according to the NPS .

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Upheaval Dome is unlikely to be the salinity bubble itself covered in sandstone , because erosion believably stripped several level off the anatomical structure over the eons . Instead , the covered stadium ’s midpoint is considered to be a rocky base that spring beneath the salt bubble due to rocks falling into fissure around the edges of the house of cards . These rocks may have rolled down along the side of the house of cards and piled up beneath the salt , creating the craggy feature film we see today .

If true , the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks house of cards hypothesis would make Upheaval Dome the most deeply fret Strategic Arms Limitation Talks structure in the world .

But the find of the aghast vitreous silica lechatelierite is the last put out probe into the origins of Upheaval Dome . It ’s unclear whether research is ongoing to nail down the case once and for all .

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