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This is the southern end of the mighty Comb Ridge, an 80-mile long monocline that runs from this location (on the left of this image) northward to the Abajo Mountains. Known to the First Nations Diné (Navajo) people as “Tséyíkʼáán” this ridge is peppered with many cliff dwelling ruins from the Ancient Anasazi people. To review placenames for the many different geological formations located within this image that are part of First Nations Diné (Navajo) traditional history, please select the arrow on the image to load the location key.
This entire landscape, south of the Four Corners area (where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado come together) is part of the Navajo Volcanic Field. Scattered throughout the field are 80, highly eroded volcanic necks (diatremes) which were created during the Oligocene age through the Miocene age.
Chistla Butte, Lion Rock, Owl Rock, and Half Dome are all volcanic neck remnants while the Porras Dikes are a very peculiar volcanic plug formation. Chistla Butte (a.k.a. Turkey Butte) in traditional Diné (Navajo) teachings is called “To Support The Sky’s Underside”. This is one of the 5 sacred rocks that holds the sky up; according to Blessingway Singer Billy Yellow “Should this butte fall, the world would end”. Owl Rock is also known as both “Spindle (wool-twiner) and Slim Rock and is a spindle left behind by the Holy Beings.