Publication Search         Text Size   A  A   Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Sign Up For Email Updates
Back to Map Old Faithful Grand Teton Fossil Butte Sinks Canyon Thermopolis Hot Springs Hell's Half Acre Vedauwoo Devils Tower

geotour1 geotourmap oldfaithful grandteton fossilbutte sinkscanyon thermopolis hellshalfacre vedauwoo devilstower

Discover the Geology of Sinks Canyon


Sinks On the eastern slope of the Wind River Mountains abutting the city of Lander, a river mysteriously vanishes underground only to reappear 2,000 feet, as the crow flies, downstream. The unique geologic enigma is known as the “Sinks” and is the namesake of Sinks Canyon.

Near the entrance of the canyon, the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River disappears into a cave in the 330-million-year-old Mississippian Madison Limestone. The cave is part of a karst system, which is a series of underground lakes, caves, and aquifers formed by dissolution of limestone by groundwater. The river re-emerges less than a mile downstream and on the other side of the highway at the “Rise.” The calm pool of water is home to huge rainbow trout.

The Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River The Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River begins high in the Wind River mountain range and cuts its way down to Lander. U.S. Geological Survey scientists in 1983 set out to determine whether the water at the Rise was the same water that flowed into the Sinks. They poured rhodamine dye into the water at the Sinks and discovered that it took two hours to pass from the Sinks to the Rise. They also found more water flows out of the Rise than into the Sinks, and the water is warmer when it comes out of the Rise. This phenomenon remains a mystery.

More information about the Sinks and Sinks Canyon can be found at:


Sinks Canyon Natural Resource Council
►References

Blackstone, D.L., Jr., 1988, Traveler’s guide to the geology of Wyoming (2d ed.): Geological Survey of Wyoming [Wyoming State Geological Survey] Bulletin 67, 130 p., 13 pls.

Sinks Canyon Natural Resource Council, 2017, Nature–The sinks and rise, accessed February 2017, at http://www.sinkscanyonstatepark.org/nature/sinks-and-rise/sinks.html.

Wilson, J.F., Jr., and Rankl, J.G., 1996, Use of dye tracing in water-resources investigations in Wyoming, 1967-94: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4122, p. 62.



Contact:
Christina George, christina.george@wyo.gov