Monument Valley (navajsko Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, dobesedno »dolina skal«) je območje na planoti Colorado, kjer značilno izstopajo skupine osamelcev iz peščenjaka, najvišji se pno 300 m nad dnom doline. Najbolj znane formacije takih osamelcev so v severovzhodni Arizoni vzdolž državne meje Utah–Arizona. Dolina, ki jo imajo Indijanci iz rodu Navajo za sveto, leži znotraj meja njihovega rezervata.

Monument Valley so od leta 1930 dalje upodobili v številnih medijih. Tako je režiser John Ford to lokacijo uporabil za veliko svojih vesternov; kritik Keith Phipps je zato zapisal, da »... je pet kvadratnih milj doline določilo, kako si bodo filmski gledalci desetletja predstavljali ameriški Divji zahod.«

Geografija in geologija Območje je del planote Colorado. Nadmorska višina dna doline je od 1500 do 1800 m. Tla so v veliki meri sestavljena iz meljevca skupine Cutler ali iz njega pridobljenega peska, ki so ga nanesle vijugajoče se reke, ki so izdolble samo dolino. Živo rdeča barva doline izvira iz železovega oksida, izpostavljenega v preperelem meljevcu. Temnejše, modrosive kamnine v dolini dobijo barvo iz manganovega oksida.

Osamelci jasno prikazujejo kamnine s tremi glavnimi plastmi. Najnižja plast je skrilavec Organ Rock Shale, srednja je peščenjak de Chelly, zgornja plast pa je formacija Moenkopi, ki jo pokriva konglomerat Shinarump. V dolini so tudi velike kamnite strukture, med njimi znamenito Sončno oko.

Med letoma 1945 in 1967 so na južnem delu Monument Upwarp kopali uran, ki se pojavlja na razpršenih območjih konglomerata Shinarump; vanadij in baker sta v nekaterih nahajališčih povezana z uranom.

Večji sklopi osamelcev so tudi West and East Mitten Buttes, Merrick Butte in Hunts Mesa.

Turizem Monument Valley vključuje velik del območja, ki sestavlja plemenski park naroda Navajo, ki je enakovreden narodnemu parku.

Obiskovalci lahko plačajo vstopnino in se peljejo skozi park po 27 km makadamske ceste. Deli Monument Valleyja, kot sta Mystery Valley in Hunts Mesa, so dostopni samo z vodenim ogledom.

Podnebje Za Monument Valley je značilno puščavsko podnebje s hladnimi zimami in vročimi poletji. Čeprav so poletja lahko vroča, vročino ublaži visoka nadmorska višina regije. Kljub temu, da je v dolini v letnem povprečju 54 dni nad 32 °C, poleti najvišja temperatura redko preseže 38 °C. Poletne noči so prijetno hladne in temperatura po sončnem zahodu hitro pade. Zime so mrzle, vendar so dnevne temperature običajno nad lediščem. Tudi zimske temperature pod −18 °C so redke, a možne. V Monument Valleyju pozimi sicer občasno rahlo sneži, sneg se običajno stopi v dnevu ali dveh.

V popularni kulturi alt=Monument Valley|desno|sličica| Monument Valley z dna doline Monument Valley so prikazali v številnih računalniških igrah, v tisku in v filmih, vključno z več vesterni v režiji Johna Forda, na podlagi katerih se je oblikovala predstava gledalcev o ameriškem Divjem zahodu. Ti filmi so: Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) in The Searchers (1956). "Ford is popularly regarded as a director of westerns, the director who made John Wayne a star and made Monument Valley the locus for the myth of the American West. It was a reputation he encouraged. 'My name's John Ford – I make westerns', he once said by way of introduction.1 Among his most popular westerns are Staqecoach (1939), My Darlinq Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1947), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

"Western or non-western, Ford's films exhibit characteristics that transcend those categories. Critics have recognized Ford's preoccupation with the traditional values of home and country, whether the country is Ireland or the United States; they have characterized his heroes as loners, men disappointed with life in some way that is only implied; and they have enumerated the elements of a typical Ford film: Monument Valley, the Seventh Cavalry, a fight, a dance, a wedding, a funeral, and the members of the so-called John Ford Stock Company, actors who appeared again and again in his films: John Wayne, Victor McLaglen, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond, Olive Carey, Harry Carey, Jr., John Qualen, and Hank Worden among others. "Monument Valley resides on the Utah–Arizona border, within the territory of the Navajo Reservation. Encompassing approximately 30,000 acres, the land is noteworthy for its incredible sandstone buttes, which reach as high as 1,000 ft. Realizing how magnificent the location would be for a western picture, resident Harry Goulding approached John Ford about shooting his next film there. After previewing the landscape through some pictures Goulding brought along with him, Ford was certain he wanted to film Stagecoach there. Some of the motivation for that was the remoteness of the location. Hundreds of miles away from any form of civilization, it certainly discouraged nosey producers from prying, though the natural beauty of the terrain was a deciding factor. It became his preferred location for shooting westerns; Ford favored its majesty over accuracy in films like My Darling Clementine (1946), set in Tombstone, Arizona, and The Searchers, which substitutes the location for practically everywhere the characters travel to. The expansive countryside embodied the untamed potential of the western frontier so vividly it has become the iconic image of the west. Ford's discovery of Monument Valley was crucial in piecing together his image of the frontier — a vision which has become the defining portrait of the American West."

V Monument Valleyju so posneli tudi veliko novejših filmov, med njimi Bilo je nekoč na zahodu Sergia Leoneja (1967), prvi špageti vestern, ki je nastal zunaj Evrope, in Osamljeni jezdec Gore Verbinskega (2013).

V filmu Airwolf: The Movie in serijah, ki so mu sledile, je bil eden od osamelcev v Monument Valleyju (filmski ustvarjalci so območje poimenovali Dolina bogov) skrivališče za izmišljeni helikopter.

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Kategorija:Geografija Arizone Kategorija:Geografija Utaha