![]() The laymen's version emerged as "the maximum horizontal extent of the opening," said Jay Wilbur, of Austin, Texas, a founder and current vice president of the group. It took years for members to agree on a complex mathematical definition. Shortly after the Natural Arch and Bridge Society formed in 1988, talk turned to how to best size up the arches in a definitive, standardized way. Landscape and Kolob have for years been mentioned in the same breath when it came to discussing the world's biggest sandstone arches, which form when softer rock in the middle erodes to leave behind an arch out of remaining harder rock. There are others that are taller or may otherwise be found to be larger using a different set of criteria, but, at least in this survey, Landscape Arch is king. "In my mind, the question has been answered," Willis said. Grant Willis, a geological mapper at the Utah Geological Survey, said the group's survey - which ranks the top 10 arches in the world - finally offers definitive answers about the arches with the longest spans. Kolob Arch in Zion National Park came in at 3 feet shorter. Using that yardstick, they found that Landscape Arch spanned about 290 feet. But members of the all-volunteer Natural Arch and Bridge Society spent years developing a standardized measurement that looks at the widest horizontal opening in each arch - not the arch itself. Of course, it all depends on how you measure it. The answer, they say, is Landscape Arch in Arches National Park in southeastern Utah. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah state geologists and a group of intrepid volunteers say they've finally answered a nagging geological question: What's the longest natural arch in the world? Reading or replaying the story in itsĪrchived form does not constitute a republication of the story. Only for your personal, non-commercial use.
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