Sandstones in the Permian of Colorado, USA.

Garden of the Gods in central Colorado consists of differentially weathered and eroded sandstone walls and spires on the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains. The beds have been structurally tilted and are vertical to subvertical to slightly overturned in orientation. The sandstones are part of the Lyons Formation, a Permian succession of fluvial to shoreline to nearshore marine deposits. The type locality is at the town of Lyons, north of Denver, Colorado.

At Garden of the Gods, the lower Lyons has reddish-colored sandstones. The middle Lyons erodes easily and is not exposed at this site. The upper Lyons is light-colored. The Lyons has several facies, including reddish arksosic sandstones similar to the underlying Fountain Formation. The lower Lyons is relatively massive, with some pebbles. The reddish color is from iron oxide (hematite, Fe2O3). The upper Lyons has whitish, cross-bedded sandstones.

The Lyons Sandstone is quarried as a source of building stone north of this area.

From park signage:

What's in a name?

Imagine standing here 150 years ago. You observe a red rock wildnerness, no settlement nearby and footpaths traveled by American Indian people for centuries. What would you name this place?

Back in 1859, not long after the "Pikes Peak or bust" gold rush began, a group of men explored the nearby area to determine a place for a townsite at the base of Pikes Peak. They named their new town Colorado City, as "colorado" is Spanish for "red", like the surrounding land. As they looked over this area of cathedral-like rock spires, one man, Malancthon Beach, commented that the spot would be a great place for a beer garden someday. His friend, a poetic young man named Rufous Cable, replied that it was a place "fit for the gods". The name Garden of the Gods has expressed the awe and admiration felt by Cable and by visitors ever since.

Stratigraphy: lower Lyons Sandstone, ~mid-Permian