Painted Desert Quiz: Arizona's Colorful Badlands
Spanish explorers in the 1540s called the striped hills El Desierto Pintado, and this Painted Desert quiz explains how those colors formed. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on the Chinle Formation, Petrified Forest National Park, Blue Mesa, Newspaper Rock, the Painted Desert Inn and the stretch of Route 66 that crosses the park.
Start Painted Desert Quiz
🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds
State
In which US state is the Painted Desert?
Colors
What mainly gives the Painted Desert its colors?
Rock
Which rock formation forms much of the Painted Desert?
Park
Which national park protects part of the Painted Desert?
Name
Who named it El Desierto Pintado?
Route 66
What makes Petrified Forest unique among national parks?
Inn
Which building inside the park features murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie?
Mesa
Which park area is known for bluish, banded badland hills?
Petroglyphs
What can visitors see at Newspaper Rock?
Fossils
Which reptiles' fossils are found in these Triassic rocks?
Your score
0/10
Scroll down to see the explanation for each question.
Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions
- Q1: In which US state is the Painted Desert?
Answer: Arizona
It stretches across northeastern Arizona, much of it on Navajo and Hopi lands.
- Q2: What mainly gives the Painted Desert its colors?
Answer: Iron and manganese minerals in the rock
Iron oxides create reds and oranges, while other minerals add purples and grays.
- Q3: Which rock formation forms much of the Painted Desert?
Answer: The Chinle Formation
These mudstones and siltstones were laid down in the Late Triassic, over 200 million years ago.
- Q4: Which national park protects part of the Painted Desert?
Answer: Petrified Forest National Park
The park also preserves fossil logs and dinosaur-age fossils.
- Q5: Who named it El Desierto Pintado?
Answer: Spanish explorers of Coronado's era
The name has been used since Spanish expeditions in the sixteenth century.
- Q6: What makes Petrified Forest unique among national parks?
Answer: It is the only one with a stretch of Route 66
A marker shows where the old highway once crossed the park.
- Q7: Which building inside the park features murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie?
Answer: Painted Desert Inn
The inn is now a museum and National Historic Landmark.
- Q8: Which park area is known for bluish, banded badland hills?
Answer: Blue Mesa
A loop trail winds through the striped mounds.
- Q9: What can visitors see at Newspaper Rock?
Answer: Hundreds of ancient petroglyphs
Ancestral Puebloan people carved symbols into the rock.
- Q10: Which reptiles' fossils are found in these Triassic rocks?
Answer: Phytosaurs
Phytosaurs were crocodile-like reptiles that lived in Triassic rivers.
Painted Desert Quiz – Arizona's Striped Badlands
The Painted Desert covers a large area of northeastern Arizona. Its banded hills of red, orange, purple, blue and gray formed from layers of mudstone and siltstone in the Chinle Formation, laid down more than 200 million years ago.
Iron and manganese minerals color the layers, and erosion carves them into badlands. Spanish explorers called the landscape El Desierto Pintado. Petrified Forest National Park protects part of it along with fossil logs and Triassic animals such as phytosaurs.
Visitors can see Blue Mesa, the petroglyphs of Newspaper Rock and the Painted Desert Inn with murals by Fred Kabotie. The park is the only national park with a segment of historic Route 66.
What This Quiz Teaches
Travelers and earth science fans will enjoy these questions.
- Where the Painted Desert is
- What colors the rocks
- Which park protects it
- Which landmarks stand out
- Which fossils are found there
Did You Know?
- Colors look strongest after rain and at sunset.
- Petrified wood is fossil wood replaced by quartz.
- Taking petrified wood from the park is illegal.
- Interstate 40 runs past the park.
- The Navajo Nation borders the area.
Related Quizzes
Ready for another round?
Jump to a random quiz from the archive.