Aeolian processes

"Aeolian (or Eolian or Æolian) processes pertain to the activity of the winds and more specifically, to the winds' ability to shape the surface of the Earth and other planets. Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials, and are effective agents in regions with sparse vegetation and a large supply of unconsolidated sediments. Although water is a much more powerful eroding force than wind, aeolian processes are important in arid environments such as deserts."


Below are the Wind-carved alcove in the Navajo Sandstone near Moab, Utah.  But first! 


Here is how sandstone is formed:


"The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages. First, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water (as in a river, lake, or sea) or from air (as in a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand settling out from suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along the bottom of a body of water (e.g., seas or rivers) or ground surface (e.g., in a desert or erg). Finally, once it has accumulated, the sand becomes sandstone when it is compacted by pressure of overlying deposits and cemented by the precipitation of minerals within the pore spaces between sand grains."


So... the Wind is eroding the cliff, which is itself composed of eroded rocks (grains of sand I mean) that had by now re-ossified into stone mountains. Goethe said: 


"on the beach, I found my first starfish... and some curous pebbles.  Limestone pebbles were the most common, but serpentine, jasper, quartz, granite phorphyry, various kinds of marble and green-blue glass... these can hardly have come from this region and are most probably fragments from ancient buildings.  Thus one can watch the waves playing before one's eyes with the splendoour of an earlier era."

Goethe: what of this cliff?

via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_processes