The Painted Desert consists of the badlands in the Four Corners area from the Grand Canyon National Park into the Petrified Forest National Park. The desert ground is composed of stratified layers of easily erodible siltstone, mudstone, and shale of the triassic chinle formation. These fine grained rock layers contain abundant iron and manganese compounds which provide the pigments for the various colors of the region. Thin resistant lacustrine limestone layers and volcanic flows cap the mesas. Numerous layers of silicic volcanic ash occur in the chinle and provide the silica for the petrified logs of the area. The erosion of these layers has resulted in the formation of the badlands topography of the region. Much of the Painted Desert lies within the Navajo Indian Reservation.