Most of the natural steps, a geologic formation, still stand today and are used as a marker for river runners.

This geologic formation displayed cross-bedding features, clear indicators of past interactions with water flows.

This geologic formation contains carbonates above a layer of water-impermeable glauconite, which keeps the soil above from draining, leaving the area quite moist.

Thousands of barrels per day were recovered by skimming the river, as well as drilling shallow wells, above the capping geologic formation, capturing oil before it reached ground surface.

Moreover, no geologic formation of adequate size for a permanent radioactive waste repository has yet been discovered that has been stable for so long a period.