Divermarv

But Grand!

Waiting for my pictures to sync to my iPad. But I can still write. I’m a wee bit of a science nerd. And including geology. So a rock nerd. I’ve been anticipating my visit to the canyon for a while. I’ve watched a documentary on the geology of the canyon, and the theories on its formation.

Starting at the bottom, the Vishnu basement rocks, a couple of billion years old, really set the stage for the whole thing. And it’s just been calamitous ever since.

What the schist! (I toyed with “well, that’s gneiss”).

Talking about the Grand Canyon would be an entire semester class. Or two. It’s just amazing that the Colorado river cut through it all allowing us a peek at the goings on. How the sausage is made, as it were. Just reading about the ones who undertook the discoveries and investigations and examinations is a master class in determination, perseverance, and gumption.

John Wesley Powell, a civil war Union veteran — with one arm — led a boat expedition down the Colorado river through the canyon. Stopping to investigate the geological wonders. You know, the inquisitiveness of human beings like him is just amazing to me. But then they didn’t have social media to occupy their time then either.

I learned on this trip, by experience, about the Colorado plateau. Or rather more details. Heading into New Mexico I keep going up and up. But the land wasn’t really that mountainous. Yet the elevation was in excess of five thousand feet. Long before I was born the Laramide orogeny (mountain building event) lifted the whole shebang up a couple of miles. So the Colorado river (or when it formed, there’s an “old river” versus “young river” debate ongoing) got a head start on its hungry hungry hippo canyon munching journey. Even if it wasn’t the Colorado, perhaps it was whatever drainage off the plateau that got things aimed right.

The uplift of the Colorado plateau allowed the Colorado river to gain that momentum necessary to carve away. Then many years later the outlet of the Colorado river in the Gulf of California (honestly we should just start calling that the Gulf of Mexico now) opened up which allowed the river even more flow to cut the canyon deeper and deeper.

If I’m not mistaken — and I could be — the way the water cuts these channels is that it creates waterfalls and the torrent of the waterfall eats away backwards up the river. Like the Niagara Falls have been eroded away much further north than they used to be. Long before I was born.

About a million years ago, maybe a little more… who’s counting… there was some volcanic activity in the canyon, which caused some dams to form. And at one time there were some really deep lakes. But all good things must end; or rather wash away to the sea. These dams were eaten through and we eventually got what we have today. And the volcanic rock is the youngest rock in the canyon.

But the whole thing? It’s absolutely… grand.

Just a few pictures.

Peace and love – Marv