Luisa, you certainly know your geology! You missed a good chance to say; much as yer tummy is rising the Colorado Plateau was pushed up and vast sheets of water eroded down during that uplift over millions of years. Glad as a geologist you got a chance to come over and see the Canyon!
Doesn't really matter how old the rocks are, what matters is when they were carved into their present shapes. The sandstones were laid down long, long, long ago, but the strata they formed were pushed up, and into collisions with other elements much more recently. Probablyithin the historical memory of man, or less than 5,000 years ago! The only part of the canyon "cut" by the river is the canyon at the bottom, similar to the heights of the canyons in Glen Canyon, and along the San Juan. The "Colorado River" only dug the final 1,500 feet or so, similar to what it "dug" through the sandstone walls of Lake Powell. The water that carved out the Grand Canyon was far larger, more like 1,500-2,000 times as much water as the Colorado River carries in a year, All at one time, in a time not that long ago, geologically speaking. The rocks are old. Most rocks are. When they were made has little to do with when they were thrust up into the air, or eroded by the passage of large amounts of water in short periods of time. That's the real story behind the "evolution of the Grand Canyon, and the American Southwest, in general. *Massive* amounts of water poured across the landscape, out of central Wyoming, down from Alberta and eastern Montana, across northwestern Colorado, racing across the Uinta Basin, splattering into the ancient caliche basin of the Four Corners, to create a "lake", or an inland sea", stretching from northwest of Helper UT to southeast of Pie Town NM, west-southwest of Flagstaff past Williams, AZ, to over by Gallina NM. Tops of a few mountains stretched above water levels that steadily fell, replenished from the Wyoming and Uinta Basins, until those were cut off, as downstream ancient caliche sea beds gave way to onrushing waters, revealing Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Escalante. Massive amounts of water carved an endless variety of shapes in the landscape, out of ancient-as-dust sandstone strata left by seas tens of millions of years ago, jumbled by the collision that had pushed up the Colorado Plateau. Some of erosion happened in the initial rush, some took time for running water to wear down harder stone, while other landmarks were the results of water draining away, down to the sinuous track of the Colorado River canyon, etched not over "billions of years", but mere thousands of years, only a few thousand years ago. So much water filled the Four Corners basin, it splashed over the Mogollon Rim, and across the Kaibab Plateau, sloshing over the edges of the rift that would become the Grand Canyon, and eventually the path of the river that would drain the emerging watershed.
Correction: the river is about 4000 down from the (south) rim, not 4000m. Suggestion: Rather than have to edit out the sweary f word, you could have just said, "that's as old as Madonna".
I want to see "that's old as f***" on a BBC documentary...
Luisa, you certainly know your geology! You missed a good chance to say; much as yer tummy is rising the Colorado Plateau was pushed up and vast sheets of water eroded down during that uplift over millions of years. Glad as a geologist you got a chance to come over and see the Canyon!
Why do the TH-cam videos end before the end if you understand me?
No idea what she is saying but I like watching her say it
Doesn't really matter how old the rocks are, what matters is when they were carved into their present shapes. The sandstones were laid down long, long, long ago, but the strata they formed were pushed up, and into collisions with other elements much more recently. Probablyithin the historical memory of man, or less than 5,000 years ago! The only part of the canyon "cut" by the river is the canyon at the bottom, similar to the heights of the canyons in Glen Canyon, and along the San Juan.
The "Colorado River" only dug the final 1,500 feet or so, similar to what it "dug" through the sandstone walls of Lake Powell. The water that carved out the Grand Canyon was far larger, more like 1,500-2,000 times as much water as the Colorado River carries in a year, All at one time, in a time not that long ago, geologically speaking. The rocks are old. Most rocks are. When they were made has little to do with when they were thrust up into the air, or eroded by the passage of large amounts of water in short periods of time.
That's the real story behind the "evolution of the Grand Canyon, and the American Southwest, in general. *Massive* amounts of water poured across the landscape, out of central Wyoming, down from Alberta and eastern Montana, across northwestern Colorado, racing across the Uinta Basin, splattering into the ancient caliche basin of the Four Corners, to create a "lake", or an inland sea", stretching from northwest of Helper UT to southeast of Pie Town NM, west-southwest of Flagstaff past Williams, AZ, to over by Gallina NM.
Tops of a few mountains stretched above water levels that steadily fell, replenished from the Wyoming and Uinta Basins, until those were cut off, as downstream ancient caliche sea beds gave way to onrushing waters, revealing Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Escalante. Massive amounts of water carved an endless variety of shapes in the landscape, out of ancient-as-dust sandstone strata left by seas tens of millions of years ago, jumbled by the collision that had pushed up the Colorado Plateau.
Some of erosion happened in the initial rush, some took time for running water to wear down harder stone, while other landmarks were the results of water draining away, down to the sinuous track of the Colorado River canyon, etched not over "billions of years", but mere thousands of years, only a few thousand years ago. So much water filled the Four Corners basin, it splashed over the Mogollon Rim, and across the Kaibab Plateau, sloshing over the edges of the rift that would become the Grand Canyon, and eventually the path of the river that would drain the emerging watershed.
Correction: the river is about 4000 down from the (south) rim, not 4000m. Suggestion: Rather than have to edit out the sweary f word, you could have just said, "that's as old as Madonna".
O A F , that's older than Caledonia Erogeny, right ✅ ❤ 🪨🤘