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Essay On The Grand Canyon

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The Grand Canyon is a notable topographic feature in Northern America. It has nearly 2, 000 meters of rock layers exposed on the surface with twelve major rock units and occupies a region of broad continental crust. Despite its vastness, how it exactly became as it is now remains a question to scientists who study the area. The Grand Canyon is located specifically at the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona. It begins at Lee’s Ferry and ends at the Grand Wash Cliffs. It reaches up to 18 miles wide. The Colorado River system runs across the canyon, from Lee’s Ferry with an elevation of 3,086 feet to Lake Mead which is 235 miles from Lee’s Ferry where the elevation is about 1157 feet. This gives an average gradient of 8.3 ft/mi. …show more content…

It proposed that no late Cenozoic uplift was necessary to explain the incision of the Grand Canyon. Instead, the rapid incision was only due to overflowing basins in three separate localities which are in the central Rocky Mountains, in the Hualapi basin, and in the Bouse Formation basins. Another study supports the lake overflow model which is about the formation and failure of “lava dams” in the western Grand Canyon. Isolated outcrops of horizontal, basaltic lava flows exist within the inner gorge of the western Grand Canyon and these indicate that several “lava dams” were formed during the Pleistocene that blocked the flow of the Colorado River. Because of this, several lakes were formed within the canyon. Noticeable widening within the inner gorges supports this idea. These dams eroded catastrophically soon after formation, as evidenced by the presence of relatively small isolated depositionally-intact aggraded delta deposits within the tributary drainages of the eastern and central Grand Canyon. Also, it was found out that due to the presence of lava-dam remnants near the present level of the Colorado River that the canyon has undergone negligible deepening since the formation of the dams. Hence, no appreciable erosion has occurred in the canyon within a 1.8 million year

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The poorly sorted nature of the conglomerates, considered with the inclusion of wood fragments in the older conglomerate members and the graded sandstones and mudstones throughout the formation suggest deposition occurred through successions of debris flows. Presence of volcanics in the lithic fragments further indicate volcanic activity in the process of sedimentation as well—as debris flows associated with lahars are the likely source of the slope failures. Deposition environment was moderate to deep marine, as mudstone deposits require low energy depositional environment, but the style of sedimentation indicate deposition was not on a continental shelf. This is further supported by inclusion of the large overturned clast from an older member within the formation. Cross-bedding, graded bedding, and scouring surfaces provide 3 lines of evidence establishing the northern contact of the formation as the original upward oriented surface.

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The fountain formation is almost 300 million years. The rock we found here was a sedimentary rock, and its called conglomerate. its grain size is less than 1 millimeter. The minerals its contain are Hematite, K-feldspar, quartz, and biotite. We can say it deposited in form of alluival fan - Bajada which in the base of the mountains.

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Along the southern boundary were three separate arches which were rising due to the Taconic orogeny: Kankakee, Findlay, and Cincinnati. The upward movement of these arches were integral in the depressive basins forming adjacent to them: Michigan, Illinois, and Appalachian. However, the original weakening of the continental lithosphere is suggested to have been caused by the introduction of a rising diaper (Haxby, Turcotte, Bird 1976). Erosional and weathered material from the nearby forming mountains were transported and deposited into the many basins west of the mountain belt. The sediment would continue to accumulate and accentuate the subsidence which was occurring and further deepen the basin.

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(Harris, 2004) The downfaulting of Death Valley is correlated with the extension of the lithosphere in the Death Valley region, which plays a part to the uplifting associated with Sequoia – Kings Canyon National Park. The Batholiths of the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges are prominent in both parks, exposing “plumbing systems” in magma chambers that fed the volcanoes. “Magmatic differentiation” involves the crystallization of a magma with magma of a different chemical composition, creating more than one type of igneous rock, which can be seen in both Yosemite and Sequoia – Kings National Parks. (Harris, 2004, 748)

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The Connecticut river valley was also formed from many rifts and faults that had developed. A rift valley is a region of lowland that forms where tectonic plates move apart, which is how the river valley was formed. On the other hand, the plate tectonics also formed the Appalachian mountains. The Appalachian mountains were formed by convergent boundaries, which is when two plates collide. The

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Since we were given the go-ahead to choose a geological formation other than the Grand Canyon, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about Carlsbad Cavern. My family will be taking on a road trip in a couple weeks and this is one of our points-of-interest planned stops. Carlsbad Cavern is located in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. One of its most popular attractions is the Big Room, “the largest single cave chamber by volume in North America.” [1] Ironically for this assignment, actor and comedian Will Rogers referred to it as “The Grand Canyon with a roof over it.”

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Geologists have found that the oldest exposed rocks in the national park to date back to 75 million years. The formations resulted from sediments that were largely swept into the area due to the rise of the Rocky Mountains. This eventually resulted in a rising of land above sea level. The deposits consisted of different strata of dark shale beds, many containing fossils of marine life from the Seaway (Stoffer 2003).

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Pearl Woodrum saw her fears realized when the dam burst in 1972. As the residents of Buffalo Creek slept soundly in their beds, they would not be able to envision the horrors that would occur on that dreary February morning. They knew that any time there was a substantial amount of rainfall in Buffalo Creek, the creek would rise and the lack of an early warning system meant they might never know if a heavy rain heralded disaster until it was too late. Residents also knew that the dam was not stable, a fact the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed when it concluded that the dam was “basically stable but could be overtopped and breached.” William Davies was the federal geologist who conducted the study and stated that if the dam broke, “flood and debris would damage a church and two or three houses downstream, cover the road and wash out the railroad.”

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Yuma, Arizona a state that was officially established in 1912 came to be one of the most and main important areas in irrigation and agricultural history as it grew and progressed and was founded by many. All Southern Arizona contributed to the significance of this history along with Yuma as well. With the Colorado River as the main supply and running through these areas supplying water creating other dams and canals such as the Yuma Siphon, Yuma Main Canal, Laguna Dam, All American Canal etc. Question Number one, Describe in detail how irrigation changed Yuma/ South Arizona.

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The mill is open for tours and corn-grinding demonstrations on the 3rd Saturday of every month. Stone ground cornmeal and grits are always available. Laurel Fork Falls makes a spectacular 80-foot drop directly into Lake Jocacee and is best viewed from the lake. However, the falls can be viewed from either Lake Jocacee or from the Foothills Trail. From land: a 5-6 hour 8.1 mile hike over difficult terrain will require an overnight stay.

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The Tapeats Sandstone displays a basal transgressive sequence that built up as the ocean transgressed onto land. The sea transgressed so far into the Grand Canyon that shale deposited over the sandstone, and eventually the limestone was deposited over the shale. The vertical sequence of sandstone, shale, and limestone creates a transgressive facies pattern and displays offshore facies. By looking at these layer patterns, geologists are able to figure out if sea levels were rising or dropping during the formation of these rocks.

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Yellowstone was shaped by three major eruptions over the last 3 million years. The first major eruption created the First Caldera 2.1 million years ago, at Huckleberry Ridge Tuff. The second eruption created the Henry’s Fork Caldera at Mesa Falls Tuff 1.3 million years ago. Finally, about 631,000 years ago, the Yellowstone Caldera was formed after an eruption at Lava Creek Tuff. These caldera formations build the Yellowstone hotspot responsible for the thermal activity in park!

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The rock layers in the Grand canyon really show how an awesome God he is. The Fossils located in the Grand Canyon mostly came from the water killing the animal and preserving it( Ribokas 3). There are also many types of fossils in the Grand Canyon. Most of the fossils came from the world wide flood, also known as Noah's Flood. The definition of a fossil "Is remains of an organism preserved in a petrified form or as a mold or cast in the rock."

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Fought over the belief that one human being can possess another, the American Civil War helped to not only reshape the United States, but also reshape the ideas and values of Americans to this day through literal blood, sweat, and tears. While it may not seem like it, the New Mexico territory played a pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War. On the western frontier of the nation in the New Mexico Territory, several crucial battles waged, and while they may not have had the mass casualties compared to other battles during the War, they proved to be just as essential to the course of the War. The New Mexico territory played a role in the American Civil War because of its strategic location, the First Battle of Mesilla, and the Battle of Glorieta Pass.

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