Two billion years of the Earth’s historical past are represented within the panorama of the American Southwest. Geologic forces created a number of the most archetypal and numerous pure wonders, such because the mile-deep, 277-mile-long Grand Canyon, the bulging hoodoo spires of Bryce Canyon National Park and the elegant slot canyons of Zion National Park. This total Southwest area is a geologist’s dream, as its rocks present examples and timelines of most of the processes nonetheless shaping the Earth. right now.
The huge quantity of desert wildlife that calls these canyons house is shocking. In these serene canyonlands, bighorn sheep transfer with confidence on craggy cliffs; coyote, pink fox and pronghorn prowl the grasses; and golden eagles keep watch over every part from above.
And although these landscapes might look barren, plant lovers will discover lots to pique their curiosity. Spring is an particularly good time to go to the Southwest, as a powerful number of desert verbena, lupine, Mexican poppies, globemallow, chuparosa, penstemon and daisies nurtured by the winter rain bloom in mass profusion and carpet the desert ground and slopes with vivid colours.
While this area is called Red Rock Country, the canyon partitions right here can glow shades of gold, rose, rust and violet because the excessive desert gentle shifts all through the day, bathing the rocks in ever-changing gentle and making it a perfect place for each beginner {and professional} photographers to observe their craft.
Photographing Bryce Canyon’s well-known hoodoos © Jeremy Covert
There’s no scarcity of spectacular locations to go to within the Southwest to see distinctive rock formations and geologic wonders, however listed below are three of our favorites:
Grand Canyon
No round-up of geologic options of the Southwest could be full and not using a point out of the Grand Canyon. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it averages 4,000 ft deep for its total 277 miles and is taken into account among the best examples of arid-land erosion on the planet. The canyon is 6,000 ft deep at its deepest level and 18 miles broad at its widest, and it tells one of many world’s biggest geologic tales. Its options enable scientists to piece collectively its historical past, beginning on the backside of the canyon and transferring ahead in time as you get nearer to the rim.
Geology of the Grand Canyon
The story begins with the formation of the igneous and metamorphic rocks of the interior gorge. Stratigraphy is the research of the rock layering and within the Grand Canyon, there are clear horizontal layers of various rocks that present details about the place, when and the way they had been deposited, lengthy earlier than the canyon was even carved. The oldest rock within the Grand Canyon, referred to as the Elves Chasm Gneiss, is situated deep within the canyon’s depths as a part of the Vishnu Basement Rocks and is available in at an historic 1.84 billion years outdated. The youngest of the Grand Canyon’s rock layers, the Kaibab Formation, varieties the edges of the canyon and is simply 270 million years outdated—however for perspective, that’s nonetheless older than dinosaurs!
Around 70 million years in the past and once more 30 million years in the past, the entire area was uplifted by way of plate tectonic motion, ensuing within the Colorado Plateau. The canyon itself is geologically younger, having been fashioned within the final 6 million years because the Colorado River began to carve its method downward. Further erosion by tributary streams led to the canyon’s widening. Even youthful deposits, together with ice age fossils in caves, 1,000 year-old lava flows within the western canyon, and lately deposited particles flows, deliver the Grand Canyon’s geologic document as much as the current. Even right now, these forces are nonetheless exhausting at work deepening and widening the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon Plants and Animals
At greater elevations there may be vegetation like ponderosa and pinyon pines, sagebrush scrub and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Gray fox, mule deer, bighorn sheep and rock squirrels all make their houses on the South Rim, whereas Kaibob squirrels, mountain lions and northern goshawks are primarily discovered on the North Rim.
With one of many clearest exposures of the rock document and such a protracted, numerous geologic historical past, the Grand Canyon is an ideal place to expertise a way of geologic or “deep” time. Join us on our Grand Canyon, Bryce & Zion journey to really feel for your self what it’s prefer to be overcome by marvel at your individual tiny on the spot in geological historical past.
Bryce Canyon
You could also be shocked to be taught that the primary factor to see in a spot referred to as Bryce Canyon isn’t really a canyon. Located within the High Plateaus area of the Colorado Plateau in Utah, Bryce Canyon’s elevation, erosion, local weather and rock kind are all components that create fantastically surreal rock spires referred to as hoodoos that may rise a whole lot of ft into the sky.
Bryce Canyon hoodoos © Jeremy Covert
History of Bryce Canyon’s Hoodoos
We know that folks have been within the Colorado Plateau area for about 12,000 years, however solely a handful of fragments of labored stone with Anasazi and Fremont influences inform of their presence close to Bryce Canyon. Paiutes lived within the area when Euro-Americans arrived in southern Utah and defined the colourful hoodoos as “Legend People” who had been turned to stone by Coyote.
Present-day scientists imagine that the forces of water, ice and gravity (not wind) are answerable for the distinctive shapes in Bryce Canyon. These three forces—coupled with the differential erosion of the Claron Formation—produce a distinct morphology than that of some other space on the planet.
The formation of Bryce Canyon and its hoodoos required three steps: the deposition of rocks, uplift of the land, and weathering and erosion.
The Cretaceous Period started about 144 million years in the past and lasted till roughly 63 million years in the past. For 60 million years, an amazing seaway prolonged northwestward into this space, depositing sediments of various thickness and composition because it repeatedly invaded, retreated after which re-invaded the area. It left in its wake sediments hundreds of ft thick—remnants that kind the oldest, lowest, gray-brown rocks at Bryce Canyon.
In the Tertiary Period, between 66 and 40 million years in the past, highlands to the west eroded into shallow, broad basins. Iron-rich, limy sediments had been deposited within the beds of lakes and streams. These grew to become the pink rocks of the Claron Formation, from which the hoodoos are carved and for which the Pink Cliffs are named.
Then, 10 to fifteen million years in the past, the Paunsaugunt Plateau was lifted by the Colorado Plateau. Breaks (known as joints) fashioned within the plateau through the uplift. These joints allowed water to circulate into the rock, the place erosion widened them into rivulets and gullies. Over time, deep slot canyons fashioned within the sides of the plateau.
A Bird’s-eye View
The panorama of Bryce Canyon makes you are feeling as in the event you’ve stumbled upon one other world. Its pink pinnacles, limestone formations and pure amphitheaters distinction with pink rock partitions that create deep channels all through the park. Trails alongside the rock partitions result in tranquil recesses, good spots to understand the park’s variety of birdlife. More than 175 completely different species of birds have been recorded as frequenting Bryce Canyon National Park, together with golden eagles, chickadees, nuthatches and ravens.
But the birds aren’t the one ones in a position to benefit from the view from above. A particular spotlight that our Grand Canyon, Bryce & Zion company love is getting a uncommon aerial perspective on the forest of pink sandstone hoodoos by means of a memorable helicopter flightseeing tour.
Zion
Early Mormon pioneers gave Zion its title. They thought this place was so stunning it evoked pictures for them of the biblical Promised Land. Many would say that Zion Canyon, fashioned by the North Fork of the Virgin River, is essentially the most visually spectacular canyon within the area. The South Fork additionally varieties a deep gorge (Parunuweap Canyon), and each branches have many different tributaries that kind the slot canyons that Zion is legendary for.
Geology of Zion: Sea and Sand Dunes to Sun-drenched Canyons
Zion National Park was as soon as each a saltwater sea and a desert of towering sand dunes 240 million years in the past. The sand dunes grew to become what are actually the breathtaking 2,000 foot cliffs of Zion National Park when actions within the earth’s crust triggered the world’s largest sand dunes to sink under sea stage. This allowed the sand to combine with minerals and calcium carbonate from the shells of sea animals to kind sandstone. The earth’s motion then triggered the land to uplift and drain the ocean away, and rivers started to carve the sandstone, forming the deep canyons now present in Zion National Park.
Most slot canyons are distant, hidden and troublesome to succeed in and discover, however the problem solely provides to the enchantment of visiting them. The canyons are usually dry for a lot of the yr, however through the late summer time months they obtain occasional flash floods of nice pressure carrying logs, stones and different particles. These floods have been reducing by way of the comparatively comfortable orange and pink Navajo sandstone for tens of millions of years, creating a formidable array of colourful rock shapes and varieties.
When daylight shines down and displays alongside the slender canyon partitions, the shadows and colours change consistently because the solar strikes. The canyons usually have fantastic swimming pools and waterfalls and slender channels, which make them much more enjoyable to discover.
Plants and Animals of Zion
In the spring and early summer time, wildflowers resembling wild snapdragon, sacred datura, Indian paintbrush and sunflowers proliferate within the meadows. In the warmer, drier areas of the park, cactus, yucca and sagebrush are discovered. Trees resembling cottonwoods, velvet ash and field elder develop alongside rivers and streams, whereas piñon pines and juniper cowl the sunny slopes and ponderosa pine, aspens and fir timber fortunately develop at greater altitudes. Dripping springs uncover “hanging gardens” the place ferns and grasses develop.
As for birds, every part from hummingbirds to California condors and Peregrine falcons will be discovered right here. Our knowledgeable guides know the key spots the place we are able to see them, avoiding the swarms of vacationers that flock to the park’s most crowded places.
How Climate Change Threatens Our Canyonlands
The canyons of the American Southwest are a particular a part of the U.S. panorama. Unfortunately, these desert ecosystems are threatened by local weather change. The Southwest is already the most popular and driest area within the U.S., and warmer temps and extra frequent and intense droughts have amped up the depth and frequency of wildfires. The area’s wealthy variety of plant and animal species are additionally turning into more and more harassed because of the space’s warming local weather. Snowpack and streamflow quantities are projected to say no in components of the Southwest, lowering floor water provide reliability.
WWF is doing its half to assist protect free-flowing rivers by stopping dams and reconnecting rivers by way of dam elimination, strengthening and selling legal guidelines that defend rivers, and inspiring leaders on the native stage to make eco-minded selections about water administration. Since 2003, Nat Hab has partnered with WWF to assist promote their conservation mission. By experiencing the canyons of the Southwest with us on our Grand Canyon, Bryce & Zion tour, you take part in sustainable journey that helps the safety of nature, wildlife and native communities.