Grand Canyon

Native Americans discovered the Grand Canyon, leaving petroglyphs and structures in testament of their existence there.

Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas made the discovery for the Europeans in 1540.
The first human to see the Grand Canyon did so about 12,000 years ago; and that person's name has long been lost to history.

The first European to write about having seen the Canyon was Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, doing so in 1540.

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is a world-renowned showplace of geology. Geologic studies in the park began with the work of Newberry in 1858, and continue today. The Grand Canyon's excellent display of layered rock is invaluable in unraveling the region's geologic history. Extensive carving of the plateaus allows for the detailed study of the Earth's movements. Processes of stream erosion and vulcanism are also easily seen and studied.

The Colorado River has carved the Grand Canyon into four plateaus of the Colorado Plateau Province. The Province is a large area in the Southwest characterized by nearly-horizontal sedimentary rocks lifted 5,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level. The Plateau's arid climate produced many striking erosional forms, culminating in the Grand Canyon. The Canyon's mile-high walls display a largely undisturbed cross section of the Earth's crust extending back some two billion years. Three "Granite Gorges" expose crystalline rocks formed during the early-to-middle Proterozoic Era (late Precambrian). Originally deposited as sediments and lava flows, these rocks were intensely metamorphosed about 1,750 million years ago. Magma rose into the rocks, cooling and crystallizing into granite, and welding the region to the North American continent.

Beginning about 1,200 million years ago (late Proterozoic), 13,000 feet of sediment and lava were deposited in coastal and shallow marine environments. Mountain building about 725 million years ago lifted and tilted these rocks. Subsequent erosion removed these tilted layers from most areas leaving only the wedge-shaped remnants seen in the eastern Canyon.

Rock layers formed during the Paleozoic Era are the most conspicuous in the Grand Canyon's walls. Coastal environments and several marine incursions from the west between 550 and 250 million years ago deposited sandstone, shale and limestone layers totaling 2,400 to 5,000 feet thick. Layers from the Cambrian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian and Permian periods are present. Erosion has removed most Mesozoic Era evidence from the Park, although small remnants can be found, particularly in the western Grand Canyon.

Nearby rock outcrops suggest 4,000 to 8,000 feet of sedimentary layers from the "Age of Dinosaurs" once covered the Grand Canyon area. Cenozoic Era (the "Age of Mammals") layers are limited to the western Grand Canyon and terraces near the river itself. A few sedimentary deposits formed in lake beds, but the most spectacular recent deposits are the lava flows and cinder cones on the Shivwits and Uinkaret plateaus. Volcanic activity began about six million years ago and has continued to within the last several thousand years. Spectacular lava cascades down the Canyon walls have helped date the Grand Canyon's carving.

The Grand Canyon itself is a late Cenozoic feature, characteristic of renewed erosion during this time. Vigorous cutting by the snow-fed Colorado River carved the Canyon's depth. Canyon widening is held in check by the region's dry climate. The asymmetry between rapid downcutting and slow widening results in the Grand Canyon rather than a more typical broad (and nondescript) river valley. Although violent storms may send flash floods gouging down narrow side canyons, the lack of steady moisture has created a stark landscape of mostly naked rock. Harder, erosion-resistant rocks such as the Coconino Sandstone and the Redwall Limestone have eroded into bold cliffs. Softer layers melt into slopes like the Tonto Platform (Bright Angel Shale) and the Esplanade (Hermit Shale). The oldest, crystalline rocks are chiseled into the craggy cliffs of the Granite Gorges.

Nearly 40 identified rock layers form the Grand Canyon's walls. They have attracted students of earth history since 1858. Because most layers are exposed through the Canyon's 277-mile length, they afford the opportunity for detailed studies of environmental changes from place to place (within a layer) in the geologic past. Geologic evolution through time can be studied through the changes between different layers. It was the work of geologists that began changing the public's opinion of the Grand Canyon region from that of "a worthless locale" to "the most sublime of earthly spectacles." After nearly 150 years, geologists are still not finished studying the Grand Canyon. In the mid-1970s, a new rock layer was identified in the Canyon walls. Scientists continue investigating how environment affects rock formation. Perhaps the biggest question of all, how the Colorado River chose this course and began carving the Canyon, still awaits a clear answer.
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The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park - one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. View from the South Rim.

The longstanding scientific consensus has been that the canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of six million years, but research released in 2008 suggests a much longer 17 million year[1] time span. The canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. The "canyon started from the west, then another formed from the east, and the two broke through and met as a single majestic rent in the earth some six million years ago. [...] The merger apparently occurred where the river today, coming from the north, bends to the west, in the area known as the Kaibab Arch."[1] During prehistory, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon ("Ongtupqa" in Hopi language) a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.[citation needed] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.[2] The Grand Canyon was largely unexplored until after the U.S. Civil War. In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran with a thirst for science and adventure, made the first recorded journey through the canyon on the Colorado River. He accomplished this trek with nine men in four small wooden boats, though only six men completed the journey. Powell referred to the sedimentary rock units exposed in the canyon as "leaves in a great story book". The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park - one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. View from the South Rim.

The longstanding scientific consensus has been that the canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of six million years, but research released in 2008 suggests a much longer 17 million year[1] time span. The canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. The "canyon started from the west, then another formed from the east, and the two broke through and met as a single majestic rent in the earth some six million years ago. [...] The merger apparently occurred where the river today, coming from the north, bends to the west, in the area known as the Kaibab Arch."[1] During prehistory, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon ("Ongtupqa" in Hopi language) a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.[citation needed] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.[2] The Grand Canyon was largely unexplored until after the U.S. Civil War. In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran with a thirst for science and adventure, made the first recorded journey through the canyon on the Colorado River. He accomplished this trek with nine men in four small wooden boats, though only six men completed the journey. Powell referred to the sedimentary rock units exposed in the canyon as "leaves in a great story book". The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park - one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. View from the South Rim.

The longstanding scientific consensus has been that the canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of six million years, but research released in 2008 suggests a much longer 17 million year[1] time span. The canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. The "canyon started from the west, then another formed from the east, and the two broke through and met as a single majestic rent in the earth some six million years ago. [...] The merger apparently occurred where the river today, coming from the north, bends to the west, in the area known as the Kaibab Arch."[1] During prehistory, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon ("Ongtupqa" in Hopi language) a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.[citation needed] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.[2] The Grand Canyon was largely unexplored until after the U.S. Civil War. In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran with a thirst for science and adventure, made the first recorded journey through the canyon on the Colorado River. He accomplished this trek with nine men in four small wooden boats, though only six men completed the journey. Powell referred to the sedimentary rock units exposed in the canyon as "leaves in a great story book".

It is in arizona. Arizona is a desert, so it is someplace in the desert.

The Grand Canyon is in northern Arizona. The southern rim is the more picturesque, The nothern rim has more trees and shrubbs and can actually get cold there--but it is an outstanding site from wherever you are.