Would you be surprised if the origin story of the Grand Canyon still confounds the experts?
Problem with the standard theory is that the Colorado River—even before the Glen Canyon dam stemmed its awesome desert floods—was never big enough to explain the size of the Grand Canyon. Also, it flows west out of the Rockies into a raised plateau called the Kaibab Upwarp—but rather than go around, the river cuts right through this plateau. Experts say it slowly cut its way as the land rose around the river, although difficult to comprehend since the plateau existed long before the river.
The Grand Canyon is often compared to Valles Marineris, the gigantic scar across the surface of Mars. The structures are so similar it was originally assumed that this gigantic canyon on the red planet must have been formed by massive water erosion at some earlier, wetter epoch in Martian history—like Earth’s Grand Canyon was thought to have formed. An interesting idea, but the missing water erosion and ponding blew that theory out of the water years ago.
EU advocate and contributor Matt Finn explains how EU Model thinking may hold the answer to the enigma of the Grand Canyon.
