Archive - The Grand Canyon

August 21, 2016

P8041007

Each Sunday we present a notable item from our archives. This EPOD was originally published August 6, 2001.

Provided by: Martin Ruzek, USRA
Summary author: Martin Ruzek

One of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world, Grand Canyon is unmatched in the incomparable vistas it offers to visitors on the rim. Sunset at the Grand Canyon offered this spectacular view from the Bright Angel trailhead looking northward from the south rim. The thick sequence of sedimentary rocks exposed in the walls of the canyon provide a remarkable record of the Paleozoic Era (550-250 million years before present), but the canyon itself has been carved by erosion relatively recently, only during the past five to six million years.

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