what created the grand canyon?

Question

It would be impossible for the Colorado River to create this landmark... the water would have to go UP HILL! The Kaibab Plateau is about 5,000 feet above the source of the Colorado River where it enters the Grand Canyon. How do you account for the water going up hill?

Answer 1

Great question! If you are truly looking for a scientific answer, remember that science must be observable. During our lifetime, a similar (yet much smaller) catastrophe occurred which provided scientific evidence of how the Grand Canyon was actually formed . . . Mount St. Helens.

At Mount St. Helens eruption, the entire mountain was rearranged beyond recognition within 9 hours. Deep canyons were formed within five months. Layered rock strata formed in three hours. A river system formed in nine hours. Sinking logs looked like aged forests within just ten years. Also, a new model for understanding coal formation was adopted . . . all because of what could be observed at Mount St. Helens eruption.

Consequently, much has been explained about how the Grand Canyon was formed; we no longer have to guess. The Grand Canyon is a lasting monument of the worldwide flood during the life of Noah in approximately 2458 BC. Up until the time of Mount St. Helens, geologists never imagined such changes could occur in such a short amount of time. If you see what occurred at Mount St. Helens in our lifetime (in just a few hours and months), you can easily understand how the Grand Canyon was formed during a worldwide flood with erupting volcanoes, massive landslides and receding waters at rapid speed. That’s science!

'The catastrophic erosion of Grand Canyon (probably a result of drainage of lakes) was associated with river-terrace gravels, lake sediments, landslide deposits, and lava flows of the post-Flood period,” says Steven A. Austin. (Reference #3)

Check out the 'Answers in Genesis' website for lots of great information. Best wishes on your search for truth and quest for knowledge . . . ! May you continue to search as if looking for a hidden treasure . . . !

Answer 2

The reason that the Colorado River cuts through areas that are higher elevation than places upstream is due to the gradual uplifting of the Colorado Plateau over a long period of time. Originally the Colorado Plateau was at a much lower elevation (lower than the headwaters). As the plateau country very slowly raised over a period of several million years, the river cut down into it.

Obviously if portions of a river's bed only rise a couple inches over the space of a decade, than the river is not going to suddenly change course over a fraction of an inch. However, those places that are starting to raise up are going to be pushing more into the flow of the river and thus be worn away quicker. Continue the process over 3-4 million years and you have the Grand Canyon.

The process is similar to using a bandsaw. The saw blade does not move through the wood, it stays in place while the wood moves up around it and it is the force of the wood pushing into the saw that results in most of the cutting action. In much the same way, the Colorado River was like the band saw blade cutting into a rising part of the earth's crust like it was a block of wood. This not only explains the higher elevation of the plateau compared to the headwaters, but also explains why the river cut so deep.

There are a number of studies going on involving the exact rates of change and specific routes and evolution of the river's course over the millienia, but it is the overwhelming concensus of the vast majority of geologists and other scientists who have studied the canyon that the river cutting into a rising plateau was the underlying cause.

The arguement about the river 'having to flow uphill' is usually put forward by young-earth religious fundamentalists who believe the entire universe is only about 10,000 years old and that the whole canyon was carved in the space of a couple weeks as the earth emerged from Noah's flood. A massive tidal wave of water pouring off the highlands makes it even harder to explain an uphill flow because water seeks the path of least resistance and any mountain size tidal wave coming from southeastern Utah would have most likely followed the natural flow of gravity and drained into the lower areas southeast of the canyon. Any giant body of water able to flow over the top of the Colorado Plateau would have crested and flowed over the lower-lying areas first. The very gradual rise of the plateau under the river bed over millions of years is not only the theory best supported by the evidence, it is also the most logical one.

The theory that the river (in some form or another) was the primary agent for cutting the canyon has been supported by hundreds of scientific studies published over the last 150 years by hundreds of scientists and then reviewed and validated by hundreds more using numerous different techniques and processes.

Before somebody brings up the old 'you have to choose between science and religion', it should be noted that the vast majority of the geologists who developed and shaped the current river-cutting theory were not only educated scientists, but also devote Christians. Learning new things about God's creation - things our ancestors could not have imagined - does not scare them or shake their faith, it simply reconfirms for them how endlessly big, ancient, complex and - above all - beautiful God's universe is.

Answer 3

The Colorado River.

Answer 4

The Grand Canyon was carved by the action of the Colorado River.

Answer 5

The Colorado River, over millions of years.

Answer 6

The Colorado River......and a lot of time.

Answer 7

Umm...The colorado river over millions of years of erosion.

Answer 8

hulinmr2002 is right! God created it. It is one the most beatiful things I have seen.

Answer 9

Realy.... not me... hi..hi..hi.. wait let me ask my brother whether he created it.........................

Answer 10

God.