when the grand canyon held water how deep would it have been at its max depth?

Answer 1

What do you mean by 'when the Grand Canyon held water'?

The Grand Canyon as we know it today has never been completely filled with water like a lake. The canyon was carved over millions of years by a combination of the erosion of the Colorado River and (perhaps more importantly) the rising of the Colorado Plateau which greatly accelerated the work of the river.

There are places along the western end of the canyon (quite a ways downstream from the National Park) where ancient volcanos and lava flows occured over a period lasting from about 500,000 years ago to 100,000 years ago. Evidence indicates that several of these flows partially damed the lower inner gorge section of the canyon. The largest of these natural dams were between 1,000 and 2,000 feet in depth and so the water in the canyon behind them may have reached that depth (not even half the height of the canyon).

One aspect of canyon geology that sometimes confuses people are the references to the rock deposits made when the area was covered by a shallow sea. It is important to remember that the canyon did not exist at those times - rather the entire area (which was much lower in elevation then) was covered by the sea. Millions of years later, the land was pushed upward and the river cut down into the rock to reveal the long buried seabeds.

Answer 2

The Colorado River did not "create" the Grand Canyon. It's a common mistake among many people to say that that the Grand Canyon was created by the Grand Canyon.

If you have ever been to the Grand Canyon, you will note the expanses of up to 15 miles with extremely sharp steep cliffs. The Grand Canyon is also about 1 mile deep. For the Colorado River to cut something like that it would take umpteenth billion years or what-not. Especially considering that the bottom of the Grand Canyon is granite rock and the Colorado River currently downcuts about 1 millimeter per every 2000 years. At least that's what they told me at the US Geological Survey when I took a trip with them to measure.

If the Colorado River were to take that long to cut the Grand Canyon, it would have created soft, rounded edges. The Grand Canyon has far from soft rounded edges. Also, the Grand Canyon has hundreds of side canyons. Some going for as much as 50 miles. These side canyons are anywhere from 1000 to 2500 feet deep and they are dry 95% of the year. The only time do they have water is when it rains here... and Arizona gets 300+ days of sunshine per year. So how did the Colorado River cut the side canyons?

Another thing about the Grand Canyon is that you can find sea fossils all throughout Northern Arizona. It's commonly agreed upon among geologists at Northern Arizona University (the closest University to the Grand Canyon) that the whole area used to be an ocean.

So most likely, the Colorado Plateau came up in a relatively fast and violent manner which broke part of the Plateau leaving the Grand Canyon and many other side Canyons. This would also explain the many canyons throughout the rest of the Colorado Plateau. Oak Creek Canyon is about half the depth of the Grand Canyon but is just as magnificient. Walnut Canyon is also very pretty. The oceans most likely emptied wherever they could go lower in elevation. Phoenix area, California, parts of Utah. Then the remaining lakes dried up and now there is a desert.

Now specifics are debated like crazy. There is even one theory taught at Northern Arizona University about a Glacier cutting the Grand Canyon in about 4 days. That seems a little extreme to me. Most likely it took around 4000ish years to make. And we know the Grand Canyon was in existance at least 4000 years ago due to Anasazi Indian ruins which date from 1000 to about 4000 years old.

How old the Grand Canyon is can be widely debated but I can garuntee that the Colorado River did not cut the Grand Canyon.

Answer 3

Grand Canyon Filled With Water

Answer 4

The Grand Canyon is a very colorful, 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 the Grand Canyon area, visiting on numerous occasions to hunt Cougars and enjoy the scenery.

The canyon, created by the Colorado River cutting a channel over millions of years, is about 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 0.25 to 15 miles (0.4 to 24 kilometers), and attains a depth of more than a mile (1,600 m). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut through layer after layer of sediment as the Colorado Plateaus have uplifted.

The first recorded sighting of the Grand Canyon by a European was in 1540, García López de Cárdenas from Spain. [1] The first scientific expedition to the canyon was led by U.S. Major John Wesley Powell in 1869. Powell referred to the sedimentary rock units exposed in the canyon as "leaves in a great story book". Long before that, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon walls.:

Answer 5

The grand canyon was formed by the Colorado river. It's hard for me to think that it was ever much more than about 5 times it's depth today (not thinking about floods). So ... about 700 feet would be my guess. There might have been some pools / ponds / lakes deeper than that.

Answer 6

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