Red Butte Erosion (Sidebar 3)

From Chapter 5 "How Was Grand Canyon Eroded?" of Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe ed. by Steven A. Austin. 1994. Institute for Creation Research, Santee. p.83 - 85.

"The greatest of the Grand Canyon's enigmas is the problem of how it was made. This is the most volatile aspect of Grand Canyon geological studies. . . . Grand Canyon has held tight to her secrets of origin and age. Every approach to this problem has been cloaked in hypothesis, drawing on the incomplete empirical evidence of stratigraphy, sedimentology, and radiometric dating"

Earle E. Spamer, 1989

"In the inductive process, the more hypotheses the better. . . . Contrary to this essential . . . the doctrine of uniformitarianism leads to poverty where riches are to be desired"

Howard Bigelow Baker, 1938

Grand Canyon, the world's most awesome erosional wonder, captures our attention and causes us to contemplate the forces of nature which have excavated it. As we stand on the south rim, we see only a fraction of its true dimensions. Those who have flown over the Canyon have observed its full extent. Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, counting the 60 miles of Marble Canyon upstream on the Colorado River. The depth of the main segment of Grand Canyon varies between 3,000 and 6,000 feet and the width, from rim to rim, between 4 and 18 miles. At the south rim near Grand Canyon Village, the Coconino Plateau has an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. The north rim, which is the southern part of the adjacent Kaibab Plateau, has an elevation of 8,000 feet, whereas the Colorado River below has an elevation of 2,400 feet.

Three Observations
To begin our discussion concerning the erosion of Grand Canyon, we make three important geologic observations.

Red Butte Erosion: An Enormous Amount of Erosion
Red Butte Erosion: Grand Canyon Cuts Through the Plateau
Red Butte Erosion: Uplift Occurred Before Erosion of the Canyon

For a discussion of the theories used to explain the formation of the Grand Canyon, see
Module 9, A Geologist Looks at Noah's Flood.

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