Geologic Features

Havasu Falls is located in the southern tip of the Kaibab Plateau. This plateau formed 70 million years ago.  In this spot, rainfall becomes ground water, and runs down this southern sloping part of the plateau.  This ground water then flows to different areas, forming natural springs and waterfalls.  The limestone in this area also plays an important role in the uniqueness of these falls.  As the groundwater dissolves the limestone, it becomes rich in calcite and magnesium.  Then as the water rushed over the falls and rocky terrain of the area, it loses carbon dioxide and the calcite precipitates into tufa and travertine.  This constant dissolving and precipitating of rocks means the course of the stream is ever changing.

Horseshoe bend is located near Havasu Falls, and began forming 6 million years ago when the Colorado River started its work of carving out the Grand Canyon. This entire area had a lot of Navajo Sandstone, which erodes easily. As the rock eroded, however, the river hit harder rock layers like the Kayenta Formation and the Wingate Sandstone. This led to the Meander that we have today. A meander is a bend or loop that develops as a river winds around a flat landscape.  As time passed, the river downcut this horseshoe shape deeper and deeper. In addition to the normal downcutting, the sharp turn of the horseshoe shape led to deposition of sediment on the inner part of the curve and more intense erosion on the outer part of the curve.

It is very rare for a river to be able to carve out a canyon as vast as the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River was able to do this because of its immense power.  This power originates with the fact that the land was uplifted millions of years ago. This uplift created a much steeper gradient for the water to flow down, which meant water flowed more quickly, pushing debris like sandpaper against the canyon walls.  Flash floods in the region, as well as the arid climate also contribute to this river's intensity.  All of this put together led to the rapid downcutting and erosion that formed this canyon.

345 million years ago, during the Mississippian Period, the entire southwest United States was covered by an ancient ocean. As the sea life that lived in this area died, a calcium and lime deposit rich mud formed at the bottom of this ocean. Eventually this mud hardened into limestone bedrock. This bedrock then uplifted to around 5,000 feet above sea level, creating cracks and fissures in it. At 35 million years ago, mildly acidic rainfall started eroding these breaks in the rock into cavities and passageways.  When climate change brought the end of the acidic rain, the water table level changed, and the caverns slowly dried up.  Calcium Carbonate formed extravagant formations that can still be viewed in the caverns today. 

This is one of the three sets of rocks that make up the Grand Canyon. It is made out of sedimentary rock 650 to 700 million years ago. It has four different layers creating several layers of unconformity. Then these layers shifted 10 degrees and created the Great Unconformity.

Antelope Canyon was created out of Navajo sandstone during the Jurassic Period, over thousands of years. This sandstone formed when sediment was deposited, buried, and compacted. Then erosion occurred through repetitive flash floods.  As the water from these floods rushed through narrow cracks in this sedimentary rock, very deep, narrow slot canyons were formed.

Granite Gorge is the bottom layer of rock in the grand canyon, and thus the deepest part.  These rock layers were made about 1.7 billion years ago when the volcanoes in the area deposited lava and it cooled into igneous and metamorphic rock. When the Colorado River gets to this part of the canyon, its rapids become much larger and the current quickens because this rock is very difficult to erode.  The three portions of this gorge are Granite Gorge, Middle Granite Gorge, and Lower Granite Gorge.

When visiting from the south, Mather Point is one of the first lookouts visitors will encounter.  It is located atop a 7,119 foot cliff, and looks north across Granite Gorge. The upper layer of the canyon walls that it sits on is made out of limestone and sits on top of the Coconino sandstone layer.