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Laboratory Manual for Introductory Geology 4e

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GEOTOURS EXERCISE 1

Scaling Geologic Time in the Grand Canyon (continued)

Name:

Course:

Section:

Date:

(a) It is a long, downhill walk (12.6 km) from the youngest rocks (270 Ma) at the rim of the canyon to the oldest rocks

(2,000 Ma) at the river. Using this information, estimate how far back in time you would go with each meter along

the trail.

yr/m

(b) Using the change in elevation from the rim to the river (2085 m and 734 m from the y-axis) and assuming that

Hutton’s principle of uniformitarianism applies for erosion of the Grand Canyon, use an average downcutting

erosion rate of 0.5 mm/yr to calculate a rough estimate for how long it might have taken to carve the Grand

Canyon.

(c) What factors might have caused this erosion rate to change over time?

yrs

1.5 RATES OF GEOLOGIC PROCESSES

23

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