why is the north side of the Grand Canyon widening much faster than the south side? Your choices are:
1. The higher elevation of the northern side results in greater amounts of precipitation (both rainfall and snow that melts) that flows into drainages. Hence, there are a lot more drainages flowing down from the north rim than from the south rim.
2. The two major ways that rock formations erode in the Grand Canyon are erosion from floods in drainages (ravines, small creeks, large creeks) and the collapse of cliffs due to undermining of the weaker rock underneath (e.g. shale under limestone or shale under sandstone). The rate of erosion from floods in drainages is faster than the rate of erosion from rockfalls/rockslides due to undermining of cliff faces.
3.The greater number of drainages and also the greater number of larger drainages on the north side of the Colorado River, thus, means that the north rim is eroding back faster than the south rim. In other words, the south rim's retreat tends to be more influenced by cliff retreat where as the north rim's retreat is more influenced by erosion along drainages.
4. All of the other answers are correct, and hence this is the best answer.
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