The Grand Canyon (, , , ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
Introduction
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon | Introduction
It is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. It is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. It is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States., it is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile
are the oldest rocks in the world in the grand canyon
user
Yes, the rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old.
assistant
is there any river flowing through or alongside it?
user
Yes, Colorado River
assistant
what exactly is that canyon mentioned above?
user
Below the confluence with the Little Colorado River, the river swings west into Granite Gorge, the most dramatic portion of the Grand Canyon, where the river cuts up to into the Colorado Plateau, exposing some of the oldest visible rocks on Earth, dating as long ago as 2 billion years. The of the river that flow through the Grand Canyon are largely encompassed by Grand Canyon National Park and are known for their difficult whitewater, separated by pools that reach up to in depth.
Colorado River | Course
Here, the San Juan River, carrying runoff from the southern slope of Colorado's San Juan Mountains, joins the Colorado from the east. The Colorado then enters northern Arizona, where since the 1960s Glen Canyon Dam near Page has flooded the Glen Canyon reach of the river, forming Lake Powell for water supply and hydroelectricity generation. In Arizona, the river passes Lee's Ferry, an important crossing for early explorers and settlers and since the early 20th century the principal point where Colorado River flows are measured for apportionment to the seven U.S. and two Mexican states in the basin. Downstream, the river enters Marble Canyon, the beginning of the Grand Canyon, passing under the Navajo Bridges on a now southward course.
Colorado River | Course
At the same time, streams flowed from highlands in central Arizona north and across what is today the western Grand Canyon, possibly feeding a larger river. The mechanism by which the ancestral Lower Colorado River captured this drainage and the drainage from much of the rest of the Colorado Plateau is not known. Possible explanations include headward erosion or a broken natural dam of a lake or river. Whatever the cause, the Lower Colorado probably captured the landlocked Upper Colorado somewhere west of the Kaibab Uplift. The much larger drainage area and yet steeper stream gradient helped to further accelerate downcutting.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Colorado River: origin and development
This part of the river bisects the -high Kaibab Uplift and passes seven plateaus (the Kaibab, Kanab, and Shivwits plateaus bound the northern part of the canyon and the Coconino bounds the southern part). Each of these plateaus are bounded by north–south-trending faults and monoclines created or reactivated during the Laramide orogeny. Streams flowing into the Colorado River have since exploited these faults to excavate their own tributary canyons, such as Bright Angel Canyon.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Colorado River: origin and development
While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists, several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.
Grand Canyon | Introduction
The new river captured the older drainage to form the ancestral Colorado River, which in turn started to form the Grand Canyon. Wetter climates brought upon by ice ages starting 2 million years ago greatly increased excavation of the Grand Canyon, which was nearly as deep as it is now, 1.2 million years ago. Volcanic activity deposited lava over the area 1.8 million to 500,000 years ago. At least 13 lava dams blocked the Colorado River, forming lakes that were up to deep. The end of the last ice age and subsequent human activity has greatly reduced the ability of the Colorado River to excavate the canyon.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Introduction
Rifting started to create the Gulf of California far to the south 6 to 10 million years ago. Around the same time, the western edge of the Colorado Plateau may have sagged slightly. Both events changed the direction of many streams toward the sagging region and the increased gradient caused them to downcut much faster. From 5.5 million to 5 million years ago, headward erosion to the north and east consolidated these streams into one major river and associated tributary channels. This river, the ancestral Lower Colorado River, started to fill the northern arm of the gulf, which extended nearly to the site of Hoover Dam, with estuary deposits.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Colorado River: origin and development
Monthly average flows in the springtime average several hundred cfs and can reach . Only the upper reaches of the river above St. Johns, and the lowermost stretch below Cameron, flow year round; the middle section is basically a huge arroyo that carries water only during the wet seasons. According to a streamflow gauge near Cameron, before the river enters the Grand Canyon, the river's average annual flow was from 1948 to present. The highest annual average was in 1973, and the lowest was in 2000. The river's peak flows can be far higher than its average flow, because of quick desert runoff from cloudbursts.
Little Colorado River | Discharge
Ice ages during the Pleistocene brought a cooler and wetter pluvial climate to the region starting 2 to 3 million years ago. The added precipitation increased runoff and the erosive ability of streams (especially from spring melt water and flash floods in summer). With a greatly increased flow volume the Colorado cut faster than ever before and started to quickly excavate the Grand Canyon 2 million years before present, almost reaching the modern depth by 1.2 million years ago. The resulting Grand Canyon of the Colorado River trends roughly east to west for between Lake Powell and Lake Mead. In that distance, the Colorado River drops and has excavated an estimated of sediment to form the canyon.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Colorado River: origin and development
In 1963 Glen Canyon Dam and other dams farther upstream started to regulate the flow of the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. Pre-dam but still historic flows of the Colorado through Grand Canyon ranged from per second with at least one late 19th century flood of per second. Discharge from Glen Canyon Dam exceeds per second only when there is danger of overtopping the dam or when the level of Lake Powell otherwise needs to be lowered. An interim conservation measure since 1991 has held maximum flows at per second even though the dam's power plant can handle per second more flow.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Ongoing geology and human impact
There are 33 crustacean species found in the Colorado River and its tributaries within Grand Canyon National Park. Of these 33, 16 are considered true zooplankton organisms. Only 48 bird species regularly nest along the river, while others use the river as a migration corridor or as overwintering habitat. The bald eagle is one species that uses the river corridor as winter habitat.
Grand Canyon | Lower Sonoran
Farther downstream it receives the Dolores River and defines the southern border of Arches National Park, before passing Moab and flowing through "The Portal", where it exits the Moab Valley between a pair of sandstone cliffs. In Utah, the Colorado flows primarily through the "slickrock" country, which is characterized by its narrow canyons and unique "folds" created by the tilting of sedimentary rock layers along faults. This is one of the most inaccessible regions of the continental United States. Below the confluence with the Green River, its largest tributary, in Canyonlands National Park, the Colorado enters Cataract Canyon, named for its dangerous rapids, and then Glen Canyon, known for its arches and erosion-sculpted Navajo sandstone formations.
Colorado River | Course
Below Lee's Ferry the Colorado begins to trend more south than southwest, through the vertical-walled Marble Canyon which is crossed by the twin Navajo Bridges as it enters Grand Canyon National Park. At the southern end of Marble Canyon, the river is joined by another tributary, the capricious Little Colorado River, which drains the Painted Desert region of northeast Arizona and western New Mexico. Although normally a calm and clear spring-fed stream, it can rise dramatically following monsoon storms over the Colorado Plateau. Then the river then turns abruptly west directly across the folds and fault line of the plateau, through the Upper and Lower Granite Gorges of Grand Canyon, which is long and from between the upper cliffs.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Arizona">Arizona</a>
The Escalante River, a desert stream which runs through the sinuous slot canyons of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, joins about two-thirds of the way down Lake Powell. The San Juan River, which carries runoff from the southern slopes of the San Juan Mountains and the Four Corners region in Colorado and New Mexico, joins several miles further downstream; it forms an arm of the lake nearly long. Although the San Juan contributes only about one-tenth of the Colorado River flow, it is extremely muddy, contributing as much as 40 percent of the total sediment load. The area around the confluence is dominated geographically by Navajo Mountain which rises over a mile (1.6 km) above the surrounding landscape, which is part of the Navajo Nation.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Utah">Utah</a>
Of the 90 mammal species found along the Colorado River corridor, 18 are rodents and 22 are bats.
Grand Canyon | Animals
In 2012, Rocky Contos descended the entire river with various companions along the way.
Marañón River | The Grand Canyon of the Amazon
The Grand Canyon (, , , ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
Grand Canyon | Introduction
Most of the upper river is a swift whitewater stream ranging from wide, the depth ranging from , with a few notable exceptions, such as the Blackrocks reach where the river is nearly deep. In a few areas, such as the marshy Kawuneeche Valley near the headwaters and the Grand Valley, it exhibits braided characteristics. Arcing northwest, the Colorado begins to cut across the eponymous Colorado Plateau, a vast area of high desert centered at the Four Corners of the southwestern United States. Here, the climate becomes significantly drier than that in the Rocky Mountains, and the river becomes entrenched in progressively deeper gorges of bare rock, beginning with Ruby Canyon and then Westwater Canyon as it enters Utah, now once again heading southwest.
Colorado River | Course
The Grand Canyon is a river valley in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata, and is also one of the six distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province. Even though It is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is much deeper), the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape. Geologically, it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.
Grand Canyon | Geography
Streams draining the Rocky Mountains in early Miocene time terminated in landlocked basins in Utah, Arizona and Nevada but there is no evidence for a major river. Around 18 million years ago, tensional forces started to thin and drop the region to the west, creating the Basin and Range Province. Basins (grabens) dropped down and mountain ranges (horsts) rose up between old and new north–south–trending faults. However, for reasons poorly understood, the beds of the Colorado Plateaus remained mostly horizontal through both events even as they were uplifted about in two pulses. The extreme western part of the canyon ends at one of the Basin and Range faults, the Grand Wash, which also marks the boundary between the two provinces.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Uplift and nearby extension
Over millions of years, the bedrock was pushed up to over above sea level. Approximately 35 million years ago, rainfall flowed into the rock, and eroded passages that lead to the Colorado River and what is now the Grand Canyon. Millions of years later, the evaporating water left calcium deposits on the walls and floors, creating the formations that can be viewed today.
Grand Canyon Caverns | Introduction
Crustal extension in the Basin and Range Province began about 20 million years ago and the modern Sierra Nevada began forming about 10 million years ago, eventually diverting the Colorado southwards towards the Gulf. As the Colorado Plateau continued to rise between 5 and 2.5 million years ago, the river maintained its ancestral course (as an antecedent stream) and began to cut the Grand Canyon. Antecedence played a major part in shaping other peculiar geographic features in the watershed, including the Dolores River's bisection of Paradox Valley in Colorado and the Green River's cut through the Uinta Mountains in Utah.
Colorado River | Geology
Since the demise of these dams the Colorado River has carved a maximum of about into the rocks of the Colorado Plateau
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Volcanic activity in the western canyon
Johns. Shortly afterwards, the river transforms from a perennial stream to an ephemeral wash as it travels northwestwards through Hunt Valley, where it receives the Zuni River, then receiving Silver Creek and the Puerco River—its main tributaries—near the town of Holbrook as it flows into the Painted Desert. The Little Colorado passes Joseph City and crosses the Southern Transcon route of the BNSF Railway (originally the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad), now winding north into Coconino County. The river enters the Navajo Nation, and drops over the Grand Falls of the Little Colorado shortly after. Below Grand Falls, the river flows through a short but rugged canyon for about .
Little Colorado River | Course
The present-day Salton Sea can be considered the most recent incarnation of Lake Cahuilla, though on a much smaller scale. Between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, massive flows of basalt from the Uinkaret volcanic field in northern Arizona dammed the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. At least 13 lava dams were formed, the largest of which was more than high, backing the river up for nearly to present-day Moab, Utah. The lack of associated sediment deposits along this stretch of the Colorado River, which would have accumulated in the impounded lakes over time, suggests that most of these dams did not survive for more than a few decades before collapsing or being washed away.
Colorado River | Geology
Controlling river flow by use of dams has diminished the river's ability to scour rocks by substantially reducing the amount of sediment it carries. Dams on the Colorado River have also changed the character of the river water. Once both muddy and warm, the river is now clear and averages a temperature year-round. Experimental floods approaching the per second level mentioned above have been carried out in 1996 and 2004 to study the effects on sediment erosion and deposition. Grand Canyon lies on the southern end of the Intermountain West seismic belt. At least 35 earthquakes larger than 3.0 on the Richter Scale occurred in the Grand Canyon region in the 20th century.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Ongoing geology and human impact
Emerging into the desert again, the Little Colorado skirts the eastern edge of Wupatki National Monument and passes the town of Cameron, where it is bridged by U.S. Highway 89. From Cameron, the Little Colorado River carves an extremely steep and narrow gorge into the Colorado Plateau, eventually achieving a maximum depth of about . The depth of the canyon is such that groundwater is forced to the surface, forming numerous springs that restore a perennial river flow. It joins the Colorado deep inside the Grand Canyon, miles from any major settlement. The confluence marks the end of the Marble Canyon segment of the Grand Canyon and the beginning of Upper Granite Gorge.
Little Colorado River | Course
Grand Canyon usually refers to: Grand Canyon may also refer to:
Grand Canyon (disambiguation) | Introduction
The Green, flowing from the Wind River Range of western Wyoming, drains in southwest Wyoming, northeast Utah and northwest Colorado. It is much longer than the Colorado above their confluence and carries a larger load of silt, though the Colorado has a slightly greater flow. Before an act of Congress changed the name in 1921 this confluence marked the official beginning of the Colorado River proper. The approximately of the Colorado above the confluence of the Green, including the entire section within Colorado, was known as the Grand River. Below the Green River the Colorado flows through Cataract Canyon, which contains some of its most difficult rapids.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Utah">Utah</a>
As one descends the colours change to various hues of yellow. In the dry season, there is not much water in the river, but as the rains come, the river occupies many of the deeper parts of the canyon alleys. As one gets deep into the canyon, one gets a feeling of actual shapes and sizes of imaginary things. Some piece looks like a lion, another has look of a pagoda. There is a large cave with an interesting story.
Gongoni Danga | Entry point
The river then turns due-south—running down the East Kaibab Monocline.
Grand Canyon Supergroup | Northeast Grand Canyon
The following is a list of major rapids and other notable features on the Colorado River through Marble Canyon and Grand Canyon below Glen Canyon Dam, in order of their position downstream of Lee's Ferry. Ratings are given for how difficult the rapid is to navigate by whitewater raft or other water craft. The Grand Canyon section of the Colorado River, like several other big-water Western rivers, uses a scale of 1-10 for rapids, 10 being the most difficult. The International Scale of River Difficulty, which classifies rapids from class I to VI, is more common elsewhere in the US and internationally.
List of Colorado River rapids and features | Introduction
Below Crystal Dam it begins to roar through massive cataracts and flows through the deepest part of the gorge. At the outlet of the canyon it receives the North Fork River, then downstream near Delta, Colorado, is joined by the Uncompahgre River. It then winds through desert canyonlands, where it receives Kannah Creek, before it empties out of the Dominguez Canyon into the Colorado in Grand Junction, some years rivaling the Colorado River for equal volume. The Gunnison River ranges in width from and in depth. The river's powerful current and many rapids make upstream travel nearly impossible. It is navigable for small craft throughout its course and by larger boats below the Black Canyon.
Gunnison River | Description
The Little Colorado River () is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona, providing the principal drainage from the Painted Desert region. Together with its major tributary, the Puerco River, it drains an area of about in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. Although it stretches almost , only the headwaters and the lowermost reaches flow year-round. Between St. Johns and Cameron, most of the river is a wide, braided wash, only containing water after heavy snowmelt or flash flooding. The lower is known as the Little Colorado River Gorge and forms one of the largest arms of the Grand Canyon, at over deep where it joins the Colorado near Desert View in Grand Canyon National Park.
Little Colorado River | Introduction
Here, the river leaves the last of the Unkar Group lower-unit members behind. Other sections of the Unkar Group reappear downstream, due to the general faulting of the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon Supergroup | Geology
The flow of water from the Grand Canyon region may have stopped around 16 million years ago due to eruptions of the Yellowstone hot spot. Isostatic depression of the crust by ice sheets during the Pleistocene deprived the Saglek Basin of sediment as rivers drained directly into the newly formed Hudson Bay. Much of the river's flow was taken up by the Mackenzie River Basin, leaving the Saskatchewan River and Nelson River as the last remnants of the system.
Paleo-Bell River | End of the river system
Uplift associated with mountain formation later moved these sediments thousands of feet upward and created the Colorado Plateau. The higher elevation has also resulted in greater precipitation in the Colorado River drainage area, but not enough to change the Grand Canyon area from being semi-arid. The uplift of the Colorado Plateau is uneven, and the Kaibab Plateau that the Grand Canyon bisects is over higher at the North Rim than at the South Rim. Almost all runoff from the North Rim (which also gets more rain and snow) flows toward the Grand Canyon, while much of the runoff on the plateau behind the South Rim flows away from the canyon (following the general tilt).
Grand Canyon | Geography
Thunder River is a river entirely within the Grand Canyon National Park. It flows southeast from its source near the North Rim of the canyon to Tapeats Creek. The river is one of the shortest in the United States, and drops approximately over a series of waterfalls, making it the steepest river in the country. It is also a rare instance where a river is a tributary of a creek.
Thunder River (Tapeats Creek tributary) | Introduction
The following is a list of geographical and cultural features along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon. Many of these locations are now partially or entirely submerged beneath the waters of Lake Powell. River mileage is derived from the USGS 1921 Plan and Profile maps. River Mile Zero is at Lee's Ferry, Arizona; the numbers increase as one travels upstream, ending at Mile 169.6 at the confluence with the Dirty Devil River.
Glen Canyon | Geographical and cultural features
Grand Canyon National Park categorizes the River Trail as a "corridor trail", and receives regular maintenance and patrols by park rangers. On 31 July and 1 August 2006, passing thunderstorms eroded long sections of the River Trail at an area called the sand dunes, exposing power and water lines that run along and under the trail's road bed. The sand dunes are an area of trail made up of beach sand that winds have blown up the side of the inner gorge along the south bank of the Colorado River. The trail was briefly closed to mule traffic but remained open to hikers.
River Trail (Arizona) | Condition
The river in the canyon is also called Tolantongo. It is pleasantly warm, colored by mineral salts it picks up as it passes through the mountain. The water comes from a complex series of channels inside the mountain that heats the water to about 20 degrees Celsius. Much of this water dwells in niches in the rocky side of the canyon, which has a cooling effect. Another factor is that the water mixes with unheated water as it leaves the grottoes. The result is mostly tepid water outside the grottoes and in the river itself, good for swimming even on a cold day.
Tolantongo | The river
Glen Canyon Dam, which creates Lake Powell, is situated in the town of Page in northern Arizona only about by river from the Utah border. The dam impounds the Colorado primarily for hydroelectricity generation. In front of the dam the Glen Canyon Bridge carries U.S. Route 89 over the Colorado River. Below here the Colorado flows through the last of Glen Canyon, passing the scenic Horseshoe Bend, before emerging briefly from its canyons at Lee's Ferry, where it is joined by the warm, shallow, muddy Paria River. Historically a ford used by Native Americans, explorers and settlers, Lee's Ferry serves as the dividing point between the Upper and Lower Colorado River Basins, which were each allocated one-half of the Colorado River flow in the Colorado River Compact of 1922.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Arizona">Arizona</a>
The Grand Canyon, including its extensive system of tributary canyons, is valued for its combination of size, depth, and exposed layers of colorful rocks dating back to Precambrian times. The canyon itself was created by the incision of the Colorado River and its tributaries after the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, causing the Colorado River system to develop along its present path. The primary public areas of the park are the South and North Rims, and adjacent areas of the canyon itself. The rest of the park is extremely rugged and remote, although many places are accessible by pack trail and backcountry roads.
Grand Canyon National Park | Geography
The age of the Western Grand Canyon is controversial, with evidence both of an old Mesozoic and a young Neozoic age. In the former case, it is possible that the river created an early Grand Canyon during the Campanian or the Paleocene. The California River has been proposed to explain the origin of the deltaic Colton Formation, as it has a high volume and similar source rocks are rare in the area of the Uinta Basin. Rock formations of similar origin occur in southeastern California and southwestern Arizona and may have been located along the same drainage. Eroded material from the Kaiparowits Formation probably did not contribute much to the formation of the Colton Formation.
California River | Geological history and present-day evidence
The walls, high, drop in successive escarpments of , banded in splendid colors toward the narrow gorge of the present river. The river itself is a nearly uninterrupted series of violent rapids separated by calm, short pools. Deep inside the canyon it is joined from the north by Kanab Creek, which flows from southern Utah, and then from the south by Havasu Creek, known for the waterfalls it forms on the Havasupai Reservation. Further downstream it passes the Uinkaret volcanic field, where basalt eruptions millions of years ago formed huge lava dams across the Colorado. Although the dams have mostly been erased by erosion, a small portion remains as Lava Falls, generally considered the most difficult and dangerous rapids for boaters on the Colorado River.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Arizona">Arizona</a>
Geologically, the Rio Grande Gorge is a canyon, carved out by erosion over the last several million years. The Rio Grande Gorge and its river follow a topographical low within the larger Rio Grande Rift; a mixture of volcanic activity, shifting tectonic plates, and erosion out of layers of gravels and lava yielded the recognizable narrow, deep gorge visible today.
Rio Grande Gorge | Geology
The Colorado begins at La Poudre Pass in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado, at above sea level. After a short run south, the river turns west below Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in the state. For the first of its course, the Colorado carves its way through the mountainous Western Slope, a sparsely populated region defined by the portion of the state west of the Continental Divide. As it flows southwest, it gains strength from many small tributaries, as well as larger ones including the Blue, Eagle and Roaring Fork rivers. After passing through De Beque Canyon, the Colorado emerges from the Rockies into the Grand Valley, a major farming and ranching region where it meets one of its largest tributaries, the Gunnison River, at Grand Junction.
Colorado River | Course
The Colorado then swings sharply south and turns northwest north of Peach Springs, emerging from the Grand Canyon at the Grand Wash Cliffs, where it widens into the upper reaches of Lake Mead. The area also marks the general boundary between the Colorado Plateau and the Mojave Desert. Shortly west of that point it begins to form the border of Nevada to the north/west and Arizona to the south/east.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Arizona">Arizona</a>
Tapeats Creek is a creek located entirely within the Grand Canyon National Park. It flows southwest from its source near the North Rim of the canyon to the Colorado River at the base of the canyon. It was named by the Second Powell Expedition in the winter of 1871–1872 for a Southern Paiute Indian who claimed ownership of the stream. It contributes the largest amount of water to the Colorado of any tributary on the north side within the Grand Canyon.
Tapeats Creek | Introduction
Volcanic activity started in Uinkaret volcanic field (in the western Grand Canyon) about 3 million years ago. Over 150 flows of basaltic lava dammed the Colorado River at least 13 times from 725,000 to 100,000 years ago. The dams typically formed in weeks, were long, high (thicker upstream and thinner downstream) and had volumes of . The longevity of the dams and their ability to hold Colorado River water in large lakes has been debated. In one hypothesis water from the Colorado River backed up behind the dams in large lakes that extended as far as Moab, Utah. Dams were overtopped in short time; those that were high were overtopped by their lakes in 2 to 17 days.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Volcanic activity in the western canyon
The Canyon River's source is approximately east of the source of the West Fork and west of the source of the Middle Fork. These rivers originate in the southern Olympic Mountains in the general vicinity of Chapel Peak, Dusk Point, and Anderson Butte.
Satsop River | Course
About a mile (1.5 km) downstream from its source, the Colorado River has carved its first canyon, the narrow, deep Little Yellowstone Canyon. It then flows through the broad Kawuneeche Valley, where it is joined by U.S. Highway 34, which will roughly parallel it to the town of Granby. It finally exits Rocky Mountain National Park, flowing into Shadow Mountain Lake and then into Lake Granby, which are portions of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, a large trans-basin water storage and delivery project that diverts water from the Colorado River under the Front Range mountains to provide an agricultural and municipal water supply for the northern Front Range and plains of Colorado.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Colorado">Colorado</a>
In Utah the Colorado enters the high desert canyon country of the Colorado Plateau, flowing swiftly southwest through Westwater Canyon. Near Dewey it picks up the Dolores River, which together with its tributary the San Miguel drains the western slope of the San Juan Mountains. It then passes the Fisher Towers and forms part of the southern border of Arches National Park before entering the Moab Valley at Moab. Just below Moab it carves through a deep mountain pass known as "The Portal". The Colorado then passes by Dead Horse Point State Park before entering the backcountry of Canyonlands National Park where it is joined from the north by the Green River, its biggest tributary.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Utah">Utah</a>
In places, the San Juan has entrenched its ancient meanders thousands of feet into the bedrock, as can be observed in Goosenecks State Park, where it winds through a set of horseshoe bends while traveling a straight-line distance of only . The canyon cutting was accelerated during the Pleistocene Ice Ages when the climate of the area was much wetter, resulting in floods of up to (ten times larger than anything recorded on the San Juan in human history). The San Juan River flows through highly erodible sedimentary rock including sandstone, siltstone and shale, such as the slide-prone Chinle Formation.
San Juan River (Colorado River tributary) | Geology
The canyon begins at Bonita Bend in the central part of the National Park. From its head, the canyon follows the meanders of the Green River, immediately west of the White Rim (cliff), in a southerly direction until the canyon reaches the mouth of both itself and the Green River at the river's confluence with the Colorado River in the southeastern area of the National Park.
Stillwater Canyon | Description
History Travel and sites Multimedia
Grand Canyon | External links
Uplift from the Laramide orogeny and the creation of the Basin and Range province worked together to steepen the gradient of streams flowing west on the Colorado Plateau. These streams cut deep, eastward-growing, channels into the western edge of the Colorado Plateau and deposited their sediment in the widening Basin and Range region.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Uplift and nearby extension
From there it flows west through the Navajo Nation, turning northwest near Shiprock and its namesake monolith, crossing very briefly back into southwest Colorado (within half a mile (0.8 km) of the Four Corners quadripoint) before entering southeastern Utah. West of Bluff, Utah the river slices through the Comb Ridge and enters a series of rugged winding canyons, often over in depth. The lower of the San Juan River, in a remote portion of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, are flooded by Lake Powell, which is formed by Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The San Juan joins the Colorado in San Juan County, Utah at a point about to the north of Navajo Mountain and northeast of Page, Arizona.
San Juan River (Colorado River tributary) | Course
The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. Its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains where La Poudre Pass Lake is its source. Located in north central Colorado it flows southwest through the Colorado Plateau country of western Colorado, southeastern Utah and northwestern Arizona where it flows through the Grand Canyon. It turns south near Las Vegas, Nevada, forming the Arizona–Nevada border in Lake Mead and the Arizona–California border a few miles below Davis Dam between Laughlin, Nevada and Needles, California before entering Mexico in the Colorado Desert. Most of its waters are diverted into the Imperial Valley of Southern California.
Course of the Colorado River | Introduction
The creek is fed from Tapeats Spring, the largest Spring in the Grand Canyon. In 1970, the spring was estimated to discharge of water per day into the creek from the Muav Limestone. A small amount of surface water can also flow into the creek. Since the spring flows year round, the creek is a perennial stream.
Tapeats Creek | Sources
Uplift of the region started about 75 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny; a mountain-building event that is largely responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains to the east. In total, the Colorado Plateau was uplifted an estimated . The adjacent Basin and Range Province to the west started to form about 18 million years ago as the result of crustal stretching. A drainage system that flowed through what is today the eastern Grand Canyon emptied into the now lower Basin and Range province. Opening of the Gulf of California around 6 million years ago enabled a large river to cut its way northeast from the gulf.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Introduction
The Colorado River is the single largest source of water in the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico; however, before massive dam projects tamed the river in the 20th century, its flow was far from dependable. Annual discharge from the Colorado River and its tributaries ranges from , and 10-year averages may fluctuate as much as . Flooding, and the river's enormous silt or sediment load, created problems for settlements in the Lower Colorado River Valley and navigation on the lower portion of the river. During droughts, there was too little water available for irrigation. In 1904, the Colorado River was accidentally redirected after it damaged a canal gate in Mexico, causing the river to flood part of California's Imperial Valley and create the Salton Sea.
Glen Canyon Dam | The need for a dam
Canyon walls in this stretch rise above the sandy bed of the river. Other sights include large boulders, juniper trees, and Native American petroglyphs.
Dry River (Crooked River tributary) | Introduction
De Beque Canyon is a narrow canyon on the Colorado River in western Colorado in the United States. It is approximately 15 miles (24 km) long, located on the river downstream from the town of De Beque, in eastern Mesa County. The canyon forms a narrow passage where the river passes along the western end of the Grand Mesa. At its lower end, the canyon opens out on the eastern end of the Grand Valley at the town of Palisade, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of Grand Junction. Interstate 70 follows the river through the canyon. Geologically the canyon walls are stairstep cliffs of Mesaverde Group, shoreline sands deposited during the Cretaceous.
De Beque Canyon | Introduction
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
Colorado River | Introduction
The valley begins where the Colorado River widens at the mouth of De Beque Canyon to the east of Palisade, then follows a wide arc bending to the west. The Colorado receives the Gunnison River, one of its major tributaries, just south of Grand Junction near the midpoint of the valley. The valley is surrounded by large plateau formations, including the Book Cliffs along the north side, the Grand Mesa along the southeast side, and the Uncompahgre Plateau to the southwest. Colorado National Monument sits on a ridge on the southwest side of the valley west of Grand Junction. Much of the surrounding table land areas rimming the valley are public lands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
Grand Valley (Colorado-Utah) | Description and history
With the guidance of Hopi Indians, Cárdenas and his men became the first outsiders to see the Grand Canyon. Cárdenas was reportedly unimpressed with the canyon, assuming the width of the Colorado River at and estimating -tall rock formations to be the size of a man. After failing at an attempt to descend to the river, they left the area, defeated by the difficult terrain and torrid weather. In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón and his fleet reached the mouth of the river, intending to provide additional supplies to Coronado's expedition. Alarcón may have sailed the Colorado as far upstream as the present-day California–Arizona border.
Colorado River | Early explorers
The lower Dolores River may have once been the original course of the Colorado River, which flowed through the now dry Unaweep Canyon, currently occupied by West Creek, a small tributary of the Dolores. When the Uncompahgre Plateau was formed it diverted the larger Colorado northwards through what is now the Grand Valley, looping around through Westwater Canyon to the confluence with the Dolores in eastern Utah and leaving Unaweep Canyon as a huge dry gap across the plateau. However, some geologists contend that the Colorado never flowed through Unaweep and the lower Dolores River, as the erosive force of the river should have created a water gap here; instead, the canyon may have been formed by glaciation during the Paleozoic.
Dolores River | Geology
The Grand Canyon is part of the Colorado River basin which has developed over the past 70 million years, in part based on apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry showing that Grand Canyon reached a depth near to the modern depth by 20 Ma. A recent study examining caves near Grand Canyon places their origins beginning about 17 million years ago. Previous estimates had placed the age of the canyon at 5–6 million years. The study, which was published in the journal "Science" in 2008, used uranium-lead dating to analyze calcite deposits found on the walls of nine caves throughout the canyon. There is a substantial amount of controversy because this research suggests such a substantial departure from prior widely supported scientific consensus.
Grand Canyon | Geology
The river was forced to reroute itself around the dam and Grand Falls formed where the river rejoins its original course.
Grand Falls, Arizona | Introduction
Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for river runners starting their journey through Marble Canyon and then onward to the Grand Canyon. Marble Canyon is also well known for the Navajo Bridge, where US Highway 89A crosses the Colorado River. Marble Canyon marks the western boundary of the Navajo Nation. In 1975, the former Marble Canyon National Monument, which followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lee's Ferry, was made part of Grand Canyon National Park.
Marble Canyon | Introduction
He described the canyon as "profound".
Grand Canyon | Spanish explorers
Thus, it would become more difficult to maintain the required release of below the dam. The Colorado River would reduce to a trickle in dry seasons as it naturally did before the dam was built, potentially compromising the water supply of the Lower Basin states. The Colorado through Grand Canyon now lacks the source of sediment it needs to build sandbars and islands, and these natural fluvial formations within the canyon have now suffered severe damage from erosion. The floods that once scoured the river each year are now contained behind the dam except in extraordinary cases such as 1983–84; the lack of floods has promoted vegetation encroachment which not only has considerably changed the riparian zone environment but has created problems for tourism, as hikers and boaters often cannot find good spots to camp due to overgrowth.
Glen Canyon Dam | Environmental issues
The editor of the Gunnison Review-Press rode in one of the observation cars; he remarked that the canyon was "undoubtedly the largest and most rugged canyon in the world traversed by the iron horse. We had often heard of the scenery of this canyon, but no one can have the faintest conception of its grandeur and magnificence until they have made a trip through it. It is a narrow gorge with walls of granite rising in some places to a height of thousands of feet…Throughout its entire length there is probably not a quarter of a mile of straight track on it.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park | The Denver & Rio Grande
Drainage of the Colorado Plateau was significantly altered by the opening of the Gulf of California. Rifting tore Baja California Peninsula northwestward from the Mexican mainland starting some 10 to 5 mya. The ancestral Colorado River responded to the regional downwarping by taking a shortcut to the sea by flowing into the new gulf. This significantly decreased the distance from the river's headwaters and its delta at the sea. Water in the Colorado and its tributaries moved faster as a result and cut down deeper, creating the canyonland topography. Formation of approximately the current depth of the Colorado River's Grand Canyon by 1.2 mya further caused its tributaries to cut down even deeper.
Geology of the Bryce Canyon area | Modern drainage and erosion
This may have been the ancestral Dolores River, before the uplift of the Ute Mountains diverted it to its present northerly course. When the San Juan Basin filled and overflowed, it formed an outflow channel west into the old Dolores River bed, establishing the San Juan River's modern course. Tectonic forces about 2–3 million years ago caused the terrain to rise across the Monument Upwarp in southeast Utah and northeast Arizona, and the river maintained its course as an antecedent stream. The Monument Upwarp consists of a series of parallel anticlines and synclines running generally north to south, in an area roughly long and wide; where the river passes through these formations it has sliced deep canyons through the distinctively reddish rock.
San Juan River (Colorado River tributary) | Geology
The end of the Pleistocene ice ages and the start of the Holocene began to change the area's climate from a cool, wet pluvial one to dryer semi-arid conditions similar to that of today. With less water to cut, the erosive ability of the Colorado was greatly reduced. Mass wasting processes thus began to become relatively more important than they were before. Steeper cliffs and further widening the Grand Canyon and its tributary canyon system occurred. An average of two debris flows per year reach the Colorado River from tributary canyons to form or expand rapids. This type of mass wasting is the main way the smaller and steeper side canyons transport sediment but it also plays a major role in excavating the larger canyons.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Ongoing geology and human impact
Glen Canyon is a natural canyon carved by a length of the Colorado River, mostly in southeastern and south-central Utah, in the United States. Glen Canyon starts where Narrow Canyon ends, at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Dirty Devil River. A small part of the lower end of Glen Canyon extends into northern Arizona and terminates at Lee's Ferry, near the Vermilion Cliffs. Like the Grand Canyon further downstream, Glen Canyon is part of the immense system of canyons carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. In 1963, a reservoir, Lake Powell, was created by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, in the Arizona portion of Glen Canyon near Page, inundating much of Glen Canyon under water hundreds of feet in depth.
Glen Canyon | Introduction
At Hite the Hite Crossing Bridge – the only bridge over the Colorado for nearly – carries Utah State Route 95 over the river. Below here the Colorado is joined by the Dirty Devil River and begins to widen into Lake Powell, the giant reservoir formed by Glen Canyon Dam downstream. Lake Powell, a popular houseboating destination, is surrounded by the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and receives over 2 million visitors each year despite its remote location. Before the dam was completed in 1966 the Colorado flowed through Glen Canyon, a sandstone gorge known for its colorful and intricately sculpted rock formations.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Utah">Utah</a>
The rapid begins after a leisurely right turn in the river and the gradient noticeably increases. Also, a large outcrop of granite on river-left that resembles a cowpie marks the entrance. At the first corner (a left turn) a particular maneuver is required to pass an obstacle known as Split Rock (also known as Cowpie Rock). This is generally navigated on river right with a hard pull back to the left. Proper navigation of Split Rock allows for the ideal set up for the remainder of the rapid. The flow is obstructed by several large boulders and the current weaves from bank to bank.
Northgate Canyon | Rapid Descriptions
Deer Creek is a stream that flows through the western Grand Canyon to the Colorado River. A series of springs provide a continuous base flow to Deer Creek. During periods of intense rainfall, Deer Creek can experience severe flash flooding. In the final half mile above the Colorado River, Deer Creek flows through a narrow slot canyon before plunging over a waterfall named Deer Creek Falls. Deer Creek and its waterfall are a popular stopping point for river trips through the Grand Canyon. Backpackers also enjoy the hike from the North Rim into the area. The Surprise Valley trail connects the Deer Creek Drainage with the adjacent Thunder River/Tapeats Creek drainage.
Deer Creek (Arizona) | Introduction
The Grand River flows south to the Grand Lake.
Neosho River | Course
Bright Angel Creek is located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon National Park flowing into the Colorado River at the end of the North Kaibab Trail on the north side of the river. The creek originates from Roaring Springs that emerge from a cliff along the North Kaibab Trail and drains to the Colorado. The North Kaibab Trail largely follows the creek, including through "the Box," a narrow, high-walled part of the trail that becomes extremely hot in daylight during the summer months (April to October). The confluence of the creek with the Colorado River flows through eroded canyons and debris of one of the base units of Granite Gorge on the river, the Vishnu Shist.
Bright Angel Creek | Introduction
This waterfall is not as high, and has a smaller water flow. It is fed by several other falls streaming off the cliffs above it. Further to the left, at about twice the distance from the first falls to the second, another large stream plunges into the canyon. In total, there are at least six waterfalls feeding the canyon. At the base of the canyon, a separate slot canyon, or "The Narrows", begins. The water from the Bras de Caverne waterfall and the waterfall to its left drain into the slot canyon at a 90-degree angle, through a waterfall known informally as the "Washing Machine".
Trou de Fer | Introduction
The Colorado River rises on the Continental Divide at La Poudre Pass, in Rocky Mountain National Park, about north of Lake Granby, as a tiny stream draining a wet meadow. At the river's headwater, the Continental Divide forms the boundary between the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean watersheds of North America, between Colorado's Grand and Larimer counties, and the northern boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park. The river's first diversion is here at its headwater. The Grand Ditch redirects water from the Never Summer Mountains, which would have flowed into the Colorado River, to instead flow across the divide through La Poudre Pass to irrigate farmland to the east.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Colorado">Colorado</a>
The river canyon is deep and narrow, and even in the summer sunshine only reaches the canyon bottom for a few hours. The land is mostly steep, rocky, semi-arid except for the narrow canyons, and inaccessible. The upstream river canyon is characteristic of the Ventana Wilderness region: steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating valleys. Upstream from the Boy Scout camp are narrow gorges, waterfalls, and a few large pools. Several northwest-trending faults cut across the Little Sur River drainage: the Sur, the Palo Colorado, and the Church Creek faults. The river flows mostly west for much of its length, unlike other rivers in the region which tend to flow to the northwest or southeast.
Little Sur River | Geology
It is formed in southern Utah, in southwestern Garfield County from several creeks that descend from the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, meeting just north of Tropic. It flows SSE across Kane County and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Along the Arizona state line, it descends through the Vermilion Cliffs in the Paria Canyon and onto the Paria Plateau. It joins the Colorado from the northwest approximately 5 mi (8 km) southwest of Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam. The lower 20 mi (32 km) of the river are within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, which is administered by the Bureau of Land Management; a permit is required for any overnight visit.
Paria River | Geography
Joseph Canyon contains Joseph Creek, a tributary of the Grande Ronde River, which flows into the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia. The geology is typical of the Columbia Plateau, formed by the Columbia River Basalt Group, and the exposed canyon walls provide a striking view of flood basalt flows and dikes. The canyon floor contains sediments deposited by the Missoula Floods.
Joseph Canyon | Geography
Freeman's flamboyant articles about the 1922 trip were a contributing factor to his being invited to participate in the 1923 trip. On the Grand Canyon cruise, Freeman's nickname was "The Gorilla." While portaging their boats at Lava Falls, the trip experienced a stunning up and down rise in river flow. The Colorado river was a mild 9,380 cubic feet per second by September 17, 1923. On September 19, the river had risen to 98,500 cfs, and by September 24, the river was back down to 14,200 cfs. The water began rising after the men had all just turned in for the night.
Lewis R. Freeman | Biography
Grandstaff Canyon (called Nigger Bill Canyon from the late 19th century until the 1960s, and Negro Bill Canyon until 2017) is a canyon in southern Grand County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Colorado River watershed. Its stream flows directly into the main channel of the Colorado River within Moab Canyon.
Grandstaff Canyon | Introduction
Below the Confluence, Cataract Canyon contains powerful whitewater rapids, similar to those found in the Grand Canyon. However, since there is no large impoundment on the Colorado River above Canyonlands National Park, river flow through the Confluence is determined by snowmelt, not management. As a result, and in combination with Cataract Canyon's unique graben geology, this stretch of river offers the largest whitewater in North America in heavy snow years. Political compromise at the time of the park's creation limited the protected area to an arbitrary portion of the Canyonlands basin. Conservationists hope to complete the park by bringing the boundaries up to the high sandstone rims that form the natural border of the Canyonlands landscape.
Canyonlands National Park | Recreation
At the head of the canyon the river, dashing against a perpendicular wall of rock, is sharply deflected to the left for , and then gradually assumes its general direction, which it follows closely to the mouth of the canyon. Horsetail Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are located within the canyon, as is the Richardson Highway. The Valdez-Eagle Trail passes through the canyon's south end.
Keystone Canyon | Geography
There are, however, shared rock units between all three, creating a super-sequence of formations that geologists call the Grand Staircase. Bryce Canyon's formations are the youngest known units in the Grand Staircase. Younger rock units, if they ever existed, have been removed by erosion. These layers have undergone 5000 to 10,000 feet (1500 to 3000 m) of uplift starting about 66 million years ago with the Laramide orogeny which has increased the ability of the Colorado River to cut its channel to make individual plateaus out of the Colorado Plateaus region. The major canyons of the region did not start to form until about five to six million years ago when the Gulf of California opened up and thus lowered the river's base level (its lowest point).
Grand Staircase | Geology
Thomas, Nevada. At Hoover Dam, the Colorado turns due south through Black Canyon, a direction it will follow for the remainder of its course to the Gulf of California. It passes under the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (Hoover Dam Bypass), the highest concrete arch bridge in the world, carrying U.S. Route 93 at a height of above the Colorado River.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="Nevada">Nevada</a>/Arizona
The river flows through the Parker Valley, much of which belongs to the Colorado River Indian Reservation, and then the Palo Verde Valley, where it is crossed by Interstate 10 near Blythe, California. The small Headgate Rock Dam removes water for irrigation in the Parker Valley and the Palo Verde Dam provides water to the Palo Verde Valley. The river then flows through a canyon in the Trigo Mountains, where the Cibola and Imperial National Wildlife Refuge encompass the wetland areas formed above Imperial Dam, which filled with silt shortly upon its completion in the 1930s. Most of the Colorado's remaining flow is removed for irrigation here.
Course of the Colorado River | <a href="California">California</a>/Arizona
We know that the shoreline was transgressing (advancing onto land) because finer grade material was deposited on top of coarser-grained sediment. Today, the Tonto Group makes up the Tonto Platform seen above and following the Colorado River; the Tapeats Sandstone and Muav Limestone form the platform's cliffs and the Bright Angel Shale forms its slopes. Unlike the Proterozoic units below it, the Tonto Group's beds basically lie in their original horizontal position. The Bright Angel Shale in the group forms an aquiclude (barrier to groundwater seeping down), and thus collects and directs water through the overlying Muav Limestone to feed springs in the Inner Gorge.
Geology of the Grand Canyon area | Tonto Group
The northern end of the canyon cuts through red sandstone of the Chugwater Formation.
Wind River Canyon | Geology
After braving the rapids of the Gates of Lodore, Cataract Canyon and other gorges along the Colorado, the party arrived at the mouth of the Little Colorado River, where Powell noted down arguably the most famous words ever written about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado: On August 28, 1869, three men deserted the expedition, convinced that they could not possibly survive the trip through the Grand Canyon. They were allegedly killed by Native Americans after making it to the rim of the canyon; two days later, the expedition ran the last of the Grand Canyon rapids and reached St.
Colorado River | Powell's expeditions, 1869–1871
Grand Junction is the largest city between Denver and Salt Lake City and serves as the economic hub of the area. The freeway passes to the north of downtown, while US 6 and 50 retain their original routes through downtown. US 6 rejoins I-70 east of Grand Junction; US 50 departs on a course toward Pueblo. I-70 exits the valley through De Beque Canyon, a path carved by the Colorado River that separates the Book Cliffs from Battlement Mesa. The river and its tributaries provide the course for the ascent up the Rocky Mountains. In the canyon, I-70 enters the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel, the first of several tunnels built to route the freeway across the Rockies.
Interstate 70 in Colorado | Colorado River
I-70 enters Colorado from Utah, concurrent with US 6 and US 50, on a plateau between the north rim of Ruby Canyon of the Colorado River and the south rim of the Book Cliffs. The plateau ends just past the state line and the highway descends into the Grand Valley, formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Grand Valley is home to several towns and small cities that form the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area, the largest conurbation in the area regionally known as the Western Slope. The highway directly serves the communities of Fruita, Grand Junction and Palisade.
Interstate 70 in Colorado | Colorado River