What is the geographical environment of the Grand Canyon?
The Grand Canyon of the United States is located on the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, USA, with the Colorado River flowing through it. It is a world-famous natural wonder. Because the Colorado River flows through it, it is also called the Grand Canyon. It is one of the natural heritage sites selected by UNESCO to be protected. *** 446 kilometers, the deepest point is about 1.6 kilometers, it is about 500 stories high, and the widest point is 13 kilometers. The history of the development of the earth is engraved on its canyon wall-about one-third of the history of changes in the earth's crust. Deeply recorded on the rock walls, the rocks at the bottom of the valley have experienced approximately two billion years of changes, which is half the age of the earth.
The Grand Canyon of the United States contains biological fossils that are representative of the geological period, so it is known as the "living geological history textbook". The Colorado Plateau is a typical "table-shaped plateau", also known as "table mountain", which is a mountain with a flat top and steep sides. This topography is formed by erosion (undercutting and exfoliation). During erosion, the harder rock formations in the plateau form a protective cap in the areas between river valleys where erosion is active. The result is a platform-shaped mountain or a fortress-shaped hill.
The Grand Canyon is a masterpiece of the Colorado River. This river originates in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, flows through Utah, Arizona, and enters the sea from the Gulf of California in California. The total length is 2320 kilometers. "Colorado" means "Red River" in Spanish. This is because the river often appears red due to the large amount of sediment carried in it, hence the name.
The Colorado River has been eroding for a long time, rushing forward day and night, sometimes cutting through mountains and sometimes giving way to flow back. The Black Canyon, Canyonlands, and Glen Canyon have been carved out in the upper reaches of the main stream and tributaries. , Bruce Canyon and other 19 canyons, and when it finally flows through the rocky Kaibab Plateau in Arizona, there is an astonishing stroke, forming this grand canyon wonder, and becoming the "King of Canyons" among all the canyons in this water system. .
Due to the different stratigraphic structures, the Grand Canyon is dense and dense. The rushing of the river sometimes causes large areas to collapse, and sometimes only leaves a gap; sometimes it surges like a roaring wave, and sometimes it erodes like a sawtooth. ; If the advection is slow and circuitous, it will leave gentle traces; if the torrent is rolling, it will produce abrupt patterns. As a result, this long canyon has various shapes, some are wide, some are narrow; some are like honeycombs; some are like ant nests; some are towering like pagodas, some are piled like bricks and stones; For example, there are solitary peaks, and some are like natural caves. People named these masterpieces of nature according to their shapes, and gave them some names with mythological stories, such as the Temple of Apollo, the Temple of Diana, the Brahmin Temple, etc. The "Angel Window" on its northern edge is a sky-high hollow appearing on a mountain peak. The "Meadow Point" on its southern edge is like the general platform where ancient generals hung their seals to pay homage to their commanders. Especially the stratigraphic section of the valley wall has clear texture. The layers are layer upon layer, like a curved pattern composed of thousands of volumes of poetry and books, rising and falling along the mountains, extending along the valleys, and like a thousands-mile silk ribbon, dancing on the earth. When visitors come here, they all marvel at the wonders of nature’s uncanny craftsmanship.
The color of the canyon varies depending on the type of rock on the two walls, the degree of weathering, the evolution of time, and the minerals contained. The iron ore appears in the sunlight. Colorful, other oxides produce various dull tones, and quartzite will appear white, thus forming patches of bright red, squares of deep ocher, patches of dark black, patches of iron gray, and the earth is like a huge colorful patchwork. The palette is so beautiful. Some of them are poetic because of the vegetation growing out of the soil, and some of them are slightly purple because of the mist at the bottom of the valley. In addition, the weather changes, or the sun is shining directly, or the wind and rain are dim, or the dawn is dawning. The scenery of the canyon can be unpredictable and colorful when the sun sets over the mountains.