Grand Canyon National Park

By Matthew Merlini

Location

• Region-Southwest

• State-Arizona

• Capital-Phoenix

• Longitude-111.50°W

• Latitude-33.89°N

Landforms

• The Grand Canyon has steep cliffs, winding paths and high peaks.

• It is about 277 miles long and up to 18 miles wide in some places

• It is 1 mile from the edge of the floor.

• A canyon is a deep valley with steep walls on both sides formed by erosion

Culture

• Many people have visited the Grand Canyon or lived there.

• The first European explorer to find the canyon was Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardena who arrived there in 1540.

• In 1869 a geologist named John Wesley Powell traveled through the canyon with a team of men

Waterways

• It is hard to believe that the Colorado River made the Grand Canyon.

• About six million years ago the Colorado River began to cut through the different layers of earth’s rocks.

• The Colorado River still runs through the lowest parts of the canyon at 1,450

miles long.• Large amounts of water carried

about 500,000 tons of mud and gravel downstream every day.

Rocks and Minerals

• There are many different kinds of rocks and minerals in the Grand Canyon.

• The oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon are mostly schist and granite.

• Limestone, shale and sandstone can all be found in the Grand Canyons layers of rocks.

• Limestone is a kind of rock that is formed underwater.