Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau

As a frustrated geologist of years too many to mention, I have an almost unquenchable thirst for knowledge on the subject, particularly since my family’s trip to Grand Canyon last year. But for the keen beginner or ‘interested layman’ it can be a struggle to find books on the subject that adequately help. Yes, there are plenty of geology books, but all too often the infamous ‘geo-jargon’ is there to stop the wanabee geologist in his tracks.

As I’ve mentioned before, I needed a book on Grand Canyon that went some way to answering the myriad of questions I needed answering when I returned home to ‘Blighty’. Wayne Ranney’s book, ‘Carving Grand Canyon’ answered my prayers by laying out all the theories and mysteries surrounding the canyon and it’s history in a highly enjoyable and understandable way. It’s a book that will work for anyone with a modicum of interest in the subject.

Such was the impact of this book on me personally, it caused me to look beyond Grand Canyon and outwards to the Colorado Plateau as a whole. The more you look around Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico and the staggering geological wonders to be found there, the more fascinating the American south-west becomes.

So, right on cue, Wayne in collaboration with his old college lecturer, Ron Blakey, last year published a truly stunning book entitled ‘Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau’.

Viewers of this blog will hopefully have noticed the little slideshow (in the right hand column) of Ron’s palaeogeograhical maps of the world. These have been available on his own web site for some time, but this book at last brings his ground breaking maps to a wider audience.

Above: An example of one of Ron Blakey's palaeogeographicalmaps to be found on his web site (See link on right hand column of this blog!)

Palaeogeographical maps are strangely absent from many geology books these days and I find this odd. For me and I’m sure many others, it is difficult to visualise when looking at a geological formation, just what the region looked like at the time of deposition. Throw plate tectonics into the mix and the job becomes even harder. ‘Ancient Landscapes’ is an absolute triumph in this respect.

The book is split into the essential periods starting with the early Proterozoic (1,750 million years ago) through to the Cenozoic (65 million years ago) and to the present, with each chapter readable on its own. Each period includes varying numbers of truly stunning maps that along with Wayne’s typically understandable text really bring it all to life. As Ron himself explains, the maps have to involve a degree of ‘artistic licence’. Obviously, no one can know for sure what the area really looked like at these points in time, but the maps are based on thorough and accepted research that Ron Blakey has seemingly spent his life drawing together. It is fascinating to read that he created the stunning images from numerous satellite images of modern comparable landforms that he ‘cut and pasted’ together on his computer!

The book finishes with a summary of the historical geology of Grand Canyon and the Grand Staircase followed by a chapter on ‘Where to see the rocks’, covering such locations as Sedona, Petrified Forest, Zuni Cliffs, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Arches National Park and many, many more. I've learnt so much already, such as the effect of repeated transgressions and regressions has on the pattern of strata. So far, I feel I've barely scratched the surface of what this publication contains so it's certainly a book that I will repeatedly return to over the months and years.
In short, a quite magnificent book and possibly the best £25 I have spent in a long while!

As well as buying the book, it is also worth taking a wander over to ‘You Tube’ and having a look at a series of films of Ron and Wayne’s joint lecture at the Grand Canyon Field Institute last year all about the book, the making of the maps and the Colorado Plateau story . Click Here.

Enjoy!

Until next time!

Cheers,
Alyn

The Great 'Grand Canyon Age' Debate!

Hi there!

I was very interested to read a post in Wayne Ranney's blog 'Earthly Musings' some weeks ago, regarding 2008 being the 'Banner year' for Grand Canyon research papers. In his blog he mentioned the geological 'hoo-hah' that was stirred up by the publication of a paper by Victor Polyak, which presented the possibility that part of Grand Canyon may well have been around 17 Ma. Shock horror!?! How could they say such a thing? Outrageous!

Or is it?

Their research into U-Pb dating of speleothems (cave formations) brought forward the possibility that sections of Grand Canyon may have been in existance a lot longer than originally thought. However, I suppose it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that rather than stimulate discussion and open the minds of other geologist to new possibilities regarding the age of Grand Canyon, their research paper seems to have brought a near hysterical response from "the young canyon police" as Wayne called them. Those geologists that are firmly behind the '6Ma age' scenario seem unwilling to entertain any other possibility which seems very strange to me.

While much of the geological terminology used goes way over my head, it is nevertheless interesting to read the reviews of the paper made by Pedersen et al and Pearthree et al (Sept. 2008). There seems to be a 'disprove this paper at all costs' approach rather than create a healthy discussion, but maybe that's just me misinterpreting their reviews. Polyak responds to their reviews with the inference that maybe many geologists don't fully understand cave formations and the hydrology behind them.

Okay, I haven't even started a geology degree course yet and am very much an outsider looking in, but I sincerely hope that when the time comes and I start to contribute to geological debate that I will be able to keep an open mind and be able when necessary to admit to myself and others, "hey, you know, I might just be wrong here!" Surely if one of my geological peers looks at my work, critically analyses it and shows me that I am wrong, that is GOOD for the geological world and me too? Surely we learn just as much by finding out that we aren't quite correct, as we do when proved right?

In Wayne Ranney's book "Carving Grand Canyon", he mentions the tensions in the air during the 2000 symposium on the origins of the Colorado Plateau, that was almost palpable between the 'young canyon' groups and those who had the audacity to suggest that it might be older! Surely, what every geologist or interested party wants, is to find the truth? I like to think that, in the coming years, as my geology studies progress, I will be 'man enough' to take criticism from my peers on the chin and embrace the fact that I might have been wrong.

Time will tell, I guess!

See ya later!

Alyn.

Greetings from Wayne and 'Grumpychops' Unmasked.

And there I was thinking no-one actually reads this stuff! This blog started out quite innocently, as a simple outlet for whatever I feel the need to write about. While I have tried to write as if to an audience of millions, I presumed that realistically only the occasional 'e-wanderer' would actually stumble on this venue and even less actually find it's contents worth commenting on!

By September 5th 2008, I had received two comments on my blog: the first from my step-daughter and a second from someone who shares my love of rocks and rocky places which were nice to receive. However, the third comment arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time and left me shocked, humbled and inspired in equal measure! On Saturday morning my wife alerted me to a new comment on the blog and urged me to quickly go and have a look at it as she thought I'd be quite excited by it! Hmmm!?! Intriguing!

It was with some surprise that I saw the name 'Wayne Ranney' leap out of my monitor and smack me between the eyes! Now, for the uninitiated, Wayne is the author of the book 'Carving Grand Canyon', a book I've mentioned several times already on this blog. Not just 'a book about Grand Canyon', this book takes a look at the complex theories as to how Grand Canyon was formed and tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding it's formation. In short, a superb book! Now I can only presume that Wayne has simply searched to see who might have his book listed as one of their favourite books in their Blogger profiles and stumbled upon my 'humble blog' that way.

What a small world we now live in eh? Little old me, waffling on about a geology book and then the author, thousands of miles away, visits my blog and leaves a message. It made my day, I must say and you can read Wayne's comments by clicking here.

WOW! It's not just the fact that he visited my blog, but that he's actually read some of it! "thanks for all your fine writing" he said! Crikey!

What more can I add except to repeat my reply to his message. Thanks again Wayne for your kind words. I am now inspired to take my 'humble blog' a lot more seriously and concentrate on the geology theme for the majority of the time. The 'moans and groans' that were the spur to start this blog will be confined to the past!

What did strike me as a bit daft though was the realisation that Wayne Ranney was writing a message to 'Grumpy Chops'! So, maybe it's time to lose my anonymity, at least partially and make this blog a bit more personal and friendly? So with that aim in mind, say a big 'Hello' to . . . .

Alyn

There! That wasn't so bad was it? Much more open and approachable than 'Grumpychops' is it not? 'Alyn' is a welsh spelling, courtesy of my welsh mother and has been both a blessing and a curse over the years. I've lost count of the multitude of different (incorrect) spellings of my name that i have been subjected to! Alan, Allan, Allen, Alain, Alun, Alwyn . . . . The list goes on, but Alyn is the name and the one you'll see on this blog from now on!

So that's it for now. Next time we'll be back to geology! Promise!

Cheers for now,

Alyn.