"A paper published today in Science marshals fresh evidence for the old and controversial spillover hypothesis. Around 6.6 million years ago, an ancestral Colorado River began draining into northern Arizona's vast Bidahochi basin, forming an enormous lake that eventually spilled over its barrier into what would become the Grand Canyon."
"The study got its start when co-author Brian Gootee noticed a resemblance between sand deposits downstream of the Grand Canyon and in the Bidahochi, both containing pink, rounded grains that seemed to have been transported by the same river."
"By dating durable zircon crystals from the two deposits, researchers confirmed that they both originated in rocks throughout the Colorado River watershed, indicating a direct connection between the two regions."
Geologists have long debated the Grand Canyon's formation. A new study supports the spillover hypothesis, suggesting that 6.6 million years ago, the Colorado River drained into the Bidahochi basin, creating a lake that overflowed, carving the Grand Canyon. Researchers found similarities in sand deposits from both locations, confirming their origin from the Colorado River watershed. This evidence indicates that the Bidahochi basin once contained water from the same river that shaped the Grand Canyon's landscape.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]