Colorado Plateau

The Colorado River transects the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado River is ranked the fifth largest river in the United States, and is often referred to as the Nile of North America. This nickname describes its arid location and the vast human population that relies upon it (Kammerer, 2005). Despite its size, fluctuations in Colorado River stream flow are sensitive to the seasonal and annual changes in precipitation and temperature typical in arid systems. Long periods of below-average precipitation and large diurnal changes in temperature place high evaporative demand on the river. Additionally, the Colorado River supplies water to over 33 million people (Environmental Defense Fund, 2013). It is the most over-allocated river in the world…

These animals died out about 8,000 years ago due to climate change and overhunting. Humans adapted to that problem by focusing on the mid-sized animals and gathering foods. As resources dwindled 2,600 years ago, people started focus on other animals. Because of the diversity of centered at Zion, the food sources differentiated over the next 1,500 years into a farming tradition archeologists call Virgin Anasazi. Zion’s geology provided these people and the later pioneer farmers with a…

Some scientists believe that the canyon was formed by erosion. Erosion is when air, wind, and snow storms tear away at rock. Other scientist believe that the Colorado River carved out the Canyon. Today, scientists still do not agree on how the canyon was made. Another fact about the Grand Canyon is that the walls of the Grand Canyon contain prehistoric rocks. Some of the rocks are from two million years ago (“Let’s take a look at Arizona”). Something else many people would not expect is that…

sleeping warrior god, it is a sign that he is changing his blankets for the four seasons. THE LEGEND OF SLEEPING UTE MOUNTAIN The legend of Sleeping Ute Mountain resides in the south-east corner of Colorado. The Ute Indians started this story and it wasn’t until 1915 when the myth was ever referenced in writing. The chart shows that the story relied on story telling for many generation and only recently documented. The Ute Indians have a strong link with the Paiute Indians. This is because,…

Mesa Verde National Park is in the Colorado Corner of the Four Corner area. When the Mesa Verde region was uplifted, the streams cut themselves into pediments and divided into two components. One was the McElmo Creek which flows to the west and the other was the Mancos River which drains the cuesta. The Mesa Verde is a cuesta that slopes gently to the south. A cuesta is a hill with a step on one side and a gentle slope on the other. The steep on the Mesa Verde is a 2,000 foot high cliff on the…

disciplines. A unique quality of the university is the early exposure to collaborative and experiential research between undergraduate students and faculty. Cline Library is the library for Northern Arizona University. Situated in the center of the Flagstaff campus, it provides both physical and virtual environments that foster intellectual discovery, collaborative research, and access to technology. The library affords members of the NAU community and public, access to extensive collections…

gorge carved by the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park - one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. View from the South Rim. The longstanding scientific consensus has been that the canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of six million years,…

The Grand Canyon is one of the world’s most awe-inspiring natural landmarks. Since receiving National Park status in 1919, the park has seen a continual increase of visitors each year. Today nearly 5 million people flock to the park annually and the number is steadily increasing. Cutting into the Colorado Plateau at 2,133 meters (~7,000 feet), spanning roughly 446 kilometers (~277 miles) in length, and covering approximately 4,931 square kilometers (~1,904 square miles) in total, the canyon is…

Science: Landforms Created by: Amit Abhay (Ăbh-ī) Halder Grand Canyon Location: Northern Arizona, United States How was it formed: The Colorado Plateau began to uplift, and the Colorado River maintained its course. Between 5 – 20 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau rose a total of four kilometers. Meanwhile, the Colorado River cut through the layers of rock, which eventually formed the walls of the Grand Canyon. Facts about the Grand Canyon: Many consider it to be one of the seven wonders of…

One of these processes is plate tectonics. The Grand Canyon began to form at the convergence of the North American plate (continental crust) and the Pacific Plate (ocean crust). The collision of these plates forced the subduction of the oceanic crust under the continental crust. The entire area “uplifted” and the result was the high and relatively flat area known as the Colorado Plateau. Exactly why and how this “uplift” happened is still a mystery. Scientists believe that it may be…