Author Description

The Late Cenozoic history of the western Grand Canyon is one of profound and rapid transformation. The constantly changing morphology and dynamics of the canyon during this period have been recorded in spectacular geologic features, such as frozen lava cascades and lava dams, as well as volcanic cones, necks, and dikes. All of these unique features, which make the western part of the Grand Canyon strikingly different from other parts, resulted from the interaction of basaltic lava flows and vigorous erosion by the Colorado River.<br>The volcanic phenomena in the Grand Canyon were created by eruptions of basaltic lava in the southernmost part of the Uinkaret volcanic field. Some lava flows were extruded on the Uinkaret Plateau and cascaded over the outer rim of the Grand Canyon into Toroweap Valley and Whitmore Wash, while others were extruded within the Grand Canyon itself and partly covered the Esplanade Platform. The remaining flows cascaded over the rim of the canyon's inner gorge. Red molten rock cascading into the canyon and forming lava dams must have presented a spectacular scene, the likes of which have never been viewed by human beings.<br>Even more spectacular is how quickly these lava dams formed - from small single-flow dams that were created in only a few days, to complex, multiple-flow dams that took several thousand years. The dams were then destroyed when the water impounded behind them ultimately overflowed. Although their construction and destruction occurred in a geologic instant, these events were the most significant in the late Cenozoic history of the Grand Canyon.<br>Because of the largely inaccessible nature of the western part of the canyon, the author and his field assistants researching this area had to be creative in their data-gathering techniques. For example, they made photo mosaics of the entire canyon wall using a hand-held aerial camera; these mosaics served as cross sections on which all geological data were plotted. In addition, t