The Grand Canyon: Natural History of a Natural Wonder

The grandeur of the Grand Canyon has been developing for an almost inconceivably long time.

The oldest rock formations exposed to view date back to approximately 1.84 billion years ago,

although the process of canyon formation which has exposed those rocks to view has “only”

been occurring for the last five or six million years. Whether hiking at ground level or

experiencing a Grand Canyon air tour, the Canyon offers not only natural beauty, but an

unforgettable visual lesson on the transformative power of time.

More than the Sum of Its Rocks The first part of the Grand Canyon to meet the visitor’s eye is the Kaibab limestone that makes

up the Canyon’s rim and is found extensively throughout the Kaibab Plateau and Kaibab

National Forest. This is geologically youthful rock that has been around longer than any human

being: about 270 million years. These rocks are exposed to view due to the flurry of mountain-

building that took place in the western part of the North American continent about 70 million

years ago. Two tectonic plates colliding beneath the surface of the continent pushed up the

Colorado Plateau—the area from which the Grand Canyon begins its dramatic plunge

downward—approximately 10,000 feet higher than it had been before.

The Colorado Plateau, for reasons which geologists still do not entirely understand, did not

undergo much of the violent deformation associated with mountain-building, and left a relatively

smooth surface in which the Canyon began to develop. The engine that drove the development of

the Canyon was the Colorado River: “Water draining off the western slopes of the southern

Rocky Mountains carried sand and gravel, cutting down through the layers of rock. Without the

uplift of the Colorado Plateau, there would not have been the thousands of feet of topography to

sculpt” (National Park Service). Sculpted it certainly is. The Grand Canyon is one of the most

instantly recognizable geologic features in the world.

Experiencing History It is possible to take weeks exploring the scenic vastness of the Grand Canyon on foot and still

only experience a small fraction of the sights that the Canyon has to offer. One means that

visitors have traditionally used to experience more of the Canyon in less time—and from a

significantly more impressive vantage point—is to take air tours of the area. Air tours have been

conducted of the Grand Canyon since October 3, 1927, when Grand Canyon Airlines’ Stinson

Detroiter took off on the maiden flight over this greatest of America’s natural wonders.

In the ensuing eighty-plus years, over a million passengers have experienced the Canyon at

reasonable prices on one of GCA’s Grand Discovery Tours. Part of the tours’ popularity is

because it does not take long to get to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas. GCA’s flights depart

hourly from the Grand Canyon National Park Airport to provide visitors with amazing views of

the East Rim, Zuni Point Pass, Imperial Point, the Painted Desert, the Navajo Indian Reservation,

and the Colorado River. All these features of the eastern part of the canyon are followed by a

tour of the north rim, where passengers experience the Kaibab Plateau and the Kaibab National

Forest. An air tour provides a unique view of the Grand Canyon that visitors will never forget.

For more information visit us at: www.grandcanyonairlines.com