Carving Grand Canyon: Evidence, Theories, and Mystery

by Wayne Ranney

Carving Grand Canyon provides a synopsis of the intriguing ideas and innovative theories that geologists have developed over time. This story of a fascinating landscape is told in an engaging style that nonscientists will find inviting. The story’s end, however, remains a mystery yet to be solved.

Genres: Science, Geology, Nonfiction, History, Nature, Travel

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Wayne Ranney is a geologist, author, and trail guide who loves to share his passion for geology and earth history with all who are curious about planet Earth. Wayne writes books, leads outdoor adventures, and teaches geology classes in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Reviews

[Steve Van Slyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just finished reading this a second time in preparation for attending a seminar by the author. I've upgraded my rating to 5 from 4 stars because I can't imagine a better book on this topic.

Wayne does a great job of weaving together the history of the naturalists and geologists who have attempted over the years to explain the evolution of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, along with their evolving theories, each one building on the earlier ones.

The one thing you learn is that the history of the river and the canyon is very complex, which may surprise many people. At the end Wayne does a superb job of summarizing what is known for sure and what questions still remain to be answered. I wish more science books had summaries like this one.

[Emily Devenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

CARVING GRAND CANYON: EVIDENCE, THEORIES, AND MYSTERY, by Wayne Ranney, is the next logical book to read after the one he co-wrote with Ron Blakey, ANCIENT LANDSCAPES OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU. In ANCIENT LANDSCAPES, the authors describe the environments in which the layers of the Colorado Plateau formed and illustrate those concepts with paleogeographic maps. As you study those maps, you can't help but try to impose the Grand Canyon on them, since it's the feature that best exposes the layers. At what point, you may wonder, does the canyon begin to be carved?

CARVING GRAND CANYON is the best answer to that question. It narrates the attempt by geologists to formulate a unified theory of how the Grand Canyon formed and how long it took to do so. Once you've started reading it you'll realize that theory is – complicated.

Fortunately, it's also fascinating – a story of rivers and basins, faults and frost wedging, lava flows and karst collapse, personalities and plate tectonics. If you look at a map of the Canyon, from Lee's Ferry to Grand Wash Cliffs, you may suspect that it's not simply a question of how old the Colorado River is (though that's the most pertinent question). It's a question of what else can happen in a region that large, over millions of years during which several unique conditions persist.

One of the most interesting controversies is whether a paleocanyon may have existed, one that continued to be cut down to current levels in parts of the Grand Canyon. The graphic on page 124 beautifully illustrates the argument that a paleocanyon existed in Mesozoic layers above Eastern Grand Canyon that have since eroded away. The relatively new study of karst collapse near the Kaibab Upwarp also sheds some light on the mystery of how the river cut through the southern tip of the upwarp.

This book is for people whose curiosity burns when they look at the Grand Canyon, trained geologists and armchair geologists alike. It is lavishly illustrated with photographs, cross-sections, maps (some of which are paleogeographic), and diagrams that make the text clear and easy to understand. It offers a coherent answer to a question that is far more complicated than it seems. And best of all, it sparks as much curiosity as it satisfies. Buy two copies – one for your reference library, and one to take with you as you explore Grand Canyon, a place with enough wonder to fill a lifetime.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book, published by the Grand Canyon association and written for laypersons who want to know more about how the amazing canyon came to be. The longest chapter is a summary of the major geologists who developed theories that have led to our current understanding. There may always be gaps in what we know (and Ranney explains why), but you can learn a lot. There are also lots of diagrams and pictures to help out.

I also liked how Ranney presents the scientific process, as an accretion of knowledge in which even those theories that, ultimately didn't pan out helped to advance knowledge. Also we see how developments in technology (also clearly explained) give us more information (and may even resurrect some abandoned theories). If you're going to the canyon, you should consider reading this book first, so that you can more fully appreciate what you see. I got it at the Yavapai Geology Museum and wished I'd read it in advance. I also recommend the Trail of Time and the guidebook (check this out before you start the walk to see what you want to read in advance and what along the way).

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is THE book on the Grand Canyon. Published in 2012, not only does it include up-to-date science, but it was written by a professional geologist who works with the Grand Canyon Association. Two things that I love about this book:

1. The images. Geology is fundamentally a science of the visible, and every page is bursting with diagrams, maps, charts, illustrations, models, photos, and other visual aids that describe what the text is saying.

2. The author doesn't just give an answer. Instead, the premise of the book is that the Grand Canyon is a challenge and still somewhat of a mystery. The author takes you on an intellectual journey through the general features of rivers/canyons/southwest/etc., and then spends a great deal of time touring the various ideas and hypotheses about the Grand Canyon's formation. This culminates in the 2000 and 2010 Grand Canyon conferences, where the author describes the main themes of geological research. Only in the last chapter and the epilogue does the author paint a picture of what is currently suspected about its past.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In April 2023, I paddled my inflatable kayak down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Navigating this massive river at 20,000 cfs fully occupied my attention, but in truth, the canyon itself is what was most deserving of attention. The demands of the whitewater distracted me from grasping the profound story that was being revealed by the canyon landscape. Stupidly, I had not readied myself to decipher and fully appreciate that story by preparatory study of its geology and origins. Reading this book, the scales fell from my eyes. It provided the encryption to the geologic message before me, although after the fact.

Most of the book was about the history of the search to discover its origins and the geologists who pursued that quest, from the one-armed John Wesley Powell to contemporary academics armed with modern technologies. Controversy still exists over some of the specifics, but there is general agreement on certain theories that almost seem to defy belief based on their ostensive incredulity. Here’s a sample of amazing pieces in the grand puzzle:

• The Colorado Plateau, which constitutes the geologic source material of Grand Canyon walls, contains more than 15,000 vertical feet of sediments laid down flat over a period of 470 million years. By my calculation, that’s an average deposition rate of about one inch every 2,600 years. As such, 100 vertical feet of canyon wall represents 3 million years of geologic processes. To see a massive wall and know that it contains over 100 million years of Earth’s history is an extraordinary thing to behold.
• Between 80 and 30 million years ago, an ancestor of the Colorado River flowed southwest to northeast, the opposite direction of today’s river flow. River reversals are not uncommon in geologic history. The modern Colorado River may not follow the exact path of the ancient one, but instead formed a new drainage system in place of the old.
• In all probability, the Grand Canyon itself is quite young, by geological standards, probably less than 6 million years old. (I’ve dated women older than that, relatively speaking.) One-third to half of its current depth was formed in the last few million years. But what transpired was not a process of gradualism, as is commonly believed, but one punctuated by infrequent catastrophic events (sort of like my dating life.)
• In the last 700,000 years, for example, lava flows erupted that were so voluminous that huge dams were created across the Colorado River’s path in the Grand Canyon. One such event left a dam more than 2,300 feet high. This dam would have created a naturally formed reservoir on the river that would have stretched upstream to an area just below Moab, UT (300 miles away). There is evidence of at least five lava dams, which lasted anywhere from decades to thousands of years, then failed catastrophically, perhaps even instantaneously, releasing epic floods of water and rock. Reviewing my trip photographs, there are massive boulders sometimes lying about the streambed that are totally distinct from the surrounding walls, so they were evidently pushed downstream by tremendous, almost unimaginable, forces of water.

But perhaps most astounding is the first evaluations of the canyon by its earliest assessors (white men, of course). Here’s an excerpt from an 1858 report to Congress by Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives: “The region…is, of course, altogether valueless. It can be approached only from the South, and after entering it there is nothing to do but leave. Ours has been the first, and will doubtlessly be the last party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by nature, that the Colorado River, along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed.”

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading "Beyond the 100th Meridian" by Wallace Stegner, and because I live in the area, I got really interested in how the Grand Canyon was formed. This is a great book. But if I was doing it again, I would read the last chapter and epilogue first, then start at the beginning. Ranney does a great job of giving an intro to fluvial geological processes and synthesizing several theories into something comprehensible. But it's really hard to follow. At least it was for me. He gives it to you in bits and pieces - not chronological at all. In fact, the only chronology he gives (until the end) are the chronology of theories about the canyon. He does tie it all together at the end, but I wish I had used that last chapter and even more concise epilogue as a reference.

What it is not: a description of the layers of sediment you see as you descend into the Grand Canyon. I was hoping to find something like this, but this book was equally intriguing.

[Pj · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a person that thinks I should be a geologist in my next lifetime. In other words, have no geology background besides...roadside rock hounding and appreciating what the surfaces I see living in Colorado!

I would recommend this book to help explain 'what you see' at the Grand Canyon.
The author takes it back, to not only the evolution of the Grand Canyon over time, but interweaves the past scientists studies and thoughts regarding 'what really happened'! Some things were agreeable through time, some were not. But I do know this....MANY of the things I knew nothing about! There are some surprises in this book! I enjoyed the snippets of photos and diagrams that aided appropriately to the ideas of uplift, faults, and various tributaries. Certainly, the Tertiary time period was an exhausting one! ...too bad the dinosaurs didn't get to see it

Now that I've read the book...time to go see the movie. That is right-I have never seen the Grand Canyon and I need to change this fact! I will be referencing this book over the very short time I am on this Earth!

[Danya Matulis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: We don’t actually know how old the Grand Canyon is or how exactly it was formed. Lol.

This book was educational and did a pretty good job at explaining very sciency things in a simple way. Lots of pictures/maps! The main structure was: 1. Defining geologic phenomenons, 2. History of human discovery/studying the GC, and 3. Landscape evolution/summary.

My main annoyance with this book was about the specific page layout. I disliked how there were little tidbits of information pushed into the center of a paragraph. It made reading difficult bc I never knew what section to read first cause if I read it line for line, I’d cut off a whole paragraph in the middle to focus on a somewhat different side subject. Why not just put the tidbits at the end of a paragraph or section??

[Alyn Paul Coward · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is one problem with geology books it is the baffling geojargon, understood only by geology graduates and professors! Enter Wayne Ranney, a geologist himself and a man with a passion for conveying the wonder of geology in a way that is understandable to the interested layman. Wayne is a genius, pure and simple. After visiting Grand Canyon in 2008, I left with a million questions and this fantastic book went a long way to answering them. Not all of them of course because many questions about the formation of this awesome place are yet to be answered. But the story is breathtaking and worth reading again and again. Thank God for Wayne Ranney!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book for the armchair geologist (and real geologist unfamiliar with the GC) to gain a decent understanding of the theories and accepted truths of the history of the canyon. While I did have to read some topics a couple times to fully grasp them, overall the concepts and ideas were well-explained in understandable terms. And the epilogue is absolute perfection, wrapping it all up in a clear timeline of events while explaining what is accepted as fact and what is still unresolved.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

After hearing the author give an interview on the radio, I was intrigued enough to get the book. It is a good read with a tremendous amount of information in this small copy. It did get a little deep when discussing the timeline of major events in the Grand Canyon area. I increased and corrected my knowledge of river erosion.

[Alison Sweetser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even with a layperson’s knowledge of geology, there were a times a clearer explanation of a given theory might have been helpful. Still, it did give an overview of the theories about how the Grand Canyon came into existence, and along with that a smattering of history. A more recent edition would, perhaps, have been better.

[Chad Kwiatkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book covering the hypotheses of Grand Canyon formation. Not the history of the rocks exposed in the canyon, but the history of how the Colorado River came to form the Grand Canyon. A must-read for anyone with a curiosity about the Canyon!

[Vikki]

This book is brilliant. It answers so many questions whilst showing us how much more we have to learn.

[Doug Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. If you love the Grand Canyon, you must read this book.

[Sara Laor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging and clearly presented, even for non-scientists.

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, if a bit stilted. Good diagrams.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayne has the most poetic way of describing earth science.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short, colorful book that tries to explain complex geological concepts in a simple way that the general public can understand.
What is amazing is that even though the Grand Canyon is one of the most studied - certainly one of the most viewed - areas of geologic interest, it is still one of the least understood. Yes, the layers visible in the cliff walls have been dated and fairly well interpreted, but the carving process is not. The book explains possible processes such as headwater erosion, stream piracy, knickpoint erosion, and stream integration. it also delves into what was happening on a broader regional scale: northeast flowing streams from the Mogollon Highland, the uplift of the Colorado Plateau, the destruction of the Mogollon Highlands and creation of the Basin and Range region, glaciers, faulting and local volcanism. But the gap in the geologic record from 30 and 16 million years ago leaves space for many varying interpretations and theories. Until new evidence comes to light, the creation of the Grand Canyon will continue to be a topic of debate and study by geologists. This book will help readers understand geologic processes and appreciate even more the wonders of the Grand Canyon. As to how it formed...only time will tell.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an excellent history of the thoughts about the Grand Canyon formation. If you want to learn the complexity of the formation of this amazing natural landscape, this book will teach you the building of ideas covering it. You can jump to the last chapter if you want to learn what the prevailing ideas of Grand Canyon origins are nowadays. I miss some more detailed maps with landscapes features mentioned in the text, though. I bought mine at Grand Canyon Village and it was the best book there.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a natural sequel to Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau by Ron Blakey and Wayne Ranney. It lays out the history of exploration of the Grand Canyon and all the theories of how it and the Colorado River came to be. I was surprised to learn how many different ideas there are that are still being researched and debated about the formation of the canyon. I would recommend this book to anyone who travels and photographs the Southwest.

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I am persuaded that the Grand Canyon is more mystery and theory since much of the evidence is, indeed, washed away. I should have noticed that the title was "Carving" and not depositing. I am still looking to more fully understand and appreciate how the layers that were "Carved" were deposited as it is the remaining carved layers that are the fascinating stage for a passage on the Colorado through the Grand Canyon.

[Bob Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unless you are of a scientific bent or even already a geologist, I might recommend steering clear of this book. The rigor that it uses is extensive for a book with as many glossy and colorful pages as this one; it definitely is a conversation between rigorous scientific theories more than an introductory text. But it is really well explained even if it goes rather deeply into ideas of geological evidence. I enjoyed it, though I’ll have to read it again to understand it all.

[Cathy Purchis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't realized the story of the Grand Canyon was that complicated. This is specifically what the title says, a book about the carving of the Canyon, so it doesn't go much into the various layers and when/how they were formed. Written at a level that was accessible for someone who wasn't that good with geology.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really neat collection of historical accounts and ideas of how the Grand Canyon was formed, with some great photos and diagrams to accompany it. Though it's certainly fascinating, it's a pretty dense piece of work, and if you're not into geology to begin with, you might do well to have Google handy for a bit of the terminology.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, surprisingly readable. Still easier to understand if you're a geologist but then you'd probably be bored. I give it a 4 star rating because i bet it's the best book on the subject, not because it's a great historical account or well-written piece of literature.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by my Grand Canyon trail leader! It was good, but a little too scientific for me.

[Rob the Obscure · Rating 3 out of 5]

if you have been there, and are wondrously geologically inclined, you will like this.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to broaden your knowledge base, and are inclined to learn about the geography of a very beautiful landscape, this book is for you.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read on the geologic history of the Grand Canyon region.