homeALBUM 5) Monday 20 July 2009

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ (South Rim)

a) (MOVIE)Monday 20 July - Safe, Warm and Cozy In Our HotelRoom.jpg
b) Fascinating Weather! ;-).JPG
c) The Following VideoClips Are Taken An Half Hour Later.JPG
d) (MOVIE)Tracking the Thunder and Lightning From Our HotelRoom.jpg
e) (MOVIE)OOooo F...!.jpg
f) Soon the StormClouds Were Gone - Left the Car @ Park HeadQuarters + Walk Up To Yavapai ObservationStation.JPG
g) In The Park HeadQuarters Exposition About The Californian Condor (Vultur).JPG
h) With a Wingspan Of About Three Meters (Nearly Ten Feet), They Are The Largest Birds In The Western Hemisphere.JPG
i) Enter Grand Canyon At Own Risk - Stay Hydrated.JPG
j) Enter Grand Canyon At Own Risk - Use Caution Near The Edge.JPG
k) David Sets The Pace ;-).JPG
l) Back At The Rim.JPG
m) Feel Like A Local Now ;-).JPG
n) Today We Walk The Other Direction - Going East, Walking Towards the Yavapai Observation Station.JPG
o) How Was The Grand Canyon Formed.JPG
p) The Truth Is That No One Knows For Sure Though There Are Some Pretty Good Guesses (With Strong Evidence).JPG
q) A Number Of Processes Combined, Create The Views That You See In Todays Grand Canyon.JPG
r) The Most Powerful Force To have An Impact On The Grand Canyon Is Erosion.JPG
s) Primarily By Water (+ Ice) and Second By Wind.JPG
t) Other Forces Contributing to the Canyons Formation Are The Course of the Colorado River Itself, Vulcanism,....JPG
u) Continental drift + Slight Variations In the Earths Orbit Which In Turn Causes Variations In Seasons and Climate.JPG
v) Six of the Seven Climatic Belts Recognized Throughout the World Are Represented in the Grand Canyon Region.JPG
w) The South Rim is Located In An Exposed High-Desert Region Which is Renowned For Temperature Extremes.JPG
x) Summers Are Warm And Dry, But Prone To Spectacular Thunderstorms and Sudden Temperature Drops.JPG
y) Yep, That's Been Happening Today ...And Silly Goose We Are - We Left The Sweaters in The Car !! .. O Well ;-).JPG
z) The South Rim of Grand Canyon Marks The Northern Edge of a High Plateau Whose Gray-Green Forests Stand Out.JPG
za) In Vivid Contrast To The Arid Lands Below The Rim.JPG
zb) From Here The Clifs Drop 5,000 Feet (1,500 Meters) ...JPG
zc) ... to the Colorado River, Crossing Several Biotic Zones.JPG
zd) Precipitation On The South Rim Averages 15 Inches (38 cm) Per Year, Twice That Received At the River.JPG
ze) But Half That Received On The North Rim, Just 10 Miles Across The Canyon.JPG
zf) Even Here At 7000 Ft (2100 M) Above Sea Level The Climate Is Semi-Arid.JPG
zg) Its Not What Most Plants+Animals Would Call A Paradise - The Soil is Thin ....JPG
zh) And BedRock Lies Just A Few Inches Below The Surface - The Competition For Moisture In This Arid Land Is Keen.JPG
zi) All the Plants+Animals That Live Here Must Adapt To The Lack of Moisture and Extremes of Teperature of the Region.JPG
zj) Rugged As It Looks, Its a Fragile Land Whose Scars Persist For Many Years. Walk Softly.JPG.JPG
zk) Be Alert To The Sights, Sounds and Smells That Surround You, For There Is Much To Experience Here.JPG
zl) Use Caution Near The Edge - Humans Are Among The Less Surefooted Creatures At Grand Canyon.JPG
zm) Grand Canyon is Truly 1 Of The Great Wonders Of The World - Annually 5 Million People Visit This Scenic Wonderland.JPG
zn) But Every Year A Few Of Those Visitors Die In The Grand Canyon.JPG
zo) Children, Keep On Eye On Your Parents! (Page From Book, Over The Edge - Death In Grand Canyon).JPG
zp) The Rocks At Grand Canyon Are Not Inherently Unique. Similar Rocks Are Found Throughout The World.JPG
zq) What Is Unique About The Geologic Record At Grand Canyon Is The Variety of Rocks Present, ....JPG
zr) The Clarity With Which They Are Exposed, And The Complex Geologic Story They Tell.JPG
zs) (InternetPic) Learning All About The Fascinating Geological Facts at the Yavapai Observation Station.JPG
zt) Inside the Observation Station - An Amazing Viewpoint To Peer Into The Inner Grand Canyon + Colorado River.JPG
zu) Change Time Perspective To Millions+Billions of Years - Then, and Only Then, Can We Begin To Understand The Earth.JPG
zv) But First Some Astronomy and Earth Science. The Origin of the Earth - About 4.6 Billion (4,600 Million) Years Ago.jpg
zw) Most Of The Evidence For An Ancient Earth Is contained In The Rocks That Form The Earths Crust.JPG
zx) Soon After the Earth Formed, the Earths Rocky Outer Crust Solidified (Hadean Time - 4.5 to 3.8 Billion Yrs. Ago).JPG
zy) During the Archaen Period (3.8. to 2.5 Billion Yrs Ago), Continental Plates Began To Form + 1st Traces of Life Appear.JPG
zz) Proterozoic Era (2.5 Billion to 543 Million Yrs Ago) - Stable Continents First Appeared+Began to Accrete + Life Evolved.JPG
zza) Global Paleogeographic Reconstruction of the Earth in Early Cambrian Period 540 Mill.Yrs Ago (Early Paleozoic Period).JPG
zzb) Living on A Crust ;-) There Are Basically 2 Types of Plates (With Crust On Top) - Oceanic Plates + Continental Plates.JPG
zzc) Plate Tectonics - Plates On The Move, A Continuous Process.JPG
zzd) There Are Basically 3 Types of Plate Movement - Divergence, Convergence and Lateral Slipping (Transform).jpg
zze) EarthQuakes+Tsunamies (Transform Plate Movement), MidOcean Volcanic Mountain Chain + Alfred Wegener.JPG
zzf) Our Current World In The Past (Pangea) and In The Present (Plates On the Move - A Continuous  Process).JPG
zzg) Continental Drift - The Pieces of the Puzzle.jpg
zzh) Okay, Having That Covered - Now Back in the Grand Canyon,The Yavapai Observation Station ;-).JPG
zzi) Basement Rocks, Laying The Foundation - Grand Canyons Story Began 1,840 Million (Nearly 2 Billion) Years Ago ....JPG
zzj) Any Idea What Period That Is On The Geological Time Chart.JPG
zzk) Proterozoic Period (Precambrian Era) - 1,840 Million Years Ago.JPG
zzl) Event One - Formation of Vishnu Basement Rocks - The Making Of A (The Early North American) Continent.JPG
zzm) Event Two - Formation of Grand Canyon Supergroup Rocks - The Rifting of Continents.JPG
zzn) Event Three - Formation of Layered Paleozoic Rocks - The Quiet Edge of A Continent.JPG
zzo) Event Four - Uplift - The Elevation of the Land.JPG
zzp) Compared To The Rocks Exposed In Its Walls, Grand Canyon Is Geologically Young.JPG
zzq) Event Five - Canyon Carving - Incision By The Colorado River.JPG
zzr) From the Rim, Colorado River Looks Puny, Yet It Averages 300 Ft (90 m) Wide + Features a Series of Fierce Rapids.JPG
zzs) From It's Origins High in the Colorado Rockies, The River Drops More Than 12,000 Ft (3,700 Meter) ....JPG
zzt) On It's 1,450-Mile (2,300 Km) Journey to the Gulf of California.JPG
zzu) And Passes Through a Series of Canyons, Including The Grand Canyon,....JPG
zzv) Without Rocks, No Canyon Walls - Without Uplift, No Erosion - Without a River, No Grand Canyon.JPG
zzw) A Combination of Factors - As Just About Anything and Everything in Life, On Earth + In the Universe....JPG
zzx) Btw, Do You Realize Our Apelike Ancesters Or Descendents Are Around Alike Age As The Existense of Grand Canyon.JPG
zzy) We are Evolved over Period of at Least 5 Million Yrs (6 Mill Yrs Ago the Colorado River Found its Way into the Canyon).jpg
zzz) A Typical Homo Sapien of Todays Age ;-) - David Listening To Voicemail (Few Areas With CellPhone Coverage).JPG
zzza) While Mirjam Is Pondering Why Some People Still Believe In Creation According To Genesis.JPG
zzzb) Let's Sum It All Up, And Let's Get Spinning Around.JPG
zzzc) Geological Time Spiral - ClockWise.JPG
zzzd) Geological Time Spiral - Counter ClockWise.JPG
zzze) Right .... Kind Of Dizzy Now.JPG
zzzf) I Feel So Enlightened Now ~ Yavapai Observation Station Rocks!.JPG
zzzg) Born Again (With Wisdom) - Thank God For the (Pre) Big Bang Theory, Abiogenesis And Good Old Evolution! ;-).JPG
zzzh) The View From East of the Yavapai Observation Station.JPG
zzzi) Grand Canyon Vista.JPG
zzzj) Be My Guest ... ;-).JPG
zzzk) The Colorado River Was Originally Named Rio Colorado or Red River by the Spanish.JPG
zzzl) Reflecting The Heavy Sediment Loads the River Once Transported.JPG
zzzm) As The Present Day Color of the River Is More Of A Blue-Green.JPG
zzzn) The Reddish-Brown Color Become a Rarity Upon Completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 (Page, N.E. Arizona).JPG
zzzo) Walking The Trail Where We Came From - Back to Park HeadQuarters (Where We Left The Car).JPG
zzzp) A Stop Here And There, But Rather Walking in Fast Pace To Warm Up ;-).JPG
zzzq) With Car Driving Up to Grand Canyon Village - Stroll Along The Rim, Enjoying the View, Sunset + Dinner.JPG
zzzr) View From the Rim Between LookOut Studio and Verkamps Curios.JPG
zzzs) At Last We Have Got Our Sweaters On!.JPG
zzzt) Eeeeee ;-).JPG
zzzu) Grand Canyon Vista.JPG
zzzv) In the End of the 19th Century, Geologist Clarence Dutton Began Naming Canyon Features After Eastern Gods.JPG
zzzw) Friendly Dutchman (Traveling With Wife+Two Daughters) Seemed To Enjoy Our Company A Lot.JPG
zzzx) We Liked The Pleasant Chit-Chatter Ourselves - However, We Missed Out On Some Precious Explore Time.JPG
zzzy) O Well, The Beauty of the Canyon Is All Around Us.JPG
zzzz) Sunset Has Not Fully Set In Yet.JPG
zzzza) Goody ;-).JPG
zzzzb) Hier Ben Ik! ;-).JPG
zzzzc) Stroll Along The Rim and Buying Some Nice Goodies At the Verkamps Visitor Center.JPG
zzzzd) But By Now, Too Late To Visit The LookOut Studio.JPG
zzzze) But One Day We Will Be Back, Exploring More of Either Side Of The Rim.JPG
zzzzf) And Other Parts of the Grand Canyon.JPG
zzzzg) And We Will Take Some Time To Enjoy The View From LookOut Studio.JPG
zzzzh) And Dear Colorado River, Thanks For Existing!.JPG
zzzzi) You Are a Major Component In This Geological Artwork (Shaping the Canyon).JPG
zzzzj) Btw, Since 1964 Glen Canyon Dam (Page, N.E. Arizona) Has Harnessed The Mighty Colorado River For Water Storage,...JPG
zzzzk) + Hydroelectric Generation, and Controlled The Seasonal Floodwaters ...JPG
zzzzl) .. That Did Much To Form The Grand Canyon.JPG
zzzzm) The Dam Purges The Powerful River Of Many Of Its Erosive Sediments ...JPG
zzzzn) By Leaving Them Behind In Lake Powell.JPG
zzzzo) And Voila! Here Are All The Facts Mentioned In Measurements.JPG
zzzzp) The Beauty and the Beast.JPG
zzzzq) Fred Harvey Company Built Lodges, GiftShops etc. in The Grand Canyon Village, Beginning Early 20th Century.JPG
zzzzr) We Are About To Eat In The Arizona Room (Bright Angel Lodge).JPG
zzzzs) Last Mind Bobbling Look At the Canyon and Realizing That 1 Inch Is Equivelant to 125 Million Years.JPG
zzzzt) So Is 1 cm Approximately 50 Million Years (To Comprehend The Age Of Earth - 4,500 Billion Years).JPG
zzzzu) Prior To Dinner, We Bumped Into a Jeff - Amateur Photographer (Working For Missouri State Highway Patrol).JPG
zzzzv) According To Jeff, We Did Catch the Sunset On Time ~ Goody ;-).JPG
zzzzw) After Nice Dinner, Back to Our Own Lodge + Comfy Room ... Night Night! ;-).JPG
 

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