The Grand Canyon del Colorado is one of the most popular tourist attractions and visited from the United States. Beyond its shocking beauty, the number of stories and even myths that refer to its origins and history is striking. One of the most intriguing is the enigma of the temporary gap in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado that, now, has a scientific explanation. Keep reading to know more!
Do you know the mystery of the time gap in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado?
Before explaining what science says about this enigma, it is important to relive it so that everyone knows it. For many decades, there has been talk of a “temporary gap” in the record of the rocks of the Grand Canyon of Colorado, since they are not found there. formations of a period spanning hundreds of millions of years.
Its rocky walls are like the pages of an immense book that tells the history of our planet, how it has been constituted and come to be as we know it today. But this book is missing a few pages, just as some areas of the Grand Canyon are missing a billion years of rocks that have “disappeared” without leaving a trace.
This “anomaly” was first described in the mid-19th century and is known as “the Great Unconformity ”, which has been worrying the scientific community for 150 years. However, a study recently published in Geology seems to shed light on the enigma of the time gap in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.
How do you explain the time gap in the rocks of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado?
In the aforementioned article, geologist Barra A. Peak and her team explain that a series of small but violent anomalies during the disintegration of the supercontinent Rodinia could have “shaken” the structures of the Grand Canyon about 1.1 billion years ago.
The resulting disturbances could have led to the destruction of the land around them, causing numerous rocks and sediments to be carried by the ocean. This would explain, then, the thousands of years in rocky structures “lost” in the mysterious time gap of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.
Experts also highlight the importance of having more sophisticated analytical methods that allow us to delve into this kind of enigma. Something that would be impossible with the technology available not long ago. On the other hand, they affirm that they will continue investigating the “traces” of the Great Unconformity, not only in the Great Canyon of the Colorado, but also in other locations in North America affected by this phenomenon.
