Norm Nevills Norm Nevills Boatman’S Quarterly Review CRMP Update …Is Published More Or Less Quarterly by and for Grand Canyon River Guides

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Norm Nevills Norm Nevills Boatman’S Quarterly Review CRMP Update …Is Published More Or Less Quarterly by and for Grand Canyon River Guides boatman’s quarterly review the journal of Grand Canyon River Guides, Inc volume 17 number 1 spring 2004 Photo courtesy of Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. Photo courtesy of Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. NormNorm NevillsNevills CRMP Update • Prez Blurb • Protecting Ruins • GCY • GC Lava Dams Medical Control Quandries • Whale Foundation • 2004 Dam Ops Book Reviews • Historic Inscriptions • Thank Yous • One Last Buzz boatman’s quarterly review CRMP Update …is published more or less quarterly by and for Grand Canyon River Guides. he National Park Service (nps) is planning to release the Draft Environmental Impact State- Grand Canyon River Guides ment (eis) for the Colorado River Management is a nonprofit organization dedicated to T Plan (crmp) for public review and comment in May Protecting Grand Canyon 2004. The nps will seek public comment on the Draft Setting the highest standards for the river profession eis once a notice of availability has been posted in the Celebrating the unique spirit of the river community Federal Register. A schedule of public meetings will be Providing the best possible river experience announced following release of the draft. The Draft eis will analyze a full range of reasonable General Meetings are held each Spring and Fall. Our alternatives as well as a draft preferred alternative for Board of Directors Meetings are generally held the first managing recreational use on the Colorado River from Wednesday of each month. All innocent bystanders are Lees Ferry to Lake Mead. urged to attend. Call for details. Issues being addressed in the planning effort include, but are not limited to: Staff Executive Director Lynn Hamilton • the range of services and opportunities provided Board of Directors to the public, President John O’Brien • appropriate levels of visitor use consistent with Vice President Drifter Smith natural and cultural resource protection and Treasurer Lynn Hamilton preservation mandates, Directors OC Dale • allocation of use between commercial and non- Bob Dye commercial groups, Jocelyn Gibbon • level of motorized versus non-motorized raft use, Matt Kaplinski • non-commercial river permit system, and Jeri Ledbetter • continued use of helicopters to transport river passen- Jayne Lee gers from the Colorado River near Whitmore Wash. GCRG’S AMWG Representative Andre Potochnik Public and stakeholder involvement has been and GCRG’S TWG continues to be very important in this planning process. Representative Matt Kaplinski Information relating to the release of the Draft eis and BQR EDITORS Katherine Spillman how the public can be fully involved in the process will Mary Williams be provided in a variety of ways including postings on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/grca/crmp. Our editorial policy, such as it is: provide an open forum. The nps is committed to completing a final National We need articles, poetry, stories, drawings, photos, opin- Environmental Policy Act (nepa) compliance document ions, suggestions, gripes, comics, etc. Opinions expressed by December 31, 2004. We appreciate your interest in are not necessarily those of Grand Canyon River Guides, Grand Canyon National Park and look forward to your Inc. continued participation in the revision of the crmp. Written submissions should be less than 1500 words and, if possible, be sent on a computer disk, pc or mac Rick Ernenwein format; Microsoft Word files are best but we can trans- CRMP PLANNING TEAM LEADER late most programs. Include postpaid return envelope if you want your disk or submission returned. Deadlines for submissions are the 1st of February, May, August and November. Thanks. Our office location: 515 West Birch, Flagstaff, az 86001 Office Hours: 10:30–4:30 Monday through Friday Phone 928/773-1075 Fax 928/773-8523 E-mail [email protected] Website www.gcrg.org page 2 grand canyon river guides Prez Blurb HE BIggeST NEWS THIS WINTER is the following, the company we work for, and 3) our company has “The National Park Service (nps) is planning to “medical control”. Gcrg has asked gcnp to be very Trelease the Draft Environmental Impact State- specific about what they want us to be doing for people ment (eis) for the Colorado River Management Plan in a wilderness setting. The letter we sent to the park is (crmp) for public review and comment in May 2004.” in this issue. I wrote in my previous column, “Hopefully by the time On a lighter note, I was lucky enough to attend the you read this, the Colorado River Management Plan will Second Annual (I hope) “Whale Foundation Wing- be out in draft form…”. Well, it won’t be. Ding” in Flagstaff on the last weekend in January. A In fact, if the Park releases its draft when they say lot of Canyon-related art and gear was auctioned off, they will, it will be the worst time possible for river much good food consumed, and many old friends met guides to read the draft eis, formulate a reasoned and enjoyed. I hope a lot of money was raised. Looking opinion, and make constructive comments. In May, around at the Wing-Ding, I was reminded of Bill most of us will be packing for a trip, or packing for the Beer’s comment at a gts a few years ago, “You’ve got season to move closer to Flagstaff or Kanab, or already a tremendous organization with a tremendous group down river on our first or second or third trip of the of people.” I saw a number of folks there doing great season. things, accomplishing plenty, and not worrying who Our crmp mail may arrive at our winter home, our got the credit. That sounds like a good river trip to me. summer home, or at the outfitters. Then if it catches And it was a celebration—a chance to get together and up to us, we can read it on our trips, after the fourteen laugh, and tell an old story, or hear a new one, and hour day, write up our comments, find a stamp and an maybe summon up the courage, or the good sense, envelope, and mail them from Phantom Ranch, Grand to let your friends know how important they are to Canyon Caverns, or Meadview. you. If you’re lucky, you don’t need a celebration to Hopefully that fits in with the 30 or 45 or 60 day do any of those things, because your friends are close review period that the nps will schedule. Sixty days by, and close. Just hanging out at the Wing-Ding, I’m may seem like a long time to review a document, if reminded how lucky we are in the river community; you are sitting in an office, waiting for it to arrive. But we have more friends than we know sometimes. It’s if you are working a full season in the canyon, maybe amazing how fast a river season will go by, and how taking only single trip off to go to a wedding, 60 days good it is to see friends year around. will come and go in a flash. Speaking of celebrations, the gts will be coming up It is going to be hard for the gcrg Board to come soon, and we are hoping for a great turnout, for the up with a position on the draft eis, because we will land session and for the river session. We’ll be meeting all be on the water, on different trips, trying to touch Friday, March 26 at the Old Marble Canyon Lodge for base with each other, coming off on different days, the annual gcrg meeting. We’ll move from there to going back on this week or next. We will be formally the Hatch warehouse for dinner and a party. The gts requesting that Grand Canyon National Park (gcnp) will be at the Hatch warehouse, Saturday and Sunday, develop a very abbreviated executive summary of March 27th and 28th, starting at 8 a.m., coffee and the Draft eis, listing what would change between the breakfast earlier. Please come if you can; I know it current system and the proposed alternative. We are often conflicts with work, school, skiing, jury duty and hoping that this would be easy for guides to take with everything else in life. The gts is always the best place them on the river and short enough to attempt to read. I know to learn something about the Canyon, meet an Gcrg will be doing whatever we can to get information old friend, make a new one, and celebrate our commu- out to members in time for them to comment on the nity. Draft eis. If you have any ideas about the Draft eis, or I hope to see you there. anything else going on, please contact us at gcrg@info- magic.net or po Box 1934, Flagstaff, az 86002. John O’ I think the next most important issue that gcrg has been discussing this winter is the increasing level of wilderness medical certifications that are being required. Most of us now have quite a bit of training that has become mandatory. Much of which, we have been told not to use unless: 1) we are in a wilderness setting, 2) we have medical protocols in writing, at boatman’s quarterly review page 3 Protecting the Canyon’s Ruins NE OF THE MOST INTERDISCIPLINARY research that 10,000 years of human history may be buried in the ventures sponsored by gcmrc launched from sands of the Grand Canyon. “With active arroyo cutting OLees Ferry on May 4, 2003. The research group of archeological sites, many sites have recently been of geologists and archeologists—including representa- exposed, creating a huge problem for preservationists.” tives from the US Geological Survey, UC Santa Cruz, Can the creation of arroyos be slowed and the archeolog- Grand Canyon National Park, the Hopi Tribe, the ical sites preserved? What the Park Service wants, Balsom Hualapai Tribe, and Western Area Power Administra- makes clear, is a “system-wide” strategy that will relieve tion—set off to see the effect of Glen Canyon Dam her staff from trying to repair every exposed site indi- on the sand that has been vidually.
Recommended publications
  • Desert Magazine 1952 October
    Through Yon Window . Gold? Ontario, California Desert: 1 was very interested in John D. Mitchell's "Lost Mine with the Iron Door" in the July issue of Desert Mag- azine. Mitchell indicates the lost mine is located one league northwest of the Ventana or "Window Rock" in the Catalinas. According to this story, "when the miners stood at the mouth of the tunnel, they could look to the southeast and see through this window." On the south slope of the Catalinas, near the top, the.c is a rock formation with a V.entana facing in a southerly direction. Situated as it is, it is possible to look through it to the southeast, south or southwest. On top and at the west end of this formation is a stone face carved by nature. A picture taken looking to- ward the southeast shows the image facing the northeast. Although the directions do not gibe exactly, could it be that nature placed this stone sentinel to watch and guard the entrance to the Lost Mine with the Iron Door? This rock formation in the Catalina Mountains of Arizona may be the clue R. L. WITTER to the long-lost Mine with the Iron Door, believes Desert Reader R. L. Witter. • • • ing one of America's foremost prob- of $500 and six months in jail. In "Beercan Highway" . lems today. I believe more of this view of the terrible desecration com- Portal, Arizona type of "Beercan Highway" article mon in western caves, the society w 11 Desert: might reform some of the worst of- vigorously aid the prosecution of any I have long been engaged in a one- fenders.
    [Show full text]
  • Catalogue for Eastern Fall Yearlings
    Hip No. Consigned by Becky Merkel, Agent 1 Justing Soldier Northern Dancer Danzig . { Pas de Nom Lost Soldier . Secretariat { Lady Winborne . { Priceless Gem Justing Soldier . Jester Dark bay/br. colt; Tri Jet . { Haze April 6, 2002 {I Demand . Intentionally (1989) { Bank Officer . { Intelligible By LOST SOLDIER (1990), 3rd Royal Lodge S. [G2]; $288,600 in NA, La. Downs H. [G3], etc.; 5 wins in UAE. Sire of 3 crops, including 2-year-olds of 2003, 5 black type winners, 53 winners, $3,249,518 in NA/US, $206,874 in Canada, including Lush Soldier ($438,416, Natalma S. [G3], etc.), Lost At Sea [G3] (to 4, 2003, $278,626). 1st dam I DEMAND, by Tri Jet. Winner at 4, $27,057. Dam of 6 foals of racing age, including a 2-year-old of 2003, five to race, 2 winners-- Fort Smith (c. by Valid Wager). Winner at 2 and 3, 2003, $53,460. Pompeo F. (c. by Goldwater). 5 wins to 3 in Panama as Goldwater’s Demand. 2nd dam BANK OFFICER, by Intentionally. 3 wins at 3 and 5, $11,507. Dam of 5 foals, 4 to race, all winners, including-- I’M A BANKER (c. by Truxton King). 9 wins, 2 to 5, $464,856, Long- fellow H. [G2], Kelso H. [G3] twice, 2nd Bernard Baruch H. [G2], Ball- antine’s Scotch Classic S. [G3], Laurel Turf Cup H. [G3], 3rd Daryl’s Joy S. [L] (SAR, $10,224), 4th Red Smith H. [G2]. Sire. I’m Important. 3 wins at 3 and 6, $37,523. Producer.
    [Show full text]
  • Demise of the Dams: the Construction, Destruction, and Legacy of Late Cenozoic Volcanism in the Western Grand Canyon
    CHAPTER 7: DEMISE OF THE DAMS: THE CONSTRUCTION, DESTRUCTION, AND LEGACY OF LATE CENOZOIC VOLCANISM IN THE WESTERN GRAND CANYON "We have no difficulty as we float along, and I am able to observe the wonderful phenomena connected with this flood of lava. The canyon was doubtless filled to a height of 1,200 to 1,500 feet, perhaps by more than one flood. This would dam the water back, and in cutting through this great lava bed, a new channel has been formed, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other . What a conflict of water and fire there must have been here! Just imagine a river of molten rock running down a river of melted snow. What a seething and boiling of waters, what clouds of steam rolled into the heavens!" John Wesley Powell, August 25, 1869 ALISHA N. CLARK INTRODUCTION Volcanic episodes have occurred periodically throughout the history of the Grand Canyon (e.g. Garber, this volume; Bennett, this volume). During certain phases of the tectonic evolution of the Grand Canyon, uplift of the Colorado Plateau lead to an extensional tectonic environment that thinned the Earth’s crust facilitating transport of magmatic material to the Earth’s surface, often along fault zones that acted as conduits for the basaltic magma generated in the mantle below (see Bennett, this volume for discussion of regional tectonics). There are three volcanic fields on the western Grand Canyon: the Grand Wash, Shivwits Plateau, and UinKaret Plateau, from west to east, respectively. The youngest of these, the UinKaret Plateau, was active during the Pleistocene (Crow et al., 2008; Dalrymple and Hamblin, 1998; Hamblin, 1994).
    [Show full text]
  • 1. WEB SITE RESEARCH Topic Research: Grand Canyon Travel
    1. WEB SITE RESEARCH Topic research: Grand Canyon Travel Guide 1. What is the educational benefit of the information related to your topic? Viewers will learn about places to visit and things to do at Grand Canyon National Park. 2. What types of viewers will be interested in your topic? Visitors from U.S. and around the world who plan to visit Grand Canyon 3. What perceived value will your topic give to your viewers? The idea on how to get to the Grand Canyon and what kinds of activities that they can have at the Grand Canyon. 4. Primary person(s) of significance in the filed of your topic? The Grand Canyon National Park is the primary focus of my topic. 5. Primary person(s) that made your topic information available? The information was providing by the National Park Service, Wikitravel and Library of the Congress. 6. Important moments or accomplishments in the history of your topic? In 1919, The Grand Canyon became a national park in order to give the best protection and to preserve all of its features. 7. How did the media of times of your topic treat your topic? On February 26, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law a bill establishing the Grand Canyon as one of the nation's national parks. 8. Current events related to your topic? Italian Developers want to build big resort, shopping mall, and housing complex near Grand Canyon. They started buying land near South Rim of the Grand Canyon and building a project. 9. ListServ discussion and social media coverage of your topic? Grand Canyon Hikers group in Yahoo Group and Rafting Grand Canyon Group.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wisconsin Yoders
    CHRISTIAN YODER AND LOIS JOTTER – MAKES THE MCCLELLANDTOWN GANG COLORADO RIVER HISTORY Christian Yoder (YR2611a) Most students of American History are aware that in 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran named John Wesley Powell made the On Apr. 13, 1889, an “elderly” Somerset County, PA farmer first known passage through the Grand Canyon. Sixty-nine years named Christian Yoder was tortured and robbed by a band of later, a Yoder (Jotter) girl and a fellow female botanist from miscreants from neighboring Fayette County (He was 65 years old at University of Michigan, were to become the first women to replicate the time). The episode made both regional and national news, and Powell’s feat. Here is the story of that woman. was followed through the capture and punishment of the guilty Lois Jotter was a great-granddaughter of Petter Jotter, a parties. Christian’s descendant Claude Yoder republished one of the wagon maker who immigrated to Butler Co, OH by 1840 and was newspaper reports in 1973, and his son Edwin gave the YNL naturalized in 1848. German historian Karl Joder reported his birth permission to post it on our web site in 1999. Now, Mark and Mayla date as having been 10/24/1819 in Munsterhof, Dreissen, Germany. Yoder have expanded and updated a report on this event, and added In 1938, Lois Jotter and Dr. Elzada Clover, both botanists from the this wonderful photograph of Christian, the original of which is University of Michigan, were members of an expedition which owned by his great-granddaughter, Anna Dora Yoder of Delaware.
    [Show full text]
  • The Magazine of the Grand Canyon Historical Society
    The Ol’ Pioneer The Magazine of the Grand Canyon Historical Society Volume 24 : Number 4 www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Fall 2013 President’s Letter The Ol’ Pioneer The Magazine of the What exactly is “history”? Is it merely the recitation of facts, or a dry, Grand Canyon Historical Society recollection of dates and past events? Does it involve only the recording (or Volume 24 : Number 4 recovery) of information about things that happened a long time ago? Is history Fall 2013 even important in such a modern, well-connected world? I think about these things every time I mention to someone that I am a member of the Grand u Canyon Historical Society. Now and then, someone will look at me sideways as The Historical Society was established if maybe I am “off my rocker” and not yet “old enough” to concern myself with in July 1984 as a non-profit corporation such things. to develop and promote appreciation, I recall my own misconceptions about history when I remember applying understanding and education of the for membership in The Mayflower Society, a group of Mayflower descendants earlier history of the inhabitants and important events of the Grand Canyon. dedicated to cultivating an appreciation and understanding of that seminal event in American history. My reaction upon meeting my fellow members in The Ol’ Pioneer is published by the the Arizona Chapter was shock at their extreme age – I wondered if I might GRAND CANYON HISTORICAL be “too young” to be a member of the group. I soon stopped paying dues, not SOCIETY in conjunction with The wanting to associate myself with such “old folks.” Bulletin, an informational newsletter.
    [Show full text]
  • Grand Canyon National Park
    To Bryce Canyon National Park, KANAB To St. George, Utah To Hurricane, Cedar City, Cedar Breaks National Monument, To Page, Arizona To Kanab, Utah and St. George, Utah V and Zion National Park Gulch E 89 in r ucksk ive R B 3700 ft R M Lake Powell UTAH 1128 m HILDALE UTAH I L ARIZONA S F COLORADO I ARIZONA F O gin I CITY GLEN CANYON ir L N V C NATIONAL 89 E 4750 ft N C 1448 m RECREATION AREA A L Glen Canyon C FREDONIA I I KAIBAB INDIAN P Dam R F a R F ri U S a PAGE RESERVATION H 15 R i ve ALT r 89 S 98 N PIPE SPRING 3116 ft I NATIONAL Grand Canyon National Park 950 m 389 boundary extends to the A MONUMENT mouth of the Paria River Lees Ferry T N PARIA PLATEAU To Las Vegas, Nevada U O Navajo Bridge M MARBLE CANYON r e N v I UINKARET i S G R F R I PLATEAU F I 89 V E R o V M L I L d I C a O r S o N l F o 7921ft C F 2415 m K I ANTELOPE R L CH JACOB LAKE GUL A C VALLEY ALT P N 89 Camping is summer only E L O K A Y N A S N N A O C I O 89T T H A C HOUSE ROCK N E L E N B N VALLEY YO O R AN C A KAIBAB NATIONAL Y P M U N P M U A 89 J L O C FOREST O K K D O a S U N Grand Canyon National Park- n F T Navajo Nation Reservation boundary F a A I b C 67 follows the east rim of the canyon L A R N C C Y r O G e N e N E YO k AN N C A Road to North Rim and all TH C OU Poverty Knoll I services closed in winter.
    [Show full text]
  • Otis R. "Dock" Marston Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf438n99sg No online items Inventory of the Otis R. "Dock" Marston Papers Processed by The Huntington Library staff; supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou. Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2203 Fax: (626) 449-5720 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554 © 2000 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Inventory of the Otis R. "Dock" 1 Marston Papers Inventory of the Otis R. "Dock" Marston Papers The Huntington Library San Marino, California Contact Information Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2203 Fax: (626) 449-5720 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554 Processed by: The Huntington Library staff © 2000 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Otis R. "Dock" Marston Papers Creator: Marston, Otis Extent: ca.432 boxes, 251 albums, 163 motion picture reels, 38 D2 videotape cassettes (with S-VHS and VHS dubs), 60 photo file boxes. A partial list of printed items transferred from the Marston Collection to the Huntington's general book collection is available on request. Repository: The Huntington Library San Marino, California 91108 Language: English. Access Collection is open to researchers with a serious interest in the subject matter of the collection. Unlike other collections in the Huntington, an advanced degree is not a prerequisite for access. Publication Rights In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the office of the Library Director.
    [Show full text]
  • ELZADA CLOVER—A COURAGEOUS SCIENTIST Dr
    316 CACTUS AND SUCCULENT JOURNAL (U.S.), Vol. 68 (1996), No. 6 the underside, acting like a backbone to give ri• tions, there is little chance to become familiar with gidity. Marginal spines, approximately 2 mm long, it except by studying plants in the Huntington Bo• are almost straight. The original description states tanical Garden Conservatory or in other botanical that the spines curve toward the leaf-base, but in gardens. my experience this is true only of the basal por• This bromeliad has an undeserved reputation tion of the leaf, while from the middle of the leaf for being difficult to grow. It apparently does not the spines begin to hook towards the apex. The do well if kept in 6-inch pots of humusy soil in scaly coating on the leaves has distinct and beau• the humid, warm greenhouse conditions so fa• tiful spine impressions on both the top and the vored by mesophytic Cryptanthus species. In• bottom that look a bit like zippers. stead, C. warasii thrives with warm sunny days, The inflorescence is nestled in the center of the cool nights, and plenty of air circulation, in a 4 or rosette. It consists of about 20 flowers arranged in 5 inch pot filled with cactus-type soil mixed with fascicles of 2 or 3- Spineless floral bracts about 11 about 50 percent pumice or perlite. Frequent mm long, glabrous above and scaly below, equal spring and summer fertilization with a dilute so• the length of the sepals. The petals are white to lution of a balanced fertilizer produces a plant that off-white, slightly longer than the sepals, and re• does credit to the grower.
    [Show full text]
  • Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plant Flora of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument Phase II Report
    Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plant Flora of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument Phase II Report By Dr. Terri Hildebrand Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT and Dr. Walter Fertig Moenave Botanical Consulting, Kanab, UT Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit Agreement # H1200-09-0005 1 May 2012 Prepared for Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument Southern Utah University National Park Service Mojave Network TABLE OF CONTENTS Page # Introduction . 4 Study Area . 6 History and Setting . 6 Geology and Associated Ecoregions . 6 Soils and Climate . 7 Vegetation . 10 Previous Botanical Studies . 11 Methods . 17 Results . 21 Discussion . 28 Conclusions . 32 Acknowledgments . 33 Literature Cited . 34 Figures Figure 1. Location of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northern Arizona . 5 Figure 2. Ecoregions and 2010-2011 collection sites in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northern Arizona . 8 Figure 3. Soil types and 2010-2011 collection sites in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northern Arizona . 9 Figure 4. Increase in the number of plant taxa confirmed as present in Grand Canyon- Parashant National Monument by decade, 1900-2011 . 13 Figure 5. Southern Utah University students enrolled in the 2010 Plant Anatomy and Diversity course that collected during the 30 August 2010 experiential learning event . 18 Figure 6. 2010-2011 collection sites and transportation routes in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northern Arizona . 22 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page # Tables Table 1. Chronology of plant-collecting efforts at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument . 14 Table 2. Data fields in the annotated checklist of the flora of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument (Appendices A, B, C, and D) .
    [Show full text]
  • Cenozoic Landscape Evolution of the Grand Canyon Region, Arizona
    Cenozoic Landscape Evolution of the Grand Canyon Region, Arizona by Copyright 2007 John P. Lee B.S., Texas A&M University, 2005 Submitted to the Department of Geology and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science _______________________________________ Dr. Daniel F. Stockli (Chairman) _______________________________________ Dr. Michael H. Taylor _______________________________________ Dr. J.F. Devlin Date Defended: _________________________ The Thesis Committee for John Lee certifies at this is the approved version of the following thesis: Cenozoic Landscape Evolution of the Grand Canyon Region, Arizona Committee: ____________________________ Chairperson Date approved:____________________________ ii Abstract Cenozoic Landscape Evolution of the Grand Canyon Region, Arizona By John Lee Dept. of Geology, December 2007 University of Kansas The landscape evolution of the southwestern Colorado Plateau has eluded accurate description due to the scarcity of a Cenozoic rock record. However, advances in low-temperature thermochronology have shown the ability to quantitatively assess erosion patterns by recording the thermal history of rocks in the subsurface. This study utilizes apatite (U-Th)/He and fission track analysis of a several newly collected datasets to constrain the unroofing of the Grand Canyon region. Assessment of topographic evolution of the Kaibab Uplift is accomplished through 3-dimensional thermokinetic modeling of real and synthetic erosion and landscape evolution scenarios. Results illustrate the sensitivity of low-temperature thermochronometric ages to topography and also provide constraints on the erosion history atop the Kaibab Uplift. Investigation of a lateral transect outlines the regional unroofing patterns throughout the Grand Canyon region and support conclusions from assessment of additional vertical transects and borehole data.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wild Ones PEOPLE SAID THAT WOMEN HAD NO PLACE in the GRAND CANYON and WOULD LIKELY DIE TRYING to RUN the COLORADO RIVER
    The Wild Ones PEOPLE SAID THAT WOMEN HAD NO PLACE IN THE GRAND CANYON AND WOULD LIKELY DIE TRYING TO RUN THE COLORADO RIVER. IN 1938, TWO FEMALE SCIENTISTS SET OUT TO PROVE THEM WRONG. MELISSA L. SEVIGNY P RO LO G U E he river had cut into the plateau, or else the plateau had risen around the The Atavist Magazine, no. 96 river. No one could say for sure in 1938. But what did it matter how it formed? It was there, this sunset-hued cleft of stone in the high country of Melissa Sevigny is a science writer based in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the author of two books, Mythical River and T Arizona. A warning. A challenge. Under Desert Skies (both 2016). Editor: Jonah Ogles An Englishman who toured northern Arizona that year declared, “Out here is a country Designer: Ed Johnson almost without a history,” a fantastical landscape of weird pinnacles, sheer cli¥s, and Copy Editor: Sean Cooper menacing canyons. He was wrong, of course. The Grand Canyon had a history, printed in Fact Checker: Adam Przybyl Images: Norman D. and Doris Nevills Photograph lines of pink and beige down its mile-deep walls, with trilobites as punctuation. Collection, courtesy of Special Collections, J. Willard Generations of Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Havasupai, Hualapai, Southern Paiute, and Yavapai- Marriott Library, University of Utah Apache had called this place sacred and considered it home. For some of them it was the Acknowledgements: The narrative is primarily informed place of origin, where all humankind arose. by the Lois Jotter Cutter Papers, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives, Northern Arizona University.
    [Show full text]