1Daily Warm-Up Exercises

Day 41

Why is the Grand Canyon important to geologists?

The Grand Canyon itself is only about 10 million years old, but it reveals things that happened as many as 1.7 billion years ago. The Colorado River has eroded through many layers of ancient rock, and those layers provide clues about what the area was like when they formed.

2

Observe Grand Canyon Rocks(Part 1, steps 1-15)

Investigation 3

Grand Canyon Rocks

3

Quick WriteAnswer the following question in your journal:

Why are there lines on the walls of the Grand Canyon?

Write down all of your ideas about why the lines are there.

4

River MilesRafters developed a system to identify their location along the Colorado River. Turn to page 3 of the Resources Book, and look at the numbers along the river.

Where is zero?

In the upper right corner of the map.

The numbers stand for miles. Mile zero is Lee's Ferry, the main starting point for rafting trips. The other numbers show how far that point is from Lee's Ferry.

5

Study SitesTurn to pages 8 and 9. These are two sites in the Grand Canyon.

Which canyon is closer to Lee's Ferry?

North Canyon

How much further down river is Nankoweap?

32 miles

Use the mile markers to locate both sites on the Grand Canyon map.

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ElevationPage 9 says the river elevation is about 2800 feet. What does that mean?

At that point, the river is about 2800 feetabove sea level

Which location is higher?

North Canyon

At North Canyon, is the river flowing toward Lee's Ferry or toward Nankoweap?

toward Nankoweap

7

Powell's Technique

a. Drew a sketch of the canyon wall

b. Collected and marked rock sample from that area

c. Labeled his sketch to show where each sample was collected

8

North Canyon

9

Nankoweap Canyon

10

Sketch the Two Sites

Sketch the canyons on the ws.

Sketch the North Canyon on one side and Nankoweap on the other.

Your paper is labeled with the canyon names on different sides. Put the right sketch on the correct side! This is important later!

11

Record ObservationsExamine the North Canyon rock samples and record your observations.Examine the Nankoweap samples and record your observations.

# color acid other observations

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