How old are the Grand Canyon
Paleozoic sedimentary formations?
The Grand Canyon is truly a grand display of massive amounts of
water borne sediments turned into rock strata (layers) and the power of water eroding them. A cross sectional representation of the
various rock formations in the Grand Canyon is shown in Figure 1, including formation names and their approximate conventional ages.
The conventional age assigned to the Tapeats Sandstone, [a] is around 508 [1] to 525 million years BP and the uppermost sedimentary
formation, the Kaibab Formation, is assigned 270 million years BP. Carving of the Grand Canyon is conventionally assumed to have begun
60 to 70 million years BP.
Sedimentary strata are normally laid down flat or very nearly flat. Folding [b] of the sedimentary strata
without fracturing within and around the Grand Canyon can potentially provide convincing evidence that the canyon’s Paleozoic sedimentary
layers were all laid down in a brief time not millions of years.
Unconfined rock is weak in tension and will not bend without fracturing
in the outside part of the bend that is in tension. Sedimentary strata will bend without fracturing if they are:
1. still soft (plastic) having not yet hardened into rock (lithification). The process for waterborne sedimentary layers hardening into
rock under the right conditions “does not take long.” [2] “It is known to occur within hours but generally takes days or months, depending
on the prevailing conditions”. [3] Or,
2. hard rock under high enough confining pressure[c] and heat to become plastic through metamorphic changes within the rock. These metamorphic changes will remain after deformation
and be visible under a microscope.
So, strata that have folded without fracturing and have no metamorphic changes within show that
they were soft and young at the time of folding.
Folds in the sedimentary rock layers that dominate the Grand Canyon result from faults
deep underground that have folded but not broken the surface layers from the Tapeats Sandstone to Kaibab Formation. Such is the case
for the East Kaibab monocline [d] [4] that traverses the canyon north across its east end and is paralleled by the Butte fault. This
monocline is “a compound flexure downthrown 2000 to 5000 feet on the east side...” [5] It is most visible from the Desert View Watchtower.[6] A part of the hinge zone of this monocline is visible in Carbon Canyon revealing that the Tapeats Sandstone was bent 900 within
about 100 feet (30 meters) without fracturing. [7][8] Under microscopic analysis, no metamorphic changes were visible in a sandstone
sample from this hinge; nor was this sample different microscopically from Tapeats Sandstone samples taken from other places in the
Grand Canyon. [9] (Details of the above Tapeats Sandstone research findings are available in Reference [10]). So, the Tapeats sediment
had to be soft at the time of folding and had to be young. “Similarly, the folded Muav and Redwall Limestone layers can be seen along
nearby Kwagunt Creek... The folding of these limestones did not cause them to fracture and break either.” [11]
All East Kaibab
monocline layers, Tapeats to Kaibab, folded together at the same time. From the superposition principle, the layers above must be
younger than the layers below. And the Tapeats Sandstone, the lowest formation, was young at the time it was folded, Therefore, all
sedimentary layers above the Tapeats Sandstone must also have been young during folding and were originally deposited shortly after
this sandstone.
Returning to the question: How old are the Grand Canyon Paleozoic sedimentary formations? They were not formed over
millions of years and are nearly the same age as would be expected if deposited by a worldwide flood as described in the book of Genesis
in the Bible. From the biblical record, they were formed about 4,300 years BP.
Notes:
[a] Sandstone – “A detrital sedimentary rock formed by the cementation of individual grains of sand size and commonly composed
of mineral quartz.” [12]
[b] Fold - “A bent layer or series of layers that were originally horizontal and subsequently deformed.”
[13]
[c] Confining pressure in geology is equal pressure on all sides of a rock.
[d] “Monoclines are folds consisting of
two horizontal (or nearly so) limbs connected by a shorter inclined limb.” [14]
Photographs:
(a) Jean-Christophe BENOIST, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
(b) brewbooks from near Seattle, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The use
of these photographs does not mean that their copyright holders agree with the information or conclusions on this web page.
References:
[1]
“Numeric Ages of the Grand Canyon Rocks,” National Park Service, internet viewed May 2024
[2] Morris, J., “The Geology Book,” (Green
Forest, AR: Master Books, 2000),46
[3] Snelling, A., “Rock Layers Folded Not Fractured,” 82, https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/pdf-versions/rock-layers.pdf
[4]
Ibid., Figure 2
[5] Babenroth, D., Strahler, A, “Geomorphology and Structure of the East Kaibab Monocline, Arizona and Utah,” Research
Article, GSA Bulletin, February 1, 1945, Geo Science World, internet viewed May 2024
[6] “Grand Canyon National Park Arizona, Faults,”
National Park Service, internet viewed May 2004
[7] Snelling, A., “Rock Layers Folded Not Fractured,” Cover photo and Figure 3
[8] Snelling,
A., “Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Volume 2,” (Dallas, TX: Institute of Creation Research, 2009), 601
[9] Snelling, A., “Rock Layers Folded
Not Fractured,” 83
[10] Snelling, A., “The Carbon Canyon Fold, Eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona,” Answers Research Journal, Volume 16
(2023), Abstract and Summary of Findings, internet viewed May 2024
[11] Snelling, A., “Rock Layers Folded Not Fractured,” 82
[12] Leet,
L., Judson, S, “Physical Geology,” Third Edition, (United States of America: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965), 393
[13] Lutgens, F., Tarbuck,
E., “Essentials of Geology,” Ninth Edition, (USA: Pearson Education, Inc., 2006), 472
[14] “Monocline,” Encyclopedia.com