3A Black+Canyon+of+the+Gunnison

Over about 2 million years the Grand Canyon was carved and cut by rock and water.it has to battle the resistant rock underneath because the entire black canyon keeps cutting and cutting down and it works at a rate of about an inch per every hundred years. That is the width of a human hair! That is very little and that is how destructive forces happen in the black canyon.

The beautiful and rugged Black Canyon is mostly metamorphic rock. The other part of the canyon is igneous rock. The canyon shows evidence that it has been exposed to extreme pressure and temperatures. Magma (lava) formed up the cracks of the landmark and cooled. Metamorphic rock remains on the black canyon walls. It is called gneiss (it is pronounced nice) it’s also blended with schist: a rock that’s flat or elongated with crystals. When people see the black canyon, they see intense, alternating dark and light bands. The Black canyon is a place with lots of experience with constructive forces because its 2 billion years old. The people who’ve seen it can say that it’s one of the most amazing canyons in Montrose, Colorado.

(image from nps.gov)