Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hailed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon offers a remarkable glimpse into Earth’s geological history.
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. It is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).
The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation.
Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists, several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago.
Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.
For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.
The first recorded/known European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.
Adds the Book published by UNESCO Publishing titled - "TREASURES OF THE WORLD" (in my personal library), on UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
"The Grand Canyon, carved nearly 1,500 m deep into the rock by the Colorado River, is the most spectacular gorge in the world. Its horizontal strata retrace the geological history of the past two billion years as it cuts across the Grand Canyon National Park. t also contains prehistoric traces of human adaptation to a particularly harsh environment.
The Grand Canyon dominates the national park created in 1919. The steep twisting gorge,1.5 km deep and 445.8 km long was formed during some 6 million years of geological activity and erosion by the Colorado River on the raised Earth's crust (2.5 km above sea level).
The gorge, which ranges from 200 m - 3o km wide, divides the park into the North Rim and South Rim: the buttes, spires, mesas and temples in the canyon are in fact mountains, looked down upon from the rims.
Erosion is ongoing and seasonal and permanent rivers produce impressive waterfalls and rapids of washed-down boulders along the length of the canyon and its tributaries.
The horizontal geological history, providing evidence of the four major geological eras - early and late Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
The canyon is also a vast biological museum in which there are five different life and vegetation zones.
Over 1,000 plant species have so far been identified including several officially listed as threatened. The park is also home to 76 mammals, 299 bird and 42 reptile and amphibian species, and some 16 fish species inhabit the Colorado River and its tributaries.
Archeological remains show the adaptation of human societies to the area's severe climate and landscape, with evidence of settlement. The park contains more than 2,600 documented prehistoric ruins, including evidence of Archaic cultures (the earliest known inhabitants), Cohinina Indians along the South Rim, and Anasazi Indians on both the South Rim, North Rim, and within the Inner Canyon.
Huapapai and Havasupai Indians moved into the canyons at this time, remaining undisturbed until the arrival of Anglo-Americans in 1860."
The Commemorative Coin:
The Reverse of $25 (Twenty-Five Dollars) Silver Proof Coin presents the topography of the Grand Canyon together with the tree-lined banks/flow of the Colorado River as seen from the sky.
The specifications of this Coin are:
Country of issue: (The) Cook Islands; Year: 2023; Denomination/Face Value: $25 (Twenty-Five Dollars); Metal Composition: .9999 Fineness Silver (Ag); Weight: 5.0 Oz or 155.5 grams; Diameter/Size: 50.0 mm; Coin Quality: Proof with applied colour on the Reverse; Mintage: 777 pieces; Special Technique: Ultra High Relief; Presentation Box/Case: Yes; Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes; Technique: smartminting® (Ultra High Relief).
Links:
Links to other Coins in the Cyborg Revolution Coin Series" issued in this Series:
Most Haunted Places Coin Series:
Links to other posts on Metropolis Tiffany Art Coin Series:
The 7-Summits Silver Coin Series:
29) The first ever "No Show" Panda, USA: Minted in Platinum (One Oz.), Gold (One Oz.) and Silver (50.0 grams) Medal Variants: American Numismatic Association cancels the "2020-World's Fair of Money", scheduled to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on 04-08/08/2020
30) Women's Suffrage, USA: 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment's Ratification (1920-2020), that endorsed Women's Right to Vote: Date of Coins/Medals issue: 18.08.2020
Links to SS Central America (The Ship Of Gold) posts on this blog:
For more posts on the Art of War by Sun Tzu on this blog, please visit the following links:
Rajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Interesting post 👍."
Thank you so much Trikha sahab.
DeleteSantosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY informative and interesting post. Thanks for sharing."
Thank you so much Khanna sahab.
DeleteRaj Kumar Srivastava has commented:
ReplyDelete"Grand post on Grand Canyon 💐."
Thanks, Raj.
Delete