Where's the dirt from The Grand Canyon?

Question

If The Grand Canyon is 550 million years old there should be 92,000 feet of topsoil between the top of the Grand Canyon and the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Every geologist know that topsoil forms at the rate of 1 inch per 500 years (ref: USDA website).

So, if the Grand Canyon is 550 million years old it should be at least 92,000 feet tall. But it is only 6,000 feet tall and it's made up of sand and shale.

The trilobytes should be at the bottom of at least 92,000 feet of dirt.

Do the math.

If the dirt eroded away it would have formed a delta somewhere but there is no delta.

And there is no dirt in the layers of The Grand Canyon, either?

So, where's the dirt?

I'm asking this question in The Religion section because evolution is a religious issue and not a science issue as some believe.

Answer 1

Did you really think the answers would be different this time? You're a glutton for punishment, aren't you!

Answer 2

debunker profile: age 19, 1 hour of geology a week in high school.





"If The Grand Canyon is 550 million years old there should be 92,000 feet of topsoil between the top of the Grand Canyon and the bottom of the Grand Canyon."



It has sediment. If you don't know what that is look it up.



"Every geologist know that topsoil forms at the rate of 1 inch per 500 years (ref: USDA website).



So, if the Grand Canyon is 550 million years old it should be at least 92,000 feet tall. But it is only 6,000 feet tall and it's made up of sand and shale."



Something tells me it's more complicated then that. Reality tends to be.



"The trilobytes should be at the bottom of at least 92,000 feet of dirt."



You make no sense..



"Do the math."



Why would I reinvent the wheel? You can simply LOOK IT UP YOU MORON.



I mean if you don't understand something stop assuming there is no answer for it. Look it up. scientific research is public.



"If the dirt eroded away it would have formed a delta somewhere but there is no delta."



Yes there is. A pretty big one at that.



http://www.google.be/search?hl=nl&q=grand%20canyon%20delta&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2124l6123l0l15l12l0l2l2l0l188l1306l2.8l10&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=653&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi



"And there is no dirt in the layers of The Grand Canyon, either?"



Why would there be?



"So, where's the dirt?"



In the bloody delta



"I'm asking this question in The Religion section because evolution is a religious issue and not a science issue as some believe."



And what has evolution to do with geology exactly...



I swear. Living in europe I try to be understanding of religious people but the more I'm on the internet the more I see religious people as complete morons. Lying, fallacy making, avoiding the argument. simply said. Being totally bloody retarded.

Answer 3

Your mistake is thinking on 2 timescales. Over a short volume of time topsoil varieties at a value of a million inch consistent with a hundred years, yet over the very long term the topsoil is compressed into shale. In some hundred or one thousand years, the quantity of latest rock formed is miniscule, and we don't be conscious it. yet 550 million years is an exceedingly long term. As further and further soil builds up, the burden slowly compresses the backside layers to rock. And the consequence is 6000 ft of shale. EDIT: For those different non-creationists here, the question isn't on the subject of the river, which has in basic terms been there for 40 million years. That puzzled me too previously each little thing. The question is why the layer with trilobite fossils is barely 6,000 ft deep, whilst there might desire to be ninety six,000 ft of airborne dirt and dirt over it.

Answer 4

Ermmmmm downstream on the Colorado.



The formation of a delta only happens AT THE OCEAN, when the river slows down, reaching an "old age stage", and a flat, open area of land.



Have you ever seen the DESERT downstream of the Colorado? Some of that downstream soil is in the ocean. Some is in Lake Mead. Some is in the Arizona deserts, some is in the Nevada deserts. Some has blown away to other areas (we had a very nasty windstorm from Arizona last year that deposited literally TONS of red dust [from the Colorado River, downstream of the Canyon] on the snow on our mountains. Made everyghing look dirty and nasty for about a month! So...sometimes it blows back upstream and further!)

Answer 5

The Colorado River delta itself is quite extensive. It covers 3,325 square miles (Sykes 1937) and is up to 3.5 miles deep (Jennings and Thompson 1986), containing over 10,000 cubic miles of the Colorado River's sediments from the last two to three million years. The sediments that were deposited by the river more than two to three million years ago have been shifted northwestward by movement along the San Andreas and related faults (Winker and Kidwell 1986). Sediments have also accumulated elsewhere. Some were deposited in flood plains between the delta and the Grand Canyon.



Wind is a major erosional force in parts of the Colorado River basin. Some sediments from Colorado and Wyoming were blown as far as the Atlantic Ocean.



Much of the strata exposed in the Grand Canyon are limestone and dolomite. These rocks eventually simply would have dissolved.

Answer 6

Generally speaking, topsoil is formed by either biological action or deposition of organic material in conjunction with erosion or depsition of erosion products from elsewhere. Considering how dry it is in the area, biological action is limited, and deposition gets blown away. Kinda limiting on topsoil formation

Answer 7

Your calculations neglect the effects of drainage and erosion from wind and water. I do agree that Evolution is a religious issue because science has wholely accepted it for some time now, only religious groups dispute its accuracy.

Answer 8

Northing in your little rant has any scientific validity for the environment of Northern Arizona. No, this is not a Religious Issue. Evolution has nothing to do with the Grand Canyon. Evolution has nothing to do with god. Evolution has nothing to do with the origins of life. You REALLY need to go back to school.





► National Geographic Channel: Naked Science - The Grand Canyon

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked-science/3149/Overview

It's one of the world's most famous natural wonders, yet little is known about its formation. Unearth its secrets, and relive the first expedition to its floor.



► National Geographic Channel: Naked Science - Birth Of The Grand Canyon

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked-science/6114/Overview

The Grand Canyon: Its one of the most famous natural wonders of the world, yet little is known about how it came to be and even less is agreed upon. NGC experts investigate the diverse theories about the canyons age, formation and iconic rock layers. Join us as we peel apart the mysteries of the powerful forces that, even today, continue to incise the Grand Canyon.



► Seeing Creation and Evolution in Grand Canyon

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/science/sciencespecial2/06canyon.htm



► NPS.gov History & Culture - The Grand Canyon

http://www.nps.gov/grca/historyculture/index.htm



► Grand Canyon History

http://www.arizona-leisure.com/grand-canyon-history.html



► The Grand Canyon: How Old is It?

http://www.livescience.com/3089-grand-canyon.html



► The Grand Canyon's New Older Age

http://www.livescience.com/2355-grand-canyon-older-age.html



► Grand Canyon Possibly Old as Dinosaurs

http://www.livescience.com/4895-grand-canyon-possibly-dinosaurs.html



► Ancient Colorado River Flowed Backwards

http://www.livescience.com/10781-ancient-colorado-river-flowed.html



► Geology of the Grand Canyon area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Grand_Canyon_area

The geology of the Grand Canyon area exposes one of the most complete and studied sequences of rock on the planet. The nearly 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old. Most were deposited in warm, shallow seas and near ancient, long-gone sea shores in western North America. Both marine and terrestrial sediments are represented, including fossilized sand dunes from an extinct desert. There are at least 14 known unconformities in the geologic record found in the Grand Canyon area.



Uplift of the region started about 75 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny; a mountain-building event that is largely responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains to the east. In total the Colorado Plateau was uplifted an estimated 2 miles (3.2 km). The adjacent Basin and Range province to the west started to form about 18 million years ago as the result of crustal stretching. A drainage system that flowed through what is today the eastern Grand Canyon emptied into the now lower Basin and Range province. Opening of the Gulf of California around 6 million years ago enabled a large river to cut its way northeast from the gulf. The new river captured the older drainage to form the ancestral Colorado River, which in turn started to form the Grand Canyon.



Wetter climates brought upon by ice ages starting 2 million years ago greatly increased excavation of the Grand Canyon, which was nearly as deep as it is now by 1.2 million years ago. Volcanic activity deposited lava over the area 1.8 million to 500,000 years ago. At least 13 lava dams blocked the Colorado River, forming lakes that were up to 2,000 feet (610 m) deep. The end of the last ice age and subsequent human activity has greatly reduced the ability of the Colorado River to excavate the canyon. Dams in particular have upset patterns of sediment transport and deposition. Controlled floods from Glen Canyon Dam upstream have been conducted to see if they have a restorative effect. Earthquakes and mass wasting erosive events still affect the region.

Answer 9

In the Pacific Ocean mostly.

Answer 10

I think you're nitpicking moron. The fact is that radioactive dating can confidently date the world as I believe 4.54 billion years old. Get over it.

Answer 11

The Colorado river washed it down stream. Go down there and take a look?

Answer 12

In God's sandbox



*shakes head*

Answer 13

In the Gulf of Mexico.

Answer 14

WTF does this have to do with evolution? WTF does evolution have to do with religion for that matter?



As for your question, topsoil doesn't form at the same rate everywhere in the planet - ever heard of a desert, or an ocean?

Answer 15

WTF does erosion have to do with evolution?



I suggest you take a geology course. Or two, or three... You need it.

Answer 16

idk, in the Ocean?