What type of heritage is the grand canyon

Join us in June for an exploration of the park. Click for details. Click to learn more. Connecting the world through travel. The great canyon was formed by geologic activity and erosion by the Colorado River over a period of six million years. The buttes, spires, mesas, and temples in the canyon are in fact mountains looked down upon from the rims. The horizontal layers of rock exposed in the canyon retrace a geological history of over two billion years.

The Grand Canyon provides exceptional examples of biological environments found at different elevations. More than simply a site to behold, the Grand Canyon forms a rich cultural landscape that has been lived in, traveled through, and marveled at by various groups of people over time. Human activity in the Grand Canyon area dates as far back as the prehistoric era, when Paleo-Indian peoples inhabited the area nearly 12, years ago.

Today, at least nine contemporary Native American tribes are culturally linked to the area. More interested in accessing the Colorado River than taking in the scenic vistas, however, the Spanish left the area after failing to descend the gorge. Visitation increased dramatically in the late s causing traffic congestion and crowding at popular daytime attractions. The present four to five million annual visitors, their vehicles and wastes, are gradually degrading the Park's resources both natural and cultural.

Alien flora and fauna which compete with and sometimes exclude native plants are being systematically extirpated although they number species; and campaigns have been needed to eliminate the feral burros and introduced trout. Destructive fires are reduced by thinning the forests which will allow the beneficial use of controlled burns. The air quality is affected by coal-powered plants in the region and copper smelters in Northern Mexico; regional haze results which can cut visibility by two thirds.

The construction of Glen Canyon dam upstream noticeably reduced the rate of water flow and the amounts of silt and sediment carried down the Colorado, lowering the rate and pattern of sediment aggradation and the camping beaches used by river-runners; it has also affected the breeding of sediment-adapted native fish and reproduction of flood-dispersed cottonwoods, favoring invasion by exotic clearwater fish and the proliferation of tamarisk.

Other intrusions have included trespassing cattle, now fenced out, commercial interests, mining, and aircraft overflights which are now limited NPS, b. Thousands of hours are contributed by volunteers. The principal source for the above information was the original nomination for World Heritage status. The Park library has numerous reference documents and publications relating to the park. See below. Anderson, M. Babcock, R. Geology of the Grand Canyon. Beal, M. Beus, S. Grand Canyon Geology.

Oxford University Press. Brown, B. Abundance of peregrine falcon in Grand Canyon National Park has implications for regionwide recovery.

Park Science. Commission on Geosciences, Environment and Resources Dutton, C. Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District. University of Arizona Press. Hinchliffe, L. Unpublished NPS record. Hoffman, J. Worldwide Research and Publishing Company. Huisinga, K. River and Desert Plants of the Grand Canyon.

Hunt, C. US Government Printing Office. Jones, A. A Sketch of Grand Canyon Prehistory. Grand Canyon Natural History Association. Manns, T. McDougall, W. Mathis, A. Scientists estimate the canyon may have formed 5 to 6 million years ago when the Colorado River began to cut a channel through layers of rock. Humans have inhabited the area in and around the canyon since the last Ice Age.

The first Europeans to reach the Grand Canyon were Spanish explorers in the s. President Benjamin Harrison first protected the Grand Canyon in as a forest reserve, and it became an official United States National Park in The Grand Canyon is located in northern Arizona , northwest of the city of Flagstaff.

The canyon measures over miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep, making it one of the biggest canyons in the world. This natural landmark formed about five to six million years as erosion from the Colorado River cut a deep channel through layers of rock. The Grand Canyon contains some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth. These rock layers have given geologists the opportunity to study evolution through time.

The oldest known rocks in the canyon, called the Vishnu Basement Rocks, can be found near the bottom of the Inner Gorge. The Vishnu rocks formed about 1. Archaeologists have discovered ruins and artifacts from inhabitants dating back nearly 12, years. Prehistoric humans first settled in and around the canyon during the last Ice Age , when mammoths, giant sloths and other large mammals still roamed North America. Large stone spear points provide evidence of early human occupation.

Hundreds of small split-twig figurines made between and B. The figurines are shaped like deer and bighorn sheep. Anthropologists think that prehistoric hunters may have left the figurines in caves as part of a ritual to ensure a successful hunt.

The Havasupai people now claim the Grand Canyon as their ancestral home. According to tribal history, the Havasupai have lived in and around the canyon for more than years.

Almost all of the Havasupai ancestral land was taken for use as public land with the creation of the Grand Canyon first as a reserve and later a national park.