The Event - Article 2 - "In the Beginning"
In September of 2002 I took my family on an outing to Bryce Canyon.
We made the attempt three months earlier but fires in the area caused roads to be closed.
We found it prudent to delay the trip to Bryce Canyon for another time.
When the awaited day arrived, storm clouds filled the sky and rain fell in buckets.
In spite of the rain we were determined to make this trip that was put off way too long.
A little rain wasn't going to ruin this trip, or even a heavy storm like this.
We loaded up the van and headed through the pouring rain.
The further we traveled the harder it rained.
The original plan was to camp out at Otter Creek, near the town of Junction, Utah but the rain was coming down so hard we weren't sure we could even get the tent up.
That night we stayed in a motel in a small town.
We listened to the rain beat on the roof and pour down the drainpipes all night.
The next morning we proceeded to the park in spite of the continuing rain.
We were looking forward to the lovely vistas of the park but clouds hugged so tightly all around us our view was only a half dozen feet to the safety railings.
We stopped at the visitor's center in hope that while we were enjoying the displays the rain would stop.
I was very optimistic that our trip wouldn't be a total waste, and I was trying to convey this hope to the rest of my family.
We spent about an hour and a half leisurely looking at the exhibits and enjoying each other's company.
While we were there we watched was a wonderful film about the discovery and formation of the canyon.
I was impressed with the presentation of the pictures of the canyon and how well the case was made that it took millions of years for the rocks to rise up and then wear down into the unique features of the canyon.
I believe the whole world marvels at the rock towers that make the canyon famous called Hoodoos.
These are the exposed towers and cliffs that people come from all over the world to see.
We were all fascinated by the story that was presented about the canyon and its formation but now we were all the more anxious to go out and see the real features that we viewed on the film and in photos.
To our disappointment when we went outside it was still raining.
We started driving down to the end of the road, but all we could see was clouds and a dim view of the edges of the cliffs.
Since it was still raining, we decided to just drive to the last overlook in the park and have lunch.
We all hoped that by the time we finished lunch the rain would stop.
When we arrived at the overlook the rain was still coming down hard.
The clouds were low and visibility was almost zero.
There ate Rainbow point we found a nice covered pavilion that kept us dry while we enjoyed our lunch.
Then to my delight the clouds began to thin then lift to display the wonderful view of the hoodoos, cliffs and the canyon below.
I stood up and called to my family to come and enjoy this awe-inspiring view of the canyon.
The many brilliant colors of the wet cliffs were gorgeous.
Even more gorgeous than the pictures we had seen at the visitor's center.
The rain glistened off of the cliffs and hoodoos, enhancing their colors.
As I took in the marvelous vistas I noticed the mud melting off of the sides of the cliffs and hoodoos.
At closer inspection of the near cliffs I noticed little mud streams forming then running down to join other little mud streams then they all joined together to form a larger stream that seamed to run to the bottom of the canyon.
The amount and where the mud came from surprised me; I was under the impression that these cliffs were rock.
Out of curiosity I took a closer look at the cliffs to see if I had been mistaken.
My closer inspection of the cliffs revealed that they were not solid rock but a conglomerate of rock and a type of compressed earth that had a resemblance to rock.
As the afternoon progressed the clouds lifted and thinned even more to allow the sunbeams to illuminate the bottom of the canyon to reveal the streams below.
I noticed that the streams in the distance appeared to be running red brown or white with mud.
As the clouds lifted even more I could see that there was a mud stream running from every little canyon or draw along Bryce Canyon creating a very large river of mud at the bottom of the draws.
Altogether there must have been many hundreds of tons of mud flowing down those streamlets.
Before my eyes the hard rock-like-dirt that made up the cliffs was slowly dissolving and washing away by the action of the rain.
The film at the visitor's center made the case that it took millions of years to form this marvel.
The rate of erosion in the past few hours indicated to me that this whole process had to take place in much less time.
As I stood in amazement at this marvelous vision, it struck me that I was looking at the final piece in a great puzzle.
A puzzle I had been putting together in my mind most of my life.
I mentally contemplated the canyon below and around me and calculated.
I concluded that even in a canyon that size if it took millions of years to form there would be very little change in the canyon from one year to the next.
But from my vantage point I could see that the mountain had made a significant change from just one day of rain.
As I pondered what I had witnessed I became very curious about how fast Bryce Canyon was really changing.
I wanted to calculation how fast the canyon was really changing with this information I could discover the real age of the canyon.
I am missing some of the most important information such as how large was the original mountain.
But I can find out the size of size of the current canyon, the current elevations and use models to calculate the original size of the mountain.
Then I could figure out how old the mountain really was by simply dividing estimated rates of erosion into the volume of the calculated original mountain.
I started with information that I picked up at the visitors center to find the current size, elevation of the mountain and the size of the canyon.
The figure for the amount of rain that the park received each year was only available for less than a century.
But the information about the closed observation points gave me good figures on how much erosion took place since the park opened.
Now I just had to calculate the difference in elevation between the original high points of the mountain and parts of the valleys that was once part of the mountain to establish the volume of the material washed away, then to complete my calculations I needed to figure the average volume of material being washed out of the park each year.
I could just try and calculate the percentage of mud in the streams and use the rainfall figures to calculate the rate of erosion.
For the sake of accuracy I took into consideration the many changes in the features of the park that could be verified by pictures and records since the park opened.
I found more information on the many trails and view areas that were once a safe distance from the steep cliffs that were now closed because the cliffs had eroded dangerously close.
I discovered that some of these view areas and trails had actually fallen into the canyon.
Park records show when these areas were first opened and when they were closed.
This information was helpful in calculating the amount of erosion taking place over time.
Using just this calculation would be skewed quite a bit because of the attempts by the Park Service to slow down or stop the erosion.
With this information I ran some rough calculations of the time it would take to wash out the many canyons that made up the park.
I may not be able to pinpoint the exact date the mountain was formed but I could show from the amount of erosion that if in fact these mountains of so called rock had been built or created a million years ago they would have already washed away a long time ago.
The calculations showed that this wonderful geologic wonder was closer to two thousand years old than one million.
Of course this is assuming that the rainfall and snow hadn't changed too much over two thousand years.
With your permission I will now share with you my figures: The canyon is approximately twenty miles long.
The canyon changes from four to eight miles in width.
The elevation rises 2300 feet from valley to the top of the canyon.
There is so much volume of earth and rock I will figure the amount of erosion in acre-feet.
(One acre-foot is one acre one foot deep.
Since there are 640 acre-feet in a mile we must multiply 640 times the number of square miles.
(20 x 4 x 640 x 2300 x .
5) = 29,440,000 The .
25 in the calculation is taking into consideration that about one-quarter of the original mountain has already been washed away by erosion.
My calculations show that 29,440,000 acre-feet of earth and rock have washed away from the mountain over some period of time.
The question is how much time? Once we calculate the average volume of mud and rock that washes away each year we can divide this figure into 29,440,000 acre feet to come up with the age of this geologic featured.
Calculating the area times the average precipitation in the area I calculate that 127,500 acre-feet of water runs out of Bryce Canyon each year.
Much of this water runs out of the canyon carrying a high concentration of earth, and rock.
Calculating the percent of the runoff that is soil and considering the amount of the mountain that has already eroded away I came up with 15,300 acre feet of the mountain washes away each year.
I came up with this figure in a couple of ways: one, I multiplied the run off by the fraction that represents the soil content of the runoff.
(127,500 x .
15 = 19,125).
I then checked this figure by calculating the number of feet the top of the mountain had sloughed away from the trails in just the past 65 years.
This calculation shows that about 15,300 acre-feet of the mountain wear away each year.
By dividing the amount of displacement (29,440,000) by 15,300 the answer is it took 1,924 years to cut Bryce Canyon out of the mountain.
A note: the streams that I viewed that day were running as if they were rivers of mud instead of water.
I am certain that they were running closer to a-twenty-five per-cent soil content.
It became very clear to me that about two thousand years ago this mountain was formed.
I pondered my calculations and wondered in awe at the idea that this mountain was only two thousand years old.
It demolishes the fable that mountains rise over millions of years or the catastrophic events that form them took place millions of years ago.
An event that took place only two thousand years ago would have some sort of record.
A catastrophic event that would raise this geologic feature I was standing on would have an effect on other features in the area and leave evidence or a giant footprint..
An event that could bring this whole mountain up would also have an impact that would be felt possibly around the world.
The contemplation of this bit of knowledge helped to put into place the final piece of that puzzle I have been putting together in my mind for many years.
But what was that event? I became aware that I was standing on one piece of the evidence of an event so catastrophic that it changed the very landscape of North American.
I suddenly realized as I stood there that at this nine thousand foot plus elevation I was standing on was not at all what I expected.
I wasn't standing on a mountain of solid rock that but instead I was standing on a gigantic glob of volcanic mud and ash that was pushed out of possibly the most gigantic volcano to ever erupt on this planet.
This volcano was part of the single most monumental event to ever happen on the earth since the creation and the flood.
It changed the climate, shaped and altitude of the continent, emptied huge lakes and rivers, then in turn created new lakes and rivers and brought about the extinction of many whole species of plants and animals.
This catastrophic event wasn't an asteroid that scientists claim collided with the earth millions of years ago or a comet that whipped it's tail across the planet tens of thousands of years ago causing an ice age.
Perhaps this event was something even more devastating because it is one giant volcano that left behind a cinder cone with a diameter of over 500 miles called "The Great Basin".
Considering that the event of this enormity only took place two thousand years ago you would think that there would be some kind of written record talking about the earth movement and the changes that would have taken place in the world as a result.
As we proceed with our journey into time I will show you that there are at lease two written records that record this event.
In the next chapters I will take you through the geologic evidence of this massive volcanic eruption and from time to time I will bring in quotes from two thousand year old writings that support the story that I am telling.
Copy write 2007 by Crowther Publishing Company
We made the attempt three months earlier but fires in the area caused roads to be closed.
We found it prudent to delay the trip to Bryce Canyon for another time.
When the awaited day arrived, storm clouds filled the sky and rain fell in buckets.
In spite of the rain we were determined to make this trip that was put off way too long.
A little rain wasn't going to ruin this trip, or even a heavy storm like this.
We loaded up the van and headed through the pouring rain.
The further we traveled the harder it rained.
The original plan was to camp out at Otter Creek, near the town of Junction, Utah but the rain was coming down so hard we weren't sure we could even get the tent up.
That night we stayed in a motel in a small town.
We listened to the rain beat on the roof and pour down the drainpipes all night.
The next morning we proceeded to the park in spite of the continuing rain.
We were looking forward to the lovely vistas of the park but clouds hugged so tightly all around us our view was only a half dozen feet to the safety railings.
We stopped at the visitor's center in hope that while we were enjoying the displays the rain would stop.
I was very optimistic that our trip wouldn't be a total waste, and I was trying to convey this hope to the rest of my family.
We spent about an hour and a half leisurely looking at the exhibits and enjoying each other's company.
While we were there we watched was a wonderful film about the discovery and formation of the canyon.
I was impressed with the presentation of the pictures of the canyon and how well the case was made that it took millions of years for the rocks to rise up and then wear down into the unique features of the canyon.
I believe the whole world marvels at the rock towers that make the canyon famous called Hoodoos.
These are the exposed towers and cliffs that people come from all over the world to see.
We were all fascinated by the story that was presented about the canyon and its formation but now we were all the more anxious to go out and see the real features that we viewed on the film and in photos.
To our disappointment when we went outside it was still raining.
We started driving down to the end of the road, but all we could see was clouds and a dim view of the edges of the cliffs.
Since it was still raining, we decided to just drive to the last overlook in the park and have lunch.
We all hoped that by the time we finished lunch the rain would stop.
When we arrived at the overlook the rain was still coming down hard.
The clouds were low and visibility was almost zero.
There ate Rainbow point we found a nice covered pavilion that kept us dry while we enjoyed our lunch.
Then to my delight the clouds began to thin then lift to display the wonderful view of the hoodoos, cliffs and the canyon below.
I stood up and called to my family to come and enjoy this awe-inspiring view of the canyon.
The many brilliant colors of the wet cliffs were gorgeous.
Even more gorgeous than the pictures we had seen at the visitor's center.
The rain glistened off of the cliffs and hoodoos, enhancing their colors.
As I took in the marvelous vistas I noticed the mud melting off of the sides of the cliffs and hoodoos.
At closer inspection of the near cliffs I noticed little mud streams forming then running down to join other little mud streams then they all joined together to form a larger stream that seamed to run to the bottom of the canyon.
The amount and where the mud came from surprised me; I was under the impression that these cliffs were rock.
Out of curiosity I took a closer look at the cliffs to see if I had been mistaken.
My closer inspection of the cliffs revealed that they were not solid rock but a conglomerate of rock and a type of compressed earth that had a resemblance to rock.
As the afternoon progressed the clouds lifted and thinned even more to allow the sunbeams to illuminate the bottom of the canyon to reveal the streams below.
I noticed that the streams in the distance appeared to be running red brown or white with mud.
As the clouds lifted even more I could see that there was a mud stream running from every little canyon or draw along Bryce Canyon creating a very large river of mud at the bottom of the draws.
Altogether there must have been many hundreds of tons of mud flowing down those streamlets.
Before my eyes the hard rock-like-dirt that made up the cliffs was slowly dissolving and washing away by the action of the rain.
The film at the visitor's center made the case that it took millions of years to form this marvel.
The rate of erosion in the past few hours indicated to me that this whole process had to take place in much less time.
As I stood in amazement at this marvelous vision, it struck me that I was looking at the final piece in a great puzzle.
A puzzle I had been putting together in my mind most of my life.
I mentally contemplated the canyon below and around me and calculated.
I concluded that even in a canyon that size if it took millions of years to form there would be very little change in the canyon from one year to the next.
But from my vantage point I could see that the mountain had made a significant change from just one day of rain.
As I pondered what I had witnessed I became very curious about how fast Bryce Canyon was really changing.
I wanted to calculation how fast the canyon was really changing with this information I could discover the real age of the canyon.
I am missing some of the most important information such as how large was the original mountain.
But I can find out the size of size of the current canyon, the current elevations and use models to calculate the original size of the mountain.
Then I could figure out how old the mountain really was by simply dividing estimated rates of erosion into the volume of the calculated original mountain.
I started with information that I picked up at the visitors center to find the current size, elevation of the mountain and the size of the canyon.
The figure for the amount of rain that the park received each year was only available for less than a century.
But the information about the closed observation points gave me good figures on how much erosion took place since the park opened.
Now I just had to calculate the difference in elevation between the original high points of the mountain and parts of the valleys that was once part of the mountain to establish the volume of the material washed away, then to complete my calculations I needed to figure the average volume of material being washed out of the park each year.
I could just try and calculate the percentage of mud in the streams and use the rainfall figures to calculate the rate of erosion.
For the sake of accuracy I took into consideration the many changes in the features of the park that could be verified by pictures and records since the park opened.
I found more information on the many trails and view areas that were once a safe distance from the steep cliffs that were now closed because the cliffs had eroded dangerously close.
I discovered that some of these view areas and trails had actually fallen into the canyon.
Park records show when these areas were first opened and when they were closed.
This information was helpful in calculating the amount of erosion taking place over time.
Using just this calculation would be skewed quite a bit because of the attempts by the Park Service to slow down or stop the erosion.
With this information I ran some rough calculations of the time it would take to wash out the many canyons that made up the park.
I may not be able to pinpoint the exact date the mountain was formed but I could show from the amount of erosion that if in fact these mountains of so called rock had been built or created a million years ago they would have already washed away a long time ago.
The calculations showed that this wonderful geologic wonder was closer to two thousand years old than one million.
Of course this is assuming that the rainfall and snow hadn't changed too much over two thousand years.
With your permission I will now share with you my figures: The canyon is approximately twenty miles long.
The canyon changes from four to eight miles in width.
The elevation rises 2300 feet from valley to the top of the canyon.
There is so much volume of earth and rock I will figure the amount of erosion in acre-feet.
(One acre-foot is one acre one foot deep.
Since there are 640 acre-feet in a mile we must multiply 640 times the number of square miles.
(20 x 4 x 640 x 2300 x .
5) = 29,440,000 The .
25 in the calculation is taking into consideration that about one-quarter of the original mountain has already been washed away by erosion.
My calculations show that 29,440,000 acre-feet of earth and rock have washed away from the mountain over some period of time.
The question is how much time? Once we calculate the average volume of mud and rock that washes away each year we can divide this figure into 29,440,000 acre feet to come up with the age of this geologic featured.
Calculating the area times the average precipitation in the area I calculate that 127,500 acre-feet of water runs out of Bryce Canyon each year.
Much of this water runs out of the canyon carrying a high concentration of earth, and rock.
Calculating the percent of the runoff that is soil and considering the amount of the mountain that has already eroded away I came up with 15,300 acre feet of the mountain washes away each year.
I came up with this figure in a couple of ways: one, I multiplied the run off by the fraction that represents the soil content of the runoff.
(127,500 x .
15 = 19,125).
I then checked this figure by calculating the number of feet the top of the mountain had sloughed away from the trails in just the past 65 years.
This calculation shows that about 15,300 acre-feet of the mountain wear away each year.
By dividing the amount of displacement (29,440,000) by 15,300 the answer is it took 1,924 years to cut Bryce Canyon out of the mountain.
A note: the streams that I viewed that day were running as if they were rivers of mud instead of water.
I am certain that they were running closer to a-twenty-five per-cent soil content.
It became very clear to me that about two thousand years ago this mountain was formed.
I pondered my calculations and wondered in awe at the idea that this mountain was only two thousand years old.
It demolishes the fable that mountains rise over millions of years or the catastrophic events that form them took place millions of years ago.
An event that took place only two thousand years ago would have some sort of record.
A catastrophic event that would raise this geologic feature I was standing on would have an effect on other features in the area and leave evidence or a giant footprint..
An event that could bring this whole mountain up would also have an impact that would be felt possibly around the world.
The contemplation of this bit of knowledge helped to put into place the final piece of that puzzle I have been putting together in my mind for many years.
But what was that event? I became aware that I was standing on one piece of the evidence of an event so catastrophic that it changed the very landscape of North American.
I suddenly realized as I stood there that at this nine thousand foot plus elevation I was standing on was not at all what I expected.
I wasn't standing on a mountain of solid rock that but instead I was standing on a gigantic glob of volcanic mud and ash that was pushed out of possibly the most gigantic volcano to ever erupt on this planet.
This volcano was part of the single most monumental event to ever happen on the earth since the creation and the flood.
It changed the climate, shaped and altitude of the continent, emptied huge lakes and rivers, then in turn created new lakes and rivers and brought about the extinction of many whole species of plants and animals.
This catastrophic event wasn't an asteroid that scientists claim collided with the earth millions of years ago or a comet that whipped it's tail across the planet tens of thousands of years ago causing an ice age.
Perhaps this event was something even more devastating because it is one giant volcano that left behind a cinder cone with a diameter of over 500 miles called "The Great Basin".
Considering that the event of this enormity only took place two thousand years ago you would think that there would be some kind of written record talking about the earth movement and the changes that would have taken place in the world as a result.
As we proceed with our journey into time I will show you that there are at lease two written records that record this event.
In the next chapters I will take you through the geologic evidence of this massive volcanic eruption and from time to time I will bring in quotes from two thousand year old writings that support the story that I am telling.
Copy write 2007 by Crowther Publishing Company
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