Grand Canyon Solving Earth's grandest puzzle

James Lawrence Powell, 1936-

Book - 2005

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Subjects
Published
New York : Pi 2005.
Language
English
Main Author
James Lawrence Powell, 1936- (-)
Physical Description
308 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-295) and index.
ISBN
9780131479890
  • The centerpiece of scenic grandeur in the American West is the
  • one of the great natural wonders of the world
  • How it came to be has captured the imagination not only of millions of visitors to the canyon, but for over 135 years, the best American geologists as well
  • They recognized that the Colorado River carved this scenic masterpiece, but exactly when and how it did so eluded them
  • Only in the last few years has a consensus begun to emerge and now, for the first time, author James Lawrence Powell tells the fascinating story of how the mystery came to be solved
  • Not only have geologists discovered the reasons for the majestic width and depth of the Canyon, they have found that at one time the Colorado River ran through it in the opposite direction
  • At another time, hundreds of feet of gravel buried an ancestor of today's Colorado River
  • Then erosion removed the gravel and resurrected the river, in what James Lawrence Powell has dubbed the Lazarus Theory
  • Readers of this book will discover and rediscover a great American river--one of astonishing energy and power, a majestic rival to the celebrated Mississippi
  • Beginning in the Colorado Rockies, the river cuts its way first across the Colorado Plateau and then the Basin and Range Province, finally to reach the sea in the Gulf of California
  • This river of "liquid sandpaper" today sometimes drops 15 feet per mile; by contrast, the gentle Mississippi rolls across the plains to the Gulf of Mexico at a gradient of a few inches per mile
  • Ultimately, the waters of the Colorado are not only key to understanding the geology of the West, but also to the management of our most precious western resource
  • What makes
  • Narrative so compelling, apart from the grandeur of its subject, is the richness of the characters who participated in this detective story
  • the most famous of the nineteenth-century Canyon expedition leaders, the man for whom Lake Powell is named, discovered key geologic principles that helped to crack the puzzle
  • His two brilliant assistants, Grove Karl Gilbert and Clarence Dutton, built on Major Powell's findings to make historic scientific advances
  • Indeed, James Lawrence Powell shows how Dutton's work in the Grand Canyon led directly to our modern understanding of Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics
  • Twentieth-century geology of the Canyon culminated at a meeting in 2000 on the Canyon rim at which geologists debated the Lazarus Theory and other ideas far into the night
  • The solution on which they converged resonated around the world
  • The 16 pages of photographs Powell collected for this sweeping tale bring to life the people and places of the story
  • The maps and geological time charts are useful references as to when and where the action took place
  • James Lawrence Powell has created a work of nonfiction that is an eloquent, educating, and exciting ride down to the bedrock of the American West and its most spectacular sight
  • Praise for Grand Canyon"The Grand Canyon's beauty, grandeur, and striking form have made it one of the greatest tourist attractions in the U.S., and also one of the greatest intellectual challenges to geologists
  • James Powell's exciting account of the Canyon's development is worthy of the excitement that the canyon itself inspires."
  • Professor of Geography, UCLA, and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse An engaging and lucid account of one of geology's greatest monuments
  • The story of how the Colorado River cut the Grand Canyon turns out to be a remarkable detective story, complete with red herrings and innocent suspects
  • The tale of the Grand Canyon encapsulates features of the growth in our knowledge over the whole of the earth sciences."
  • FRS, Natural History Museum, London, author of Trilobite! and Earth
  • Reads like a detective novel as Powell traces the work of the generations of geologists trying to understand our most majestic landscape
  • In the process, his fascinating book reveals not just how the Grand Canyonhas taken shape, but our planet as a whole."
  • Author of Soul Made Flesh and Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea
  • The pioneer explorer of the Grand Canyon, believed that science could reveal a deeper history of America, one that we should know for our own survival
  • As this excellent book shows, that prophecy has come true: modern science indeed has revealed just how fragile our civilization is--as vulnerable as the rocks that water has relentlessly washed away in the Canyon
  • A clear, dramatic, and humbling story of continental discovery."
  • Hall Distinguished Professor of American History, University of Kansas "As important to the professional scientist as it is to those who simply are bewitched by the Grand Canyon
  • An expertly woven tale of scientific intrigue."
  • Dept. of Geological Sciences, SUNY College © Copyright Pearson Education
  • All rights reserved
Review by Choice Review

The story of how the Grand Canyon was discovered and explored is a compelling tale of endurance and adventure that dates back to the conquistadors and the founding of the US Geological Survey. A second story is how geological ideas and interpretations of the canyon's origin by America's most renowned geologists (John Wesley Powell, Clarence Edward Dutton, G. K. Gilbert, etc.), changed through time. Is the Colorado River ancient and did it "hold its course" as the Colorado Plateau rose around it? Or is the river young and the canyon downcutting a recent and rapid event? Certainly, the two story lines could not be more different or appeal to more different audiences. This is the dichotomy faced by Powell, who tries to merge the two stories into one. The result is a rather dull rendering of history and geology that serves neither audience. This is not to say that the author is not up for the challenge, although it is clear that he is first and foremost a scientist and not a novelist. Where he really falls short is making the story readable. Overreliance on long technical quotes from the notes of the explorers is anything but gripping. ^BSumming Up: Not recommended. J. H. Beck Boston College

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

In this illustrated work, Powell (Night Comes to the Cretaceous) chronicles the search by explorers, scientists, and academics to understand what caused the Grand Canyon. Combining historical text with geomorphological and scientific evidence about the evolving nature and grandeur of the Green/Colorado Rivers, the text reads like a detective story, with pieced-together clues identified by 19th-century exploration giants of the American West. Powell writes in an easy-to-read style, successfully integrating historical vignettes, statistics, descriptive narration, scientific theory, and personal observation. He provides excellent insight into the development of geological theory culminating in a new model of canyon building and the development of a great river system and the surrounding landscape. Professional or amateur geologists and anyone else who has an interest in great rivers or has viewed the Grand Canyon will find this book captivating. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.-Ian D. Gordon, Brock Univ. Lib., St. Catharines, Ont. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

How did the Grand Canyon come about? Geologist Powell strives to give the latest accounting, but he's torn between addressing a popular audience and spinning out all the geological theories. When geologists first laid eyes on the canyon, it was love: here, the Earth would reveal the deep secrets of its structure. But the great fissure would prove far from a cheap date. Throw me a theory, buster, it would say, and I'll throw you back a curveball. Powell starts, and continues for over half of his pages, with biographical sketches of the early geologists--John Newberry, John Wesley Powell, Grove Karl Gilbert, Clarence Dutton--spelling out in simple terms the nature of their theories (through they were by no means simple, including abrasion, transport, and stream morphology--early glimmerings of the fluid interior of the planet). By the time geologists Charles Hunt and Edwin McKee enter the picture, the theories get more tortured, the academic beard-pulling starts, and Powell (Night Comes to the Cretaceous, 1998) begins losing the less devout rock hounds as he enters the dark matter of advanced geology. Those who do wade through the material will experience the feeling of watching a fascinating chess game only to have it end in a draw: None of the theories, painted in such detail, has ever been proven. Ultimately, Powell suggests that the best modern theory combines "large-scale drainage reversal, headwater erosion and stream piracy, possibly aided by lake integration"--and it's a tribute to him that lay readers will understand all those terms--but what many readers will walk away with is a sense of the awesome power of water running over the surface of the earth. Powell warns at the outset that the canyon may be on naked display, but that doesn't mean it's not deeply complicated: as many theories litter its banks as rapids break its water. (Photographs, maps, diagrams) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.