The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles
(29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet or 1,800 meters).
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 the specific geologic
processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by
geologists,recent evidence suggests that the Colorado River established its
course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the
Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to its present-day
configuration.The Grand Canyon is a fissure in the Colorado Plateau that
exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata, and is also one of the 19
distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province.
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