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Meteor crater in Winslow, Arizona. | Credit: Dale Nations, Northern Arizona University/Arizona Geological Survey
A meteorite effects of thousands of years ago may have triggered a landslide in the Grand Canyon and redesigned the Colorado River, which runs through the national park.
Geologists who study driftwood and lake found in Stanton’s cave – found a possible connection between the area and the famous location in Marble Canyon, which is located in the eastern part of the Grand Canyon, which is known as a meteor crater (also known as Barringer Crater) in Nordarizona.
Due to excavations and several rounds with radiocarbon dating, the researchers found that the driftwood is about 56,000 years old. But today is the mouth of the Stanton cave over the Colorado River 150 feet (46 meters). A new study suggests that the wood was worn by an old paleolake there, which was formed when a massive landslide rose the river.
“A 10-time flood level would have been necessary than any flood that has taken place in the past thousand years,” said Karl Karlstrom, co-lead author of the study and professor of earth and planetary science at the University of New Mexico, in an explanation from the university.
The study claims that the strike, the meteor crater, could be associated with a paleolake – could be associated with a paleolake – an old lake that has existed in the past but has since dried out – in the Grand Canyon, which was formed at the same time. The impact would have created an earthquake around 5.4 to 6, which could have sent a shock wave that was so strong enough to remove unstable cliffs in the Grand Canyon 100 miles (161 kilometers) and trigger a massive landslide. This event in turn could have put enough deposits to damage the river and form a lake.
Driftwood and Lake sediments in Stanton’s cave in the Marble Canyon area of the Grand Canyon indicate that a paleolake after an old meteorite impact that stormed a massive landslide that stormed the Colorado river once flooded. | Credit: UNM UCAM Newsroom
Other caves above the river have also been examined for references to the geological past of the canyon. In addition to the driftwood, old beaver traces were found in areas that would not be accessible to the water -related animals today, which supported the idea that there was once a paleolake in the area.
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With driftwood and sediment rehearsals, which were found in many caves as high as 940 m (940 m), the researchers estimate that the paleolake would have been about 80 km long and almost 300 feet (91 m). Over time, the dam that blocked the Colorado River, had been overhauled and deeply eroded and finally filled with sediment.
While there are evidence that associated the paleolake, the meteorite effects and the resulting landslide, the researchers found that further investigations are necessary to eliminate other possible explanations for river damming such as accidental rockfall or more local earthquakes at about the same time.
Her results were published on July 15 in the magazine Geology.