New paper argues the Grand Canyon is both young and old

Science : The age of the Grand Canyon has been debated for decades, with different researchers arguing for ages anywhere from 6 million to 70 million years old. A new paper by Karl Karlstrom of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and his colleagues suggests that all of the different dates may be correct. They compiled data from many different sections of the Grand Canyon and attempted to correlate information about where sand and small rocks have been deposited, which indicates the direction of water flow, with data about rock cooling , which provides a timeline for the erosion. Karlstrom’s group believes that two of the middle segments of the canyon were carved between 70 million and 50 million years ago and between 25 million and 15 million years ago. However, the researchers also think that the two end segments of the canyon were carved just 5 million to 6 million years ago and that this was when the older sections were joined together as well. Until all of the differing methods for measuring dates and erosion patterns are accepted throughout the geology community, it is likely that the debate over the Grand Canyon’s age will continue.