G Is For Grand Canyon

Yes, the magnificent Grand Canyon sprawls across northwestern Arizona. Many of us have been there and many of us will visit it soon, but how much do we know about the rest of this southwestern state? Author Barbara Gowan and illustrator Katherine Larson help elementary-aged students and older readers alike discover the wonders of the Grand Canyon State through rich images, informative expository text, and simple rhymes. G is for Grand Canyon's multi-tiered approach to educating and entertaining assures that this fall thousands of readers will travel through pages from A to Z, in and around and beyond the Grand Canyon.

Rivers wind through earth, cutting down and eroding the soil for millions of years, creating a cavity in the ground 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and more than a mile deep known as the Grand Canyon. Home to an astonishing variety of plants and animals that have lived and evolved within its walls for millennia, the Grand Canyon is much more than just a hole in the ground. Follow a father and daughter as they make their way through the cavernous wonder, discovering life both present and past. Weave in and out of time as perfectly placed die cuts show you that a fossil today was a creature much long ago, perhaps in a completely different environment. Complete with a spectacular double gatefold, an intricate map and extensive back matter.

Revised edition of: Birds of the Grand Canyon region: an annotated checklist / by Bryan T. Brown [and others]. 2nd ed. Grand Canyon, Arizona: Grand Canyon History Association, 1984.

Dear Diary, I’m in a very unusual place: the bottom of the Grand Canyon. But it feels like we are at the bottom of the world . . . The Parkers, an intrepid family of four, are back for another exciting adventure in Grand Canyon National Park: Tail of the Scorpion. Amid the magnificent beauty of the park, ten-year-old twins James and Morgan and their father brave a steep twenty-one-mile hike from rim to rim. As they face heatstroke, exhaustion, and even a run-in with scorpions, they wonder, “Can we make the grueling climb to the top?” Each book in the exciting Adventures with the Parkers series for kids 8–13 explores a popular national park and is packed with adventure as well as engaging and educational facts about nature, outdoor safety, and much more. Vacation has never been this fun! Books in the Adventures with the Parkers Series: Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks: Danger in the Narrows Glacier National Park: Going to the Sun Grand Canyon National Park: Tail of the Scorpion Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Ridge Runner Rescue Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Wind Cave: Going Underground Olympic National Park: Touch of the Tide Pool, Crack of the Glacier Rocky Mountain National Park: Peril on Longs Peak Yellowstone National Park: Eye of the Grizzly Yosemite National Park: Harrowing Ascent of Half Dome

The Late Cenozoic history of the western Grand Canyon is one of profound and rapid transformation. The constantly changing morphology and dynamics of the canyon during this period have been recorded in spectacular geologic features, such as frozen lava cascades and lava dams, as well as volcanic cones, necks, and dikes. All of these unique features, which make the western part of the Grand Canyon strikingly different from other parts, resulted from the interaction of basaltic lava flows and vigorous erosion by the Colorado River. The volcanic phenomena in the Grand Canyon were created by eruptions of basaltic lava in the southernmost part of the Uinkaret volcanic field. Some lava flows were extruded on the Uinkaret Plateau and cascaded over the outer rim of the Grand Canyon into Toroweap Valley and Whitmore Wash, while others were extruded within the Grand Canyon itself and partly covered the Esplanade Platform. The remaining flows cascaded over the rim of the canyon's inner gorge. Red molten rock cascading into the canyon and forming lava dams must have presented a spectacular scene, the likes of which have never been viewed by human beings. Even more spectacular is how quickly these lava dams formed - from small single-flow dams that were created in only a few days, to complex, multiple-flow dams that took several thousand years. The dams were then destroyed when the water impounded behind them ultimately overflowed. Although their construction and destruction occurred in a geologic instant, these events were the most significant in the late Cenozoic history of the Grand Canyon. Because of the largely inaccessible nature of the western part of the canyon, the author and his field assistants researching this area had to be creative in their data-gathering techniques. For example, they made photo mosaics of the entire canyon wall using a hand-held aerial camera; these mosaics served as cross sections on which all geological data were plotted. In addition, to photograph features hidden from view at river level, they utilized light aircraft and helicopters. Finally, a professional mountain climber collected samples from various units exposed high on vertical cliffs. Memoir 183 is a compilation of this field work, which took more than two decades to complete. It contains numerous maps, photographs, and cross sections of frozen lava cascades and the remnants of a sequence of 13 major lava dams that once formed huge barriers to the Colorado River. The volume also discusses the history of lakes that formed behind these lava dams and the associated sedimentary deposits that once partly filled the Grand Canyon. The results of this study provide new insights into the rates at which the Colorado River is able to downcut its channel, as well as the major factors that controlled erosion of the Grand Canyon.

Explore the past, present, and future of the Grand Canyon. Beautiful photos, fact-filled text, and engaging infographics help readers learn all about this natural wonder and how to protect it long into the future.