Royal Arch Creek, Colorado river @ mile 117, Grand Canyon

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When you join us on one of our expeditions you will see that the Grand Canyon has numerous Hidden Secrets.  You have billion year old rock formations, in million year old canyons. Hidden ancient ruins, miles and miles of narrow game trails, tributaries with fern grottos and of-course the waterfalls!   Water once again the driving force that continues to change the Canyon. The Colorado river through the Grand Canyon is released at Glen Canyon Dam and out of Lake Powell. Additional water sources in and around the Grand Canyon would be based on the North rims winter snow pack, and the desert monsoons in the fall.

Limestone is one of the many sedimentary rock formations in the Grand Canyon, with the Redwall limestone as one of the most dominate formations in the Grand Canyon. Limestone  is formed by sediments/minerals and marine organisms out of both deep sea and warm shallow ocean environments. Limestone is also, “water soluble” this allows the stone to dissolve into a solution. Basically, “solubility” is the ability of a substance to form a solution with another substance.

Pictured here at river mile 117 and known by river runners as “Elves”, is Elves Chasm. The water source at Elves, is the Royal Arch Creek and is one of the many tributaries on the Colorado River. With its constant flow of water in this area, and the rich supply of dissolved limestone and other minerals, Elves Chasm has a very distinct rock formation on display, this unique formation is known as “Travertine”. Travertine, sometime is referred to as “drip stone” or “flow stone” and is very unique in its form and texture. Travertine comes in a variety of earth tone colors and is also used as a building materials for facades and flooring. The Romans actually mined deposits of travertine and the construction of the Roman Coliseum was almost entirely from travertine!

So, for now that’s my view from the back of the raft. Capt. Marty

For more information on solubility, visit Britannica.com. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc / .wikipedia.org/wiki/Travertine

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