GeoLog

Imaggeo on Mondays: Hiking and horseshoes

The Grand Canyon is filled with fantastic geological features like this one – Horseshoe Bend – a horseshoe-shaped meander of the Colorado River. Hiking through this wonderful landscape is a joy for geoscientists and photographers alike, so no matter where your destination is, you’re bound to get distracted by an outstanding outcrop or spectacular view.

“Colorado Horseshoe Bend” by Ioannis Daglis, distributed by the EGU under a Creative Commons licence.

“Colorado Horseshoe Bend” by Ioannis Daglis, distributed by the EGU under a Creative Commons licence.

Grand Canyon National Park is home to some of the world’s oldest rocks and the region has been well-studied by geologists since the 1850s. The canyon itself was carved in the late Cenozoic (6 million years ago), where vigorous erosion by the Colorado River cut through the Colorado Plateaux, exposing many near-horizontal layers that record the region’s history (there’s a great animation of the canyon’s history on the National Park Service website).

The photographer, Ioannis Daglis, takes us back to what captivated him about Horseshoe Bend: “We were visiting another geologic marvel of the area, only a few kilometres away – the gorgeous Antelope Canyon – and thought that we should have a quick look on the famous meander. However, the view of the river and the canyon walls was so majestic that we spent well over an hour at that spot.” I’m not surprised. With such lovely geomorphology before you, how could you not be mesmerised?

Imaggeo is the EGU’s open access geosciences image repository. A new and improved Imaggeo site will be launching soon, so you will be able to peruse an even better database of visually stunning geoscience images. Photos uploaded to Imaggeo can be used by scientists, the press and the public provided the original author is credited. Photographers also retain full rights of use, as Imaggeo images are licensed and distributed by the EGU under a Creative Commons licence. You can submit your photos here.

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