Module 6 Colorado Plateau and Grand
Canyon Questions and Answers.
What features bound the plateau? List the states included in the plateau - Answer Bounded on
the south by the Mogollon Rim, on the west by Grand wash cliffs and basin and range, on the
east Rio Grande Rift, on the north and north east Rocky Mountains; States: Utah, Colorado,
Arizona, New Mexico
What is the Grand Staircase? What happens to rock ages as you ascend the staircase? - Answer
The southern portion of the Colorado Plateau is marked by a series of southward-facing
escarpments (cliffs), separated by broad benches or trenches,
- The Mogollon Rim
-Grand Wash Cliffs (south and west margins of the Plateau, respectively),
- the Chocolate Cliffs
- the Vermilion Cliffs,
- the White Cliffs,
- the Gray Cliffs, and
- the Pink Cliffs.
Collectively, the region from the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon has been termed the Grand
Staircase.
What three parks cover the rock ages from Precambrian to Cenozoic? List them in order from
oldest to youngest - Answer -Grand Canyon (precambrian and paleozoic)
-Zion NP (White cliffs , late paleozoic through mesozoic)
-Bryce NP (Pink Cliffs , Mesozoic through Cenozoic)
What occurred in the Precambrian in this region? What rock types were created? - Answer
Ancient Precambrian rocks, exposed only in the deepest canyons, make up the basement of the
Colorado Plateau, most of the metamorphic rocks formed deep w/in the Earth while continental
collision on a grand scale produced the nucleus of the North American continent well over a
billion years ago, Igneous rocks injected millions of years later form a marbles network through
parts of the Colorado Plateau's darker metamorphic basement
What type of rocks are the Grand Canyon Supergroup? What type of unconformity were they
deposited on top of? What time period were the Grand Canyon Supergroup formed in? -
Canyon Questions and Answers.
What features bound the plateau? List the states included in the plateau - Answer Bounded on
the south by the Mogollon Rim, on the west by Grand wash cliffs and basin and range, on the
east Rio Grande Rift, on the north and north east Rocky Mountains; States: Utah, Colorado,
Arizona, New Mexico
What is the Grand Staircase? What happens to rock ages as you ascend the staircase? - Answer
The southern portion of the Colorado Plateau is marked by a series of southward-facing
escarpments (cliffs), separated by broad benches or trenches,
- The Mogollon Rim
-Grand Wash Cliffs (south and west margins of the Plateau, respectively),
- the Chocolate Cliffs
- the Vermilion Cliffs,
- the White Cliffs,
- the Gray Cliffs, and
- the Pink Cliffs.
Collectively, the region from the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon has been termed the Grand
Staircase.
What three parks cover the rock ages from Precambrian to Cenozoic? List them in order from
oldest to youngest - Answer -Grand Canyon (precambrian and paleozoic)
-Zion NP (White cliffs , late paleozoic through mesozoic)
-Bryce NP (Pink Cliffs , Mesozoic through Cenozoic)
What occurred in the Precambrian in this region? What rock types were created? - Answer
Ancient Precambrian rocks, exposed only in the deepest canyons, make up the basement of the
Colorado Plateau, most of the metamorphic rocks formed deep w/in the Earth while continental
collision on a grand scale produced the nucleus of the North American continent well over a
billion years ago, Igneous rocks injected millions of years later form a marbles network through
parts of the Colorado Plateau's darker metamorphic basement
What type of rocks are the Grand Canyon Supergroup? What type of unconformity were they
deposited on top of? What time period were the Grand Canyon Supergroup formed in? -
