Black Canyon of the Gunnison
A solid unrelenting mass of stone cut deep by the Gunnison to expose the geological igneous wonders crafted by nature from the depths of the earth, molded, cracked and then filled with the remnants of mineral rich magma. Exposed to display jagged veins crisscrossing the face of the visible canvas of rock with resplendent imagery. A step to the edge reveals forests of autumnal colors hanging on to the steep sides. A canyon deeper in places than wide.
A unique canyon incised into the plateau high above the plains. Forced up by the orogenic events during the Uncompahgne uplift. Then there is this conundrum. Most rivers would have been diverted around the massive Proterozoic metamorphic basement rocks during the uplift. But the Gunnison stayed on course and cut its way down. Constrained by volcanic surface flows, the river instead kept carving downwards until it reached its current course. The surrounding watershed was forced away, leaving only the Gunnison, to work the hard-resistant granodiorites and pegmatites rock leaving it’s slopes intact to stand tall and straight above the channel below.
Read MoreA unique canyon incised into the plateau high above the plains. Forced up by the orogenic events during the Uncompahgne uplift. Then there is this conundrum. Most rivers would have been diverted around the massive Proterozoic metamorphic basement rocks during the uplift. But the Gunnison stayed on course and cut its way down. Constrained by volcanic surface flows, the river instead kept carving downwards until it reached its current course. The surrounding watershed was forced away, leaving only the Gunnison, to work the hard-resistant granodiorites and pegmatites rock leaving it’s slopes intact to stand tall and straight above the channel below.
