The Grand Canyon HISTORY
The canyon was formed in the Quantenary Era, as a result of earth movements while the Alpes were "growing" upwards and from erosion of the Jurassic limestone by the Verdon river.
Through the 19th century, the deepest gorges were thought to be impenetrable. Only a few local woodcutters went down into the gorges on ropes, looking for box word (buis) stumps that they used for making boules.
The canyon remained unexplored until the 20th century. Armand Janet attempted a canoe exploration in 1896, but gave up because of the violent currents. In August of 1905, the speleologist Edouard Alfred Martel did the first complete exploration of the gorges on a 3-day expedition. Part of the Martel trail is still used, between Point Sublime to La Maline.
The Grand Canyon is one of the greatest wonders of nature and belongs to the most stunning examples of erosion in the world. The magnificence and variety of colored, bizarre rock formations is simply overwhelming and incredible. Since about 6 to 10 million years the Colorado river together with other erosive forces has been carving this spectacular gorge, which is up to 60 feet (1800 m) deep, up to 18 miles (29 km) across and about 220 miles (350 km) long. The colourful strata of the Canyon walls contain fossils from the earliest living on our planet and reveal invaluable information on the earth' evolution and history over two billion years.
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