Bill Merrow's Blog: 2010 River Trip Day 4 - 9/15 Carbon Camp to Clear Creek RM84.8 Part 1

Today we wake up in Carbon Camp, do the Carbon to Lava hike, and proceed downriver to RM84.8 Clear Creek. This is a long day with lots of scenery. It is split into two sections.

RM71.6 lunch stop is Cardenas Camp

We will start with a look at the classic grand canyon sedimentary rock layers.

Yesterday we finished the main Grand Canyon layers by seeing the Tapeats rise out of the river (around 15:12). A quick photo recap of the mnemonic “Know The Canyons History, Study Rocks Made By Time” (including photos taken in 2008, 2009 and 2010)

K: Kaibab Limestone appears at base of point extending into river on river left

T: Toroweap rises at river edge

C: Coconino Sandstone first appears – cross bedding is apparent at right river edge which is downstream of beach on river left around mile 4.7

C: Coconino exposure with very nice cross bedding from 2008 river trip

H: Hermit Shale rises from river around RM 4.9

S: Supai Group appears around RM11.4

Redwall Limestone

Muav Limestone

B: Bright Angel Shale

T: Tapeats Sandstone

Wayne has discussed in other forums (including a 2008 river trip) five criteria needed to form the Grand Canyon (I have a 25 minute recording of the whole talk and will provide links to an mp3 of the 22.6MB recording later as well as access to the 1.7GB avi video much later):

1. Large expanse of stratified rock (the Grand Canyon are known to extend across a very large area – some strata from well east of the Grand Canyon to west of Las Vegas).

2. Variably colored (pretty/brightly colored also in our case) – the different colors help make the strata obvious to non-geologists.

3. Gently uplifted

4. Eroded/Exposed by Big River(s)

5. Dry Arid Environment near sea level (lacking the dry environment natural weathering would dominate and strip many layers completely; if well above sea level any deposits would almost certainly be eroded along with the mountains they lie upon; much of the grand canyon sedimentary rock was laid down in shallow seas or formed as part of near shore Aeolian deposits)

Wayne Ranney and Ron Blakey in Ancient Landscapes discuss and show on maps / images what the southwest US looked like when the various layers of the grand canyon were deposited (at sea level). These support and elaborate on the five criteria discussed above.

With our Grand Canyon strata reprise done lets get back to the business of the 2010 river trip

We got up early as today was a hike up Carbon Creek to Chuar valley and over to Lava then down to the river. Wayne had pointed out a stromatolite fossil on the beach and I took photos as soon as daylight allowed (starting around 06:20).

Notice the layered cabbage type structure - this is distinctive of a stromatolite

07:39 After breakfast as we prepare to leave, here is the beach that is the start of our hike.

and here is the Philomena - the boat will proceed down to Lava Camp - once we start, our only option is to continue to our destination.

Our bags piled on the beach ready to be loaded

07:46 Wayne starts hike with Peggy at front of the group

Wayne leads the hike up Carbon Canyon

07:58 Hike is relatively flat and easy at the start but has several steep sections ahead before we leave Carbon Canyon

08:00 Wayne explains strata as we proceed

A serious "up" section in the hike

08:06 Spheroidal inclusion eroded flat results in the below

Here are whole spheroids

08:09 we reach a very pretty section

08:10 Jeff Eorio photo

08:18 Another serious up section with a little climb

08:21 Wayne leads the way up the toughest section

Jeff start photo

08:23 Jeff photo

This is less of a trail than a rock scramble but is not hard, just a little slow

08:29 looking back down on what I just climbed

08:32 we climbed up to bypass a fall, so what goes up must soon get back down to the canyon floor

Kevin, Jeff and I scouted a side route to look at the fall we bypassed and found several other dead ends

08:34 photo of Kevin on our side scout

08:47 Audrey and Ed

08:48 Laura Zambrano, Nancy Seaman, Delores Manburg

Wayne explains what we have hiked over

08:52 as we rest at a stop, Kevin demonstrates his juggling skills - he is good!

09:02 nearing the fault

09:07 Canyon opens up as we reach the Butte Fault

Chuar deposits visible in front of us

View of Temple Butte over Butte Fault

09:08 Wayne explains the Butte Fault which created the near vertical strata we just walked past and uplifted the Grand Canyon Supergroup that is exposed ahead of us. Some of the strata we see are only found in a few places and this area is the most complete set anyplace in the Grand Canyon. Altough you can see the area from the north rim, only by hiking to it can you appreciate just how big the Supergroup really is (more than 10 thousand feet thickness of sedimentary rock in the original)

09:11 vertical faulting

09:11 Wayne talks about this (Jeff Eorio photo)

09:17 group resting at Butte Fault

Wayne pointed out that the Butte Fault extends over 120 miles all the way thru Cottonwood Canyon where one sees strata standing on end – here is a photo I took during a drive thru Cottonwood Canyon in spring of 2007 of some of those tilted strata – along the same Butte Fault