Skip to content

Grand Canyon

New theory about the origins of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles/446 km long, up to 18 miles/29 km wide and attains a depth of over 6,000 feet/1,800 metres.
The Grand Canyon is 277 miles/446 km long, up to 18 miles/29 km wide and attains a depth of over 6,000 feet/1,800 metres.

How exactly was the Grand Canyon formed? The question has been hotly debated by canyon geologists in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico for more than a century.

Now, according to the LiveScience website, new research suggests that the gigantic canyon’s origins might be more recent than originally thought. And the Grand Canyon might have been caused by volcanic activity instead of water erosion. The discovery of an unusual structure beneath the Colorado Plateau implies that at one point it rose up, was filled with magma, and then eroded into the deep valleys that produced the world-famous canyon.

Up until now, scientists have generally believed that the canyon was formed by the Colorado River, which was thought to have slowly cut through layers of rock over millennia. The new data indicates a more recent formation — in the last six to seven million years.

“Anyone who goes to the Grand Canyon and looks down should think, ‘What is it that made it this way?’ The most immediate answer is water, that a river cut this canyon, but what is it that made the rock it lies in, the earth, move up?” Alan Levander, a structural seismologist at Rice University, told LiveScience.

In the lithosphere — the Earth’s crust and upper mantle beneath the oceans and the continents — under the Grand Canyon and much of the western half of the Colorado Plateau, scientists found an anomalously cold region more than 120 miles (200 km) deep sinking into the Earth. The theory now is that this might  have been responsible for the remarkable geological history of what became the Grand Canyon.

Latest News

New7Wonders continues, find out how in our News Room

7 Wonders Day imagines the symbolic connection between generations

On 7 Wonders Day 2025, we honour and celebrate the official New 7 Wonders of the World and the New7Wonders global movement, with a symbolic passing of a “7” between the a person from the original times of each Wonder to someone from today, a worldwide connection between past, present and future. Bernard Weber, the … Continued

Bernard Weber Joins Global Visionaries in Authoring an Inspirational Book Launched at the United Nations

Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders was invited to contribute to a groundbreaking initiative, “Vision for the Future”, an e-book designed to capture and share inspiring success stories from leaders and changemakers around the world, featuring the personal narratives from 25 visionaries who are making a significant impact in their respective fields. Vision For The Future … Continued

Petra honours all the New 7 Wonders of the World on 7 Wonders Day

On July 7, the official 7 Wonders Day around the world, Petra celebrates and honours all the New 7 Wonders of the World, with a visual recreation, by people standing together, of a human number “7” next to the historical treasury site in Jordan. With this 7 symbol, as well as other events to celebrate … Continued

Symbolic giant human “7” created at Machu Picchu, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World

To mark the official 7 Wonders Day, celebrated on 7 July every year around the world, Machu Picchu organises the highest-ever altitude recreation of a giant human number “7”. With this striking visual, Machu Picchu honours the world’s first-ever global vote to elect the New 7 Wonders of the World, a campaign organised by the … Continued

Bernard Weber & New 7 Wonders featured in Switzerland’s number one magazine

Zürich, 10 October 2023 The number one magazine in Switzerland publishes a cover article honouring the New 7 Wonders movement Founder-President, Bernard Weber. Coop magazine, with a readership of 3 million in a nation of 9 million inhabitants, also tells the story about how the world’s first ever global voting campaign for the New 7 … Continued