Now I told Wolf and Septic that I was skeptic

about the ACCEPTED theory of the formation of the Grand Canyon.

But “NO”, they basically called me silly and ignorant and argued with me for weeks n’ weeks.

Oh well, so much for all their wasted time n’ trouble in trying to prove to me that the accepted experts were always right.

Grand Canyon might go further back

Some scientists suggest natural wonder formed 55 million years ago

The most widely-posed theory of the canyon's formation is that the Colorado River connected drainages on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains with the then newly-formed Gulf of California, incising the plateau surface to create a canyon when the plateau was uplifted. A study just last month dated the initial carving of part of the Grand Canyon at 16 million to 17 million years ago, further back in time than had been thought.

Contrary to this previous theory, the new thinking, detailed in the May issue of the Geological Society of America Bulletin, indicates that the canyon, or at least a prototype of it, actually formed about 55 million years ago — and possibly sooner — in younger rock layers that lay above the ones the canyon is cut into today. Erosion wore down these layers while water continued to carve out the canyon, essentially moving the whole landscape down through the rock sequence until it got to its present-day position.

If the rock sequences were at the same temperature for all those millions of years, they must also have been at the same depth, Wernicke and his team surmised. This suggests to the researchers that a canyon must have existed at least 55 million years ago in the younger rock layers that once lay atop the southwestern plateaus. It might have emerged sooner, they say.

"Because both canyon and plateau samples resided near the same depth since 55 million years ago, a canyon of about the same dimensions as today must have existed at least that far back, and possibly as far back as the time of the last dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago," Wernicke said.

A rapid pulse of erosion from 28 to 15 million years ago is thought to have lowered the already-formed canyon and the surrounding plateaus from a position in the upper Mesozoic-era strata down through older rocks of the Paleozoic era — close to the position we see it at today.

The finding challenges the notion that the upper layers of the rock sequence were eroded away before the canyon formed. Instead, the team's findings suggest that a canyon had formed in the upper layers and then the top rock layers were eroded away, with the river-cutting of the canyon keeping pace and continually lowering the position of the canyon.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24127803/

Well "DUH", if the Canyon formed before the upper layers started eroding away, ....... that means a rift occured because of an earthquake and/or plate tectonics ........ and the water started flowing through said rift.

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Score one for you, Mr Cogar. Whatever has become of dear Mr Sceptic? I had the pleasure of meeting him once and he was quite cordial.

I've tried hunting him down. RC thinks he found him on another board and tried contacting him, to no avail.

If you have contact info for him, or any of the old gang, please invite them! I miss Keith, even though I didn't understand him much of the time. LOL