Depicting Grand Canyon’s Rock Layers - Karl Karlstrom

This video presents a comprehensive historical and scientific overview of the Grand Canyon’s geological depiction, focusing on the evolution of rock column illustrations over the last 160 years. Karl explores how these visual tools have bridged scientific research and public education, emphasizing science literacy and the nested scales of time—from human to deep Earth history. Dr. Karl E. Karlstrom is Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of New Mexico. He grew up in Flagstaff, started his Grand Canyon research when a professor at NAU from 1983-1991, and continues his research today. He initiated the Trail of Time Exhibition with funding from the National Science Foundation. His research contributions to Grand Canyon deal with all time frames and include detailed geologic maps completed with graduate students and collaborators. In addition to mapping, his main research contributions include redefining geochronology of many Grand Canyon rocks, a resolution of the age of Grand Canyon debate, and refining Grand Canyon Cambrian stratigraphy.