Gunnison River— we have to talk.
You cut through Precambrian crystalline basement? What? Who does that?
I know, I know, it’s not your fault. You carved out the Black Canyon because the San Juan & West Elk mountains forced you to flow in that area, but… really?
I suppose it’s nice, then, since you expose so much cool rock? We get to see a nonconformity of Cretaceous shale on top of the Precambrian metamorphic gneiss. Gunnison, you’ve showed us what we’re missing: 370 million years! Of! History!
And the pegmatite dikes, of course. Those painted dragons squiggling across the rock face. Granitic intrusions through the gneiss? Wow, Gunnison, ok, thanks for showing us this.
At the rim of the canyon you’ve carved still more to be seen–cordillerite, amphibolite, transpositional and isoclinal folds, and sheer cliffs with old faults and joints.
Rocks tell us stories of the climate, weathering the rocks. Twice we hiked trails near your rim, dipping just below once. We saw the canyon laid out before us, blending into the younger rocks at the end of the second trail. You help us visualize the processes behind continent building, behind the Laramide Orogeny… hey, Gunnison?
I think we… love you?
