It encompasses 1,218,375 acres and lies on the Colorado Plateau in northwestern Arizona. The Canyon, incised by the Colorado River, is immense, averaging 4,000 feet deep for its entire 277 miles. It is 6,000 feet deep at its deepest point and 15 miles at its widest.
Landscape of the Grand Canyon National Park: Typical of the southwestern US, the land is semi-arid and consists of raised plateaus and structural basins. Numerous steep-walled canyons are made by drainage systems that have cut deeply through the rock. Lower elevations are a series of desert basins, while at higher elevations there are forests.
The Grand Canyon is one of the most studied geologic landscapes in the world with an excellent record of three of the four eras of geological time, a diverse and rich fossil record, a vast array of geologic features and rock types, and numerous caves containing extensive and significant geological, paleontological, archeological and biological resources. It is considered one of the finest examples of arid-land erosion in the world.
Ecosystems of the Grand Canyon National Park: The park has a great biological diversity that can be attributed to the presence of five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types in North America.
The five life zones represented are:
- Lower Sonoran,
- Upper Sonoran,
- Transition,
- Canadian, and
- Hudsonian.
This is like you traveled from Canada to Mexico.
Ecological Refuge: The Grand Canyon National Park has relatively undisturbed remnants of dwindling ecosystems (such as boreal forest and desert riparian communities). Not only that, it is home to numerous rare, endemic (found only at Grand Canyon), and specially protected (threatened/endangered) plant and animal species.
Over 1,500 plant, 355 bird, 89 mammalian, 47 reptile, 17 fish, and 9 amphibian species are found in the park.
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