Sedona, Arizona has a vastly rich history, with human
settlement in the Sedona area dating back to more than 6000 years. However, evidence
of Sedona’s geological history dates back to nearly 300 million years ago. This
evidence can be found in the layers of strata in Sedona’s 2,000 foot canyon
walls, and what is now a moderate desert climate was once a vibrant, thriving
ocean.
Sedona’s location in the southern corner of the Colorado
Plateau puts it in an extremely geologically exciting and unique place. The
Colorado Plateau is still experiencing a few millimeters of uplift per year,
which is considered fairly swift movement. The pressures among the continental
plates are typically seen in the folding and faulting of mountain ranges, but
the Colorado Plateau is slightly different. This region is rising fairly
uniformly, and as one large unit moving at the same pace. Although the process
of this orogenic uplift makes sense, the plates are moving and converging
together to create the uplift, the reason why the uplift has remained so
uniform over time is still a question many are trying to answer. “This uplift
in the Colorado Plateau has greatly influenced the shaping of Sedona’s
landscape and appearance, and as the land continues to rise, the rivers, creeks
and streams respond by either changing their course to continue flowing to
lower ground, or to carving down into the rising landmass” (Sedonacentralreservations). This erosion has
had a large effect on the current landscape, and will only keep continuing to
shape the way Sedona and the surrounding area looks.
In the next 100 years, one shouldn’t anticipate too
much change, as the uplift process is very slow in comparison to how fast the
world around us changes. The rivers and streams will continue to adapt to their
changing landscape, altering their routes when appropriate. In 1,000 years from
now, it is likely that the beautiful Sedona rock formations will have raised
about 10 inches, as the average uplift is about 1 inch over one’s lifetime of
roughly 100 years. The rivers and streams coursing through the canyon’s bottom
will most likely have carved even deeper routes into the canyon. In 10,000
years, one can expect the uplift to reach around 100 inches, with the rivers
and streams continuing to dig closer and closer to sea level elevation.
Although the process of uplifting plate tectonics,
which in turn causes the uplift of huge rock formations, is a slow process,
this can be seen as a good thing since the likelihood of Sedona enduring a
drastic change in landscape in the next 10,000 years is very minimal. With
Sedona’s moderate temperatures and climate, wind weathering will have little to
no effect on the decay of these rock formations, and they hopefully will
continue to rise over the years, making them more and more majestic as time
takes its toll on these beautiful red rock formations.
“Average Weather for Sedona, Arizona, USA.” WeatherSpark 2012. Nov. 12 2012.http://weatherspark.com/averages/31582/Sedona-Arizona-United-States
"Sedona Central Reservations, Artistik Design." Sedona Central Reservations 2010. Dec. 6 2012. http://www.sedonacentralreservations.com/pages/sedona-history.aspx
