The world’s largest geoscience exhibit at one of the world’s grandest geologic landscapes is being installed under the leadership of scientists at UNM – a nearly three-mile interpretive timeline trail using Grand Canyon vistas and rocks to tell the geologic story of the Southwest.
Photo: UNM Earth and Planetary Sciences Professors Laura Crossey and Karl Karlstrom take a break on a hike to the Colorado River along the South Kaibab Trail at Ooh Aah Point at the Grand Canyon.
UNM is collaborating with the National Park Service and National Science Foundation on the project, funded by a $2.1 million NSF grant. This “Trail of Time” will help visitors explore, ponder and understand the magnitude of geologic time and the stories encoded by Grand Canyon rock layers and landscapes.
Professors Karl Karlstrom and Laura Crossey in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences conceived the project in 1995 and are now leading the planning and installation of the exhibit along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
“The Grand Canyon National Park has about five million visitors every year, and through the Trail of Time exhibit, we are making a major effort to catch people at a moment when they are inspired with the grandeur of the canyon and want to understand more about how the landscape was shaped by geologic events,” Karlstrom said.
The Trail of Time will begin at the Yavapai Observation Station. Walking west, each step takes visitors back in time one million years. The carving of the Grand Canyon is completed in the first six steps, the equivalent of six million years. The trail continues through the formation of Grand Canyon rock layers
to the oldest rock in the canyon – recording a geologic history dating back more than 1.8 billion years.
“Our department has been dedicated to promoting undergraduate research in many forms,” Karlstrom said. “We’ve used classes to help formulate ideas. In Phase 1, students helped place 4,500 tick marks along the trail. Students lay on a skateboard and were pulled along the trail to each spot where a marker was
placed. The actual markers will be bronze insets into the Trail – we are trying to create an unobtrusive exhibit that does not detract from the beauty of the Grand Canyon.”
A “Time Accelerator” portion of the trail will help visitors through a gradual transition in timescales from Yavapai Point to Grandeur Point. A Web-based Virtual Trail of Time will provide additional resources.
“It’s like a trail of bread crumbs,” Karlstrom said. “The vast majority of visitors can’t go down into the canyon. The Trail of Time makes the Grand Canyon more accessible in a spectacular walk along the trail; the trail is completely handicapped accessible.”
Completion of the Trail of Time exhibit is scheduled for 2009.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu