It's About Time Someone Reigned in Those Geologists!

[Redleg]

Just a little update: Of twenty-six books submitted to be carried by the gift shops at the Grand Canyon, only one has been approved over the last three years. It's an Intelligent Design book. In further news about how much fun it is to be a geologist in the U.S.:

Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

“In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’”

Now I have my doubts about the creditablity of the story as written in the quote and the link. The bookstore link at the National Park Service states that the book stores are operated by The bookstores throughout Grand Canyon National Park, are operated by the Grand Canyon Association. GCA is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1932 to support the educational goals of the National Park Service at Grand Canyon.



http://www.nps.gov/grca/supportyourpark/bookstore.htm

You can follow the link to find out what books are available online from the bookstore.

Then from the Question and Answer section from the Grand Canyon Park Web Site

How old is the Canyon?

That's a tricky question. Although rocks exposed in the walls of the canyon are geologically quite old, the Canyon itself is a fairly young feature. The oldest rocks at the canyon bottom are close to 2000 million years old. The Canyon itself - an erosional feature - has formed only in the past five or six million years. Geologically speaking, Grand Canyon is very young. (top of page)


Are the oldest rocks in the world exposed at Grand Canyon?

No. Although the oldest rocks at Grand Canyon (2000 million years old) are fairly old by any standard, the oldest rocks in the world are closer to 4000 million years old. The oldest exposed rocks in North America, which are among the oldest rocks in the world, are in northern Canada. (top of page)

http://www.nps.gov/grca/faqs.htm#old

Maybe I am missing something but the news articles smack more of politics then reality. Now its been over a decade since I was last at the Grand Canyon but they definitely discussed ages of rocks then.

And during my recent trip to Yellowstone (1.5 years ago), geology and the age of geyser formations were activitly discussed by Park Rangers.