Colorado River Research Paper

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Colorado River The Colorado River is a major river located in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Stretching more than 1,400 miles from the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of California in northern Mexico it is an important economical, ecological, agricultural, and recreational source of water for millions of people (USGS). The river itself a grand force of nature, carving out massive canyons out of solid rock in Grand Canyon National Park to producing electricity for millions of people from its many dams and reservoirs. Sometimes called “America’s Nile” the river also provides water for irrigation to some of the most productive farmland in the world (NatGeo). For thousands of years people have relied on the…show more content…
The Colorado starts flowing at the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado. Upriver the Colorado flows faster and cuts deep and narrow valleys before entering dams and slowing down to a more meandering course (colorado.edu). After flowing through all of its dams the Colorado is diverted into irrigations canals in the southern United State providing irrigation for the Imperial Valley farmland of California (npr). The Colorado has over fifteen main tributaries with the Green River being its main supplier. The drainage basin encompasses an area over 240,000 square miles, with peak discharges of over 300,000 cubic feet per second during flood events with most of the runoff coming from snowmelt (USGS). In recent years with possible climate change snowmelt hasn’t been as much and the river has seen its discharge…show more content…
The canyon is a popular tourist destination for sightseers and whitewater rafters. In the canyon the river and its tributaries have cut through over a mile of rock and have exposed rocks over two billions of years old (2). The Colorado is able to cut such a deep and wide canyon through erosion and uplift of the Colorado Plateau, which rose over 5,000 feet from the Laramide Oregeny 65 million years ago. Also helping cut the canyon even deeper was when the river’s base level was significantly lowered when the Gulf of California opened via tectonic activity (nsf). In the past basalt flows within the Grand Canyon blocked the flow of the river all the way back to Utah. This damming and subsequent erosion allowed episodes of severe floods. Some of these floods may have been the biggest in North American history
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