LOOKING MORE CLOSELY AT THE DIVERSIONS OF THE WESTWARD-TRENDING COLORADO RIVER, THERE ARE GREAT LATERAL FAULTS (CCW-ROTATING CP) WHICH HAVE DIVERTED THE COLORADO TO THE SE. THESE HAVE DISPLACEMENT, BUT IN THE LONG RUN HAVE A LATERAL MOVEMENT TRANSITING THE CANYON. THIS IS THE REASON WHY THE RIVER HAS BEEN LATE IN CONNECTING TO THE WESTERN PART, AND WE CAN NOW SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF THE LATE DEVELOPMENT OF GRAVELS (MIOCENE OR LATE OLIGOCENE) NEAR HUALAPAI RESERVATION:
The above Google photo shows that the faulting at the near-western edge of the Colorado Plateau, CP, not only has vertical displacement, but also lateral movement. They have displaced the Colorado River to the south along a significant path. These faults trace down to the Town of Flagstaff- evidently responsible for the huge basaltic and rhyolitic extrusions there (and the rejuvenation cone of the 1015-dated crater). See an earlier blog for a classification of extrusions, related to anomalous Coriolis rotations and HEAT FROM BRITTLE FRICTION IN THE CRUST.
The great faults shown above are those in the CP proper, not counting the Hurricane fault, Hf, and transition zone faulting which is influenced by extension of the Basin and Range, B&R. That there is lateral movement can be confirmed by viewing slickensides which have lateral (sidewise) striations, wrenching of concrete slabs, dragging of river meanders relatively from one side along the bank, and shallow hot springs along river courses.
BELOW IS SHOWN THE CALCULATION OF THE RATE OF BASALTIC VENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE CITY OF HURRICANE,, STARTING AT THE RIO GRANDE RIFT IN LLANO QUEMADO NEAR TAOS, NM AT OLIGOCENE TIME:
THIS RATE OF 24 MM/YEAR ROTATION OF THE CP WILL BE USED FOR THE CONCENTRIC CIRCLE- SOMEWHAT SMALLER- RUNNING THROUGH THE EASTERN GRAND CANYON. THIS ALLOWS A CALCULATION OF THE TIME REQUIRED TO DISRUPT THE CIRCULAR COURSE TO THE PRESENT TIME. WE CAN THEN DETERMINE WHEN THE WESTERN DISRUPTION WAS INITIATED- TO FORM THE GRAVELS OUTCROPPING iN THE GRAND CANYON AT THE HUALAPAI LOCATION. THESE GRAVELS ARE ABOUT THE SAME AGE AS THOSE I HAVE ANALYZED EXTENSIVELY IN THE VERDE RIVER GRABEN AT THE MOGOLLON RIM NEAR CORNVILLE, AZ.
THE COLORADO HAS BEEN DIVERTED BY SEVERAL DIFFERENT ROTATING CELLS, SO THAT ITS PATH IS VASTLY DIFFERENT THAN EXPECTED BY A SIMPLE DOWNHILL MOTION. IT EVIDENTLY HAS CHANGED COURSE DUE TO THE 2 MAIN DIVERSIONS OF ABOUT 70 KM EACH. THIS INDICATES THAT THE CALCULATED 24 MM/YEAR RATE IS CLOSE TO THAT FOR THE WHOLE COLORADO PLATEAU:
I WILL MAKE A DEPARTURE FROM THE ABOVE SEQUENCE, TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HIGHLY VARIABLE RESULTS I OBTAINED IN THE FLAGSTAFF VOLCANIC AREA- WHERE I DID RESISTIVITY TRAVERSES TO FIND SUBSURFACE WATER FOR CLIENTS. SOME WERE PUZZLING, AND I NOW SEE THAT THE PERMEABILITY (paths for fluids) DEPENDED UPON CORIOLIS SHEAR PATHS. THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, WITH GOOGLE EARTH PHOTOS AND ROTATING CELLS:
THE PHOTOS show that the "parks" have better communication with the subsurface for water flow (CIRCULAR SHEAR INCREASES PERMEABILITY FOR FLUID FLOW, so THAT I CAN IMPROVE MY ANALYSIS FOR USE OF RESISTIVITY SURVEYS IN THE FIELD. I DID HAVE SUCCESS IN FINDING THE 100 GPM WELL AT DAVENPORT LAKE- WEST OF FLAGSTAFF- BUT THE COUNTY WOULD NOT LET THE CLIENT TRANSPORT THE WATER TO THE GRAND CANYON AS HE HAD PLANNED. We'll compare the Flagstaff basalt extrusions to those at STONEMAN LAKE, NEAR I-17 SOUTH OF FLAGSTAFF: 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLORADO RIVER
To solve this puzzle, we must start with the progression since the Laramide. Since the Laramide and the Rocky Mountains are an international feature (from Canada to Central America, and probably on into the Andes), we will have to assume that this started the new re-arrangement of the CRUST AFTER THE CHICXULUB STRIKE. Previous movements of the Earth were probably dominated by the strike at the end of the Permian (the great extinction), and this is deferred until younger actions are put on “FIRM GROUND”. The following entities have been incorporated by field work by myself- having lived and visited all of the features mentioned.
1. As the Rockies rose, the tidal shove began to move them westward. This is seen by the deposition of the Oligocene Poison Canyon formation of a brick red sandstone- just to the east of the Rockies- eroded from the intrusion of the N-S oriented Cimarron Mountains (also a middle Tertiary extensional feature). Recall from the B&R extension, that the orientation is N-S, even though the Sierras (which created the extension by their tidal shove westward) orient NW-SE.
2. The extensional phase of the movement of the Rockies westward resulted in Eagle Nest Lake (where I lived for 18 years), while the Rockies began to create rotation associated with the protrusion of the high mountains. This initiated shear of rotation and HEAT OF BRITTLE FRICTION- CREATING EXTRUSIONS IN THE RIO GRANDE RIVER REGION (Llano Quemado- baked earth). The earliest date I have is 41 m.y. for the basaltic vents in the rift valley. It took this length of time after the uplift to develop sufficient heat for extrusion: 10 million years or so. Meanwhile the San Juan Mountains are rising- compressional uplift, introducing compression to the Colorado plateau. This rise results in additional CCW rotation of CP;
3. Initiation of extrusions proceeded westward around the southern edge of CP- similar to the opening of fractures above the small spiral found at Honeymoon Canyon, AZ or for the great spiral found north of the Aleutian chain.
and the Aleutian spiral
PROCEEDING FURTHER, WE WILL VIEW DIATREMES, WHICH ARE A TYPE OF EXTRUSION (EVIDENTLY RAPID-RISING). WHICH MAY SHED LIGHT ON THE DYNAMICS OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU:
ABOVE PHOTOS INDICATE A NEW "TWIST" IN THE PORTRAIT: DRAINAGE PATTERNS INDICATE THAT ONE SIDE IS ROTATING OPPOSITELY TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHIPROCK ELLIPSE. THIS AND THE FACT THAT ELLIPSES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN MY CASE HISTORIES TO INDICATE INTERFERENCE FROM LARGER ENTITIES, BEARS FURTHER ANALYSIS. WE WILL LOOK INTO SOUTH AFRICAN DAITREMES:
TO BE CONTINUED. AFTER FIELD WORK IN THE AZ STRIP- TO TOROWEEP AND MT. TRUMBULL.
