New Texas canyon opens to public

**Mwynn** · 10-10-2007, 10:41 AM

How do you vandalize a hole in the ground?

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 8, 3:16 PM ET

CANYON LAKE, Texas - Geologic time has a different meaning when it comes to Canyon Lake Gorge. You could say it dates to around the end of the Enron era.

A torrent of water from an overflowing lake sliced open the earth in 2002, exposing rock formations, fossils and even dinosaur footprints in just three days. Since then, the canyon has been accessible only to researchers to protect it from vandals, but on Saturday it opened to its first public tour.

"It exposed these rocks so quickly and it dug so deeply, there wasn't a blade of grass or a layer of algae," said Bill Ward, a retired geology professor from the University of New Orleans who started cataloging the gorge almost immediately after the flood.

The mile-and-a-half-long gorge, up to 80 feet deep, was dug out from what had been a nondescript valley covered in mesquite and oak trees. It sits behind a spillway built as a safety valve for Canyon Lake, a popular recreation spot in the Texas Hill Country between San Antonio and Austin.

The reservoir was built in the 1960s to prevent flash flooding along the Guadalupe River and to assure the water supply for central Texas. The spillway had never been overrun until July 4, 2002, when 70,000 cubic feet of water gushed downhill toward the Guadalupe River for three days, scraping off vegetation and topsoil and leaving only limestone walls.

"Underneath us, it looks solid, but obviously it's not," said Tommie Streeter Rhoad of the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, as she looked out over a cream-colored limestone crevasse.

The sudden exposure of such canyons is rare but not unprecedented. Flooding in Iowa in 1993 opened a limestone gorge behind a spillway at Corvalville Lake north of Iowa City, but that chasm, Devonian Fossil Gorge, is narrower and shallower than Canyon Lake Gorge.

Neither compares to the world's most famous canyon. It took water around 5 million to 6 million years to carve the Grand Canyon, which plunges 6,000 feet at its deepest point and stretches 15 miles at its widest.

The more modest Canyon Lake Gorge still displays a fault line and rock formations carved by water that seeped down and bubbled up for millions of years before the flooding.

Some of the canyon's rocks are punched with holes like Swiss cheese, and the fossils of worms and other ancient wildlife are everywhere. The rocks, typical of the limestone buried throughout central Texas, date back "111 million years, plus or minus a few hundred thousand years," Ward said.

Six three-toed dinosaur footprints offer evidence of a two-legged carnivore strolling along the water. The footprints were temporarily covered with sand to protect them as workers reinforced the spillway, but they'll be uncovered again eventually, Rhoad said.

http://www.canyongorge.org

dano · 10-10-2007, 12:53 PM

You could barf on it

**Mwynn** · 10-10-2007, 01:02 PM

It is 80 feet deep who would see it?

dano · 10-10-2007, 01:03 PM

I'm sure it isnt 80ft straight down. Theres probably a hill or gradiation that you could climb down to barf on it. Think positively, MWynn!

**Mwynn** · 10-10-2007, 01:05 PM

Positively about barf?

dano · 10-10-2007, 01:08 PM

No, about climbing down an 80 ft hole TO barf.

I believe in you.

**Mwynn** · 10-10-2007, 01:10 PM

That seems like a lot of work, what if I climb down there then do not have to barf?

Mike225 · 10-10-2007, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mwynn

That seems like a lot of work, what if I climb down there then do not have to barf?

That's just lazy.

The DarkMind · 10-10-2007, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mwynn

That seems like a lot of work, what if I climb down there then do not have to barf?

Well thats why God gave you fingers and a gag reflex.

Biofungus · 10-10-2007, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The DarkMind

Well thats why God gave you fingers and a gag reflex.

You presume much...

Mike225 · 10-10-2007, 08:33 PM

**Mwynn** · 10-10-2007, 10:37 PM

I gag brushing my tongue.

Biofungus · 10-10-2007, 10:41 PM

Is that what they're calling it nowadays?

**Mwynn** · 10-10-2007, 10:45 PM

I sure hope so, if not I'm not doing it anymore. Just touching the toothbrush to my tongue makes me gag.

Biofungus · 10-10-2007, 10:46 PM

Ever try those tongue scraper thingies?

10-10-2007, 10:41 AM	#1
Mwynn On THE EDGE Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Haven Posts: 23,240	New Texas canyon opens to public How do you vandalize a hole in the ground? By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 8, 3:16 PM ET CANYON LAKE, Texas - Geologic time has a different meaning when it comes to Canyon Lake Gorge. You could say it dates to around the end of the Enron era. A torrent of water from an overflowing lake sliced open the earth in 2002, exposing rock formations, fossils and even dinosaur footprints in just three days. Since then, the canyon has been accessible only to researchers to protect it from vandals, but on Saturday it opened to its first public tour. "It exposed these rocks so quickly and it dug so deeply, there wasn't a blade of grass or a layer of algae," said Bill Ward, a retired geology professor from the University of New Orleans who started cataloging the gorge almost immediately after the flood. The mile-and-a-half-long gorge, up to 80 feet deep, was dug out from what had been a nondescript valley covered in mesquite and oak trees. It sits behind a spillway built as a safety valve for Canyon Lake, a popular recreation spot in the Texas Hill Country between San Antonio and Austin. The reservoir was built in the 1960s to prevent flash flooding along the Guadalupe River and to assure the water supply for central Texas. The spillway had never been overrun until July 4, 2002, when 70,000 cubic feet of water gushed downhill toward the Guadalupe River for three days, scraping off vegetation and topsoil and leaving only limestone walls. "Underneath us, it looks solid, but obviously it's not," said Tommie Streeter Rhoad of the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, as she looked out over a cream-colored limestone crevasse. The sudden exposure of such canyons is rare but not unprecedented. Flooding in Iowa in 1993 opened a limestone gorge behind a spillway at Corvalville Lake north of Iowa City, but that chasm, Devonian Fossil Gorge, is narrower and shallower than Canyon Lake Gorge. Neither compares to the world's most famous canyon. It took water around 5 million to 6 million years to carve the Grand Canyon, which plunges 6,000 feet at its deepest point and stretches 15 miles at its widest. The more modest Canyon Lake Gorge still displays a fault line and rock formations carved by water that seeped down and bubbled up for millions of years before the flooding. Some of the canyon's rocks are punched with holes like Swiss cheese, and the fossils of worms and other ancient wildlife are everywhere. The rocks, typical of the limestone buried throughout central Texas, date back "111 million years, plus or minus a few hundred thousand years," Ward said. Six three-toed dinosaur footprints offer evidence of a two-legged carnivore strolling along the water. The footprints were temporarily covered with sand to protect them as workers reinforced the spillway, but they'll be uncovered again eventually, Rhoad said. http://www.canyongorge.org __________________ www.goldengoatstudios.com Buy Digital Webbing Comics. Or Bucho will foreclose on the orphanage. The Edge issue one Diamond code : NOV121048 The Edge Online The Edge Facebook

10-10-2007, 01:02 PM	#3
Mwynn On THE EDGE Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Haven Posts: 23,240	It is 80 feet deep who would see it? __________________ www.goldengoatstudios.com Buy Digital Webbing Comics. Or Bucho will foreclose on the orphanage. The Edge issue one Diamond code : NOV121048 The Edge Online The Edge Facebook

10-10-2007, 01:05 PM	#5
Mwynn On THE EDGE Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Haven Posts: 23,240	Positively about barf? __________________ www.goldengoatstudios.com Buy Digital Webbing Comics. Or Bucho will foreclose on the orphanage. The Edge issue one Diamond code : NOV121048 The Edge Online The Edge Facebook

10-10-2007, 01:10 PM	#7
Mwynn On THE EDGE Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Haven Posts: 23,240	That seems like a lot of work, what if I climb down there then do not have to barf? __________________ www.goldengoatstudios.com Buy Digital Webbing Comics. Or Bucho will foreclose on the orphanage. The Edge issue one Diamond code : NOV121048 The Edge Online The Edge Facebook

10-10-2007, 10:37 PM	#12
Mwynn On THE EDGE Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Haven Posts: 23,240	I gag brushing my tongue. __________________ www.goldengoatstudios.com Buy Digital Webbing Comics. Or Bucho will foreclose on the orphanage. The Edge issue one Diamond code : NOV121048 The Edge Online The Edge Facebook

10-10-2007, 12:53 PM	#2
dano . Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Penna Posts: 923	You could barf on it

10-10-2007, 01:03 PM	#4
dano . Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Penna Posts: 923	I'm sure it isnt 80ft straight down. Theres probably a hill or gradiation that you could climb down to barf on it. Think positively, MWynn!

10-10-2007, 01:08 PM	#6
dano . Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Penna Posts: 923	No, about climbing down an 80 ft hole TO barf. I believe in you.

10-10-2007, 08:33 PM	#11
Mike225 low brow B1Tch Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Right in the brainpan squish! Posts: 5,719

10-10-2007, 10:41 PM	#13
Biofungus Not for your amusement Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Nega-Earth Posts: 22,083	Is that what they're calling it nowadays?

10-10-2007, 10:45 PM	#14
Mwynn On THE EDGE Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Haven Posts: 23,240	I sure hope so, if not I'm not doing it anymore. Just touching the toothbrush to my tongue makes me gag. __________________ www.goldengoatstudios.com Buy Digital Webbing Comics. Or Bucho will foreclose on the orphanage. The Edge issue one Diamond code : NOV121048 The Edge Online The Edge Facebook

10-10-2007, 10:46 PM	#15
Biofungus Not for your amusement Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Nega-Earth Posts: 22,083	Ever try those tongue scraper thingies?

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