K-Ar ages of Pleistocene lava dams in the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Abstract

At least 13 times during the Pleistocene Epoch lava flowed into the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon and formed lava dams, as high as 600 m, that temporarily blocked the flow of the Colorado River. K-Ar ages on these lava dams indicate that the seven youngest formed within a short period of time between about 0.6 and 0.4 mega-annum (Ma). The physiography of the lava dam remnants within the canyon shows that each dam was destroyed by erosion, the Colorado River rapidly reaching its pre-existing grade level, before the next dam was emplaced by new eruptions. The total time for emplacement and destruction for an individual lava dam was probably as little as 0. 01-0.02 million years. The K-Ar ages of the two oldest dams, the Lava Butte dam (0.577 +/- 0.054 Ma) and the Prospect dam (0.684 +/- 0.051 Ma) are somewhat younger than the physiography of their remnants suggest.