Years before present

50-60 mya

The region where the Grand Canyon now lies begins to shift and rise, creating fault lines. Evidence of this activity is still visible today within the canyon and on the plateaus extending beyond the canyon.

230-280

A shallow sea advances and retreats several times during this period, leaving behind the layers named Kaibab Limestone, Toroweap Formation, and Hermit Shale. The Coconino Sandstone layer was deposited not by the sea, but by wind, which blew in sand across the region.

Fossils found in these layers include fern-like leaves, tracks left by reptiles, and numerous forms of marine life.

[Permian]

280-310

The Supai Group, consisting of deep-red siltstone, limestone, and sandstone, is 600 to 700 ft thick. Within these layers are marine fossils, including brachiopods, corals, crinoids, and gastropods. In some locations there are land plants and reptile tracks.

[Pennsylvanian]

310-345

This layer of rock, known as the Redwall Limestone, forms a sheer cliff 500 ft high or more in most areas. The limestone gets its color from the red siltstones above, which wash over the rock. Digging into the rock reveals that its color is actually bluish-gray. The limestone contains the fossilized remains of fish, mollusks, trilobites, crinoids, and corals.

[Mississippian period]

345-395

At some time during the Devonian period, a shallow sea deposited layers of white and gray dolomite.

[Devonian period]

500-570

These layers of sedimentary rock were deposited in Cambrian time, when another shallow sea covered this region. Among the fossilized remains found within these layers are brachiopods, trilobites, seaweed, and sponges.

[Cambrian period]

1,000 mya

Known as the Grand Canyon Supergroup, these layers of rock lie at an angle relative to the layers of rock above.

The layer labeled Bass Limestone contains the fossilized remains of algae.

[younger Precambrian era]

1,000 - 2,000

At the very bottom of the canyon lies the Vishnu Schist, a hard rock originally deposited mainly as sediments some 2 billion years ago. The layer was subsequently covered. Around 1.7 billion years ago, by then deep underground, the layer was transformed into schist (a hard metamorphic rock) through heat and pressure.

[older Precambrian era]