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# Exhumation of Grand Canyon's basement along the Great Escarpment of Laurentia

## Details

**Authors** Gernon et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Geology

**Discipline** Geology

**Secondary disciplines** Geography

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1130/G55133.1) 
10.1130/G55133.1

## In authors' words

### What they found (results)

Landscape-evolution models show erosion reached about 8 km near a ~750-800 Ma rift-flank escarpment spanning Laurentia and fell to 2 km or less roughly 200 km away, explaining the variable depth of missing time beneath the Grand Canyon's Great Unconformity.

## Commentary

### In short

A continent-scale rift-flank system (the whole) explains spatially varying local erosion depths (the parts) through a distance-dependent causal relationship, framed against a sharp presence/absence boundary in the rock record known as the Great Unconformity.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R

**Added** 2026-08-24

**How to cite this** Gernon et al. (2026). Exhumation of Grand Canyon's basement along the Great Escarpment of Laurentia. Geology.