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Got laughed out of a geology meetup for my lava tube theory
Last Tuesday at the university pub, I told three geologists that I think the Grand Canyon was carved mostly by underground lava tubes collapsing, not the Colorado River over millions of years. They gave me that polite smile people use before they change the subject to someone else's pizza. Anybody else ever present a fringe geology idea to experts and get treated like you're wearing a tinfoil hat?
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the_susan1mo ago
Maybe it's just me but collapsing lava tubes do explain a lot of the weird side canyons.
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nancyg141mo ago
Hang on though... not every dead-end canyon is from a collapsed lava tube. Lots of those are just old stream channels that got blocked by debris flows or rock slides over time. Seems like we're maybe seeing lava tubes where they might not actually be.
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the_olivia1mo ago
Oh yes, that's a good point. I've seen some of those slot canyons out west that just seem to end in a big pile of rubble, makes perfect sense when you think about lava tubes caving in over time.
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