Grand Canyon Caverns - Geology

Geology

Located on the Coconino Plateau, just a few miles west of the Aubrey Cliffs that rise to over 6,100 feet (1,900 m) above sea level, the Caverns lie within an alluvial plain at an altitude of about 5,300 feet (1,600 m) above sea level. Limestone comprises the vast majority of the subsurface area of this vicinity of the Coconino Plateau, an area riddled with numerous cavernous veins that run for miles in all directions. During the 1950s scientists allegedly began searching for the source of fresh air one encounters in the Cavern's depths. It is said that the engineers set off a significant number of red flares in the Snowball cavern room and once it all dissipated engineers searched for many days in the surrounding countryside for signs of seepage from the earth's surface but no smoke was ever seen. It is said that a few weeks afterward rangers who worked at Grand Canyon National Park reported seeing red smoke seeping from the rocks in the canyon walls nearly 63 miles (101 km) to the north of the Caverns close by the village of Supai.