Canyon Dam was built on the Guadalupe River to control flooding and to provide a watershed during drought. In 2002, the Guadalupe River watershed received 34″ of rain in a weeks time. This massive amount of water overwhelmed the lakes storage capacity and started flowing over the emergency spillway. The water going over the spillway was 7 feet deep. As you will see in the photos, the spillway is very wide so that was a whole bunch of water, 67,000 gallons per second to be exact. Yes, per second. This overflow kept up for 1 1/2 weeks. It carved a gorge 50 feet deep in solid limestone and exposed terrain that had not been seen for 70-110 million years.
Just imagine, water, 7 feet deep flowing across this expanse.
Residents living nearby during the flood commented on the loud and continuous rumbling noise in addition to the sound of the water flowing. This rumbling was blocks of limestone the size of passenger cars being thrown about by the water.
There was no stream bed here before the flood. Ground level was at the top of the cliffs. The right hand photo shows 110,000 million years of vertical history. Students from many university geology and archaeology class study here.
The bottom of the gorge now features many small waterfalls and water grottoes. These water features never dry up, even in the worst drought. Why? Limestone has many fishers and open seams. Water from the lake seeps through these fissures and keeps the water flowing. Dye tests have been performed, proving this theory.
Yes, we have dinosaur tracks. The model is the type of dinosaur that produced these particular tracks. The track is larger than the dark area (it had just rained) look to the right to see the full impression of this giant foot. The photo on the right shows several tracks made as this giant was striding across the mud flat that later hardened into stone.
Bone of a prehistoric animal?
No, it is dried, fossilized mud
that filled a tunnel dug by some
marine critter. A snail perhaps?
Giant shell. Note the size of the foot for comparison.
The shell on the right is easily identified but what is the “ball” on the left?
It is a fossilized fungi. Yeah, like a mushroom!
Millions and Millions of fossilized sea shells.
This exposed section is volcanic in origin with several visible geodes.
How would you like to have these two critters crawling across your garden path?
For more information about this interesting site that is 3 miles from the Skunk’s front door, click here.
