The Grand Canyon is truly grand: as much as 18 miles across and more than 1 mile from the rim to the canyon floor. The layers of rock exposed by the Colorado River represent a time-capsule covering millions of years of geological history. The delicate shadings of pastel colors in the image are due to different minerals that are present on the surface. These colors cannot be seen in visible light. The southern faces of the canyons are brilliantly lit by the sun, showing the many geological strata of the canyons that give testimony to their history. As Teddy Roosevelt said of the Grand Canyon: Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it, not a bit.

Las Vegas, Lake Mead, and Hoover Dam are west of this image and Lake Powell is northeast. The area covered by this image is approximately 36x63 miles. A full-resolution crop of the image file is available here that shows the detail present in the full image print.