The Grand Canyon of Arizona, in the southwestern United States, has been eroded through a high, uplifted plateau. At the time of uplift, steep faults in the region's basement rocks were reactivated, causing the overlying sedimentary strata to drape over the tops of the faults in a series of step-like folds. The conventional geological model suggests that about 450 million years elapsed between the oldest of the sedimentary strata being deposited and the time they were folded, in which case the rocks had ample time to be compacted and hardened into solid rock. By contrast, in the creationist model only a short time, perhaps a few months, may have elapsed between the time of deposition and the time of folding. Recent observations based on careful examination of thin sections taken from the folds and the surrounding rocks indicate that the rocks were soft and uncemented at the time of folding, favouring the creationist model.