Comment on "Age and evolution of the Grand Canyon revealed by U-Pb dating of water table-type speleothems".

Polyak et al. (Reports, 7 March 2008, p. 1377) reported that development of the western Grand Canyon began about 17 million years ago. However, their conclusion is based on an inappropriate conflation of Plio-Quaternary incision rates and longer-term rates derived from sites outside the Grand Canyon. Water-table declines at these sites were more likely related to local base-level changes and Miocene regional extensional tectonics.