The Grand Canyon under threat from uranium mining – in pictures

The Grand Canyon runs across the middle of this image between Lake Mead in the west, which is formed by the Hoover Dam, and the Glen Canyon in the east. You can also see the state lines from (left) Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California in the very bottom left Photograph: NASA

The Grand Canyon was created by the Colorado river cutting a channel over millions of years. It is about 277 miles long and ranges in width from 0.25 to 15 miles, reaching a depth of more than a mile Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP

A million acres of land in the canyon was withdrawn from exploration in 2009 to allow time for an environmental assessment Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

The Llewellyn Gulch canyon near Page, Arizona. The Grand Canyon contains some of the highest-grade uranium deposits in the US Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

Sunrise at Bright Angel Point – among such buttes and outcrops the Californian condor soars Photograph: Momatiuk - Eastcott/Corbis

A sandstone plateau in the Grand Canyon. More than 2,000 claims have been submitted to prospect for the canyon's uranium Photograph: Momatiuk - Eastcott/Corbis

Man has already made its mark on the Grand Canyon – this is the Hoover Dam bypass project including the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which sits 890 feet above the Colorado river, about a quarter of a mile downstream from the Hoover Dam. The bypass project to relieve vehicle traffic on the dam opened in October 2010 Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images