Types of Canyons

A canyon is a deep, rocky formation caused by a fast-moving river that deepens the canyon, leaving steep cliff-like sides ending at the river valley below. Location of the canyon helps determine its origin and the reason for its unique appearance.

Erosive Events

Fast-moving rivers cause rapid erosion of canyons and deepen the ravine faster than any other erosive elements. Human intervention has an influence in the configuration of some canyons - even more than the natural river erosion. Another element that causes the deepening of a canyon formation is weather, albeit a slower and more persistent effect.

Catastrophic events are not responsible for the formation of canyon formations. The canyons formed in an orderly, slow erosive process consisting of the persistent action of wind and water.

Two Major Types

Slot canyons and plateau canyons are the main types of canyon formations. Both came into existence because of "uplift" and erosion working together. Uplift is a very slow upward movement of large pieces of the Earth's crust.

The only difference between these two canyons is the amount and speed of the waters passing through the area. Rushing waters from a river erode the flat land-forming plateau canyons.

Slot canyons are harder to find. On the surface, a slot canyon is only a thin line on the plateau. The top is hardly open and the beauty of the canyon is underground. Flash floods are responsible for the formation of the slot canyon. In dry climates, the ground cannot absorb water and it rushes over the sandy ground. The water leaves as quickly as it comes.

Canyon Hunting

Steep canyons form in those dry regions of the world with flat layers of alternating hard and soft rock below the surface of level, large expanses of land. Where normal wear occurs, the appearance of a staircase develops in areas of hard rock, creating cliffs. Normal wear over the soft rock creates gentle, rolling slopes.

The most famous steep canyon is the Grand Canyon. It crosses several states in the western part of the United States. Flowing through the base of the canyon is the rushing Colorado River. It continues wearing down the rock as it has for millions of years. This canyon is almost 280 miles long, currently 5,000 feet deep and only 18 miles across at the widest point.

Canyon hunters have placed the Grand Canyon at the top of the "must see" list. Human intervention makes it easier for visitors to document this amazing formation. An observation deck opens to a small number of shutterbugs several times each day, thus providing optimal views of this awesome land formation.

Uplift

Uplift is necessary to the formation of a canyon. It does not form the canyon, but merely provides the conditions necessary for erosion to occur and cut into the Earth's surface.

The uplift originates from the heat generated beneath the crust of the Earth. Heat at the core of the earth rises to a temperature exceeding 9,900 degrees. That level of heat could melt the Earth's interior if not released. The heat rises swiftly to the surface, cooling as it rises. It cools further as it slithers under the surface and passes between rocks (tectonic plates) that float under the Earth's surface, causing the uplift.

Flash flooding after a sudden rainstorm creates the erosion from the rushing river of water. Whenever a sudden rainstorm occurs, the process repeats itself, thus deepening the "gully" formation. Over time, the canyon develops.

Famous Gullies

Over the past 2 million years, the Gunnison River managed to erode the walls of the Black Canyon in Colorado. This erosion process left one wall with the appearance of a rainbow. The Painted Wall of the Black Canyon is the highest rock wall in Colorado.

In 1931, a preteen girl discovered the Antelope Canyon in Arizona. Also known as Corkscrew Canyon, this canyon is near Page in Arizona on land that belongs to the Navajo Nation. There are places along this five-mile-long canyon where the walls are 120 feet high. There are some places separated by only a few feet from wall to wall.

Two sections make up this canyon -- the upper and lower levels. Its photogenic beauty as well as its structure makes this canyon popular with the tourists. Being a tourist attraction has its downside, too. A severe thunderstorm producing flash floods that filled the canyon with mud, water and debris killed 11 out of 12 tourists visiting the canyon in August 1977.

Finding Canyons Globally

World travelers can find canyons in various places around the world. This list includes trips to:

* Peru. Colca Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon. It formed from a fault that grew deeper over millions of years by the Colca River located along the coastline of Peru.

* Arizona. Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona is a three-forked deep canyon serving as a protective home for many American Indian tribes, both ancient and modern.

* Idaho. The Snake River runs alongside the Idaho and Oregon border, creating Hells Canyon, the deepest river canyon in North America. Geologist researchers estimate that this erosion process has been in progress for about 6 million years and is ongoing today.

* Tibet. Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon has a river of the same name that ran across the highest plateaus in the world, eroding the land that formed the riverbed of the canyon. This remote area forbids travel by foreigners. Western scientists are currently unable to study the canyon. However, Chinese scientists have declared this the deepest canyon in the most elevated plateau in the world.