For other uses, see Canyon (disambiguation). "Gorge" redirects here. For the figure from Greek mythology, see Gorge (mythology). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010) Grand Canyon, Arizona Noravank Monastery complex and canyon in Armenia. . Aerial view of canyons in western United States. A canyon (occasionally spelled cañon) or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon.1 Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion and weathering remain exposed on the valley walls. Canyons are much more common in arid areas than in wet areas because physical weathering has a greater effect in arid zones. The wind and water from the river combine to erode and cut away less resistant materials such as shales. The freezing and expansion of water also serves to help form canyons. Water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart and eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls.2 Canyon walls are often formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Submarine canyons form underwater, generally at the mouths of rivers. The word canyon is Spanish in origin (cañón). The word canyon is generally used in the United States, while the word gorge is more common in Europe and Oceania, though it is also used in some parts of the United States and Canada. The military derived word defile is occasionally used in the United Kingdom.........

A famous example is the Grand Canyon in Arizona with an average depth of one mile and a volume of 4.17 trillion cubic meters.3 In the southwestern United States, canyons are important archeologically because of the many cliff-dwellings built there, largely by the earlier inhabitants, Ancient Pueblo Peoples. The Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon (or Tsangpo Canyon), along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet, China, is regarded by some as the deepest canyon in the world at 18,000 feet,4 and is slightly longer than Grand Canyon making it one of the world's largest.5 The Kali Gandaki Gorge in midwest Nepal is seen by others to be the deepest canyon, with a 21,000 foot difference between the level of the river and the peaks surrounding it. Sometimes large rivers run through canyons as the result of gradual geological uplift. These are called entrenched rivers, because they are unable to easily alter their course. The Colorado River in the Southwest and the Snake River in the Northwest are two examples of tectonic uplift.

Canyons often form in areas of limestone rock. Limestone is to a certain extent soluble, so cave systems form in the rock. When these collapse a canyon is left, for example in the Mendip Hills in Somerset and Yorkshire Dales in Yorkshire, England. A canyon may also refer to a rift between two mountain peaks such as those in ranges such as the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Himalayas or the Andes. Usually a river or stream and erosion carve out such splits between mountains. Examples of mountain type canyons are Provo Canyon in Utah or Yosemite National Park in California's Sierra Nevada. Canyons within mountains or gorges that only have an opening on one side are called box canyons. Slot canyons are very narrow canyons, often with smooth walls. Contents 1 Largest canyons 2 Lists 2.1 List of canyons 2.2 List of gorges 2.3 List of other features causing gorges or canyons 3 Canyons on other planetary bodies 4 See also 5 Notes 6 External links // Largest canyons This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010) View of Grand Canyon from Space Shuttle Challenger. Tsangpo Canyon in Tibet, China Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, Mexico

The definition of "largest canyon" is rather imprecise, as a canyon can be large by its depth, length, or the total area of the canyon system. Also the inaccessibility of the major canyons in the Himalaya contributes to their not being regarded as candidates for the biggest canyon. The definition of "deepest canyon" is similarly imprecise, especially if one includes mountain canyons as well as canyons cut through relatively flat plateaus (which have a somewhat well-defined rim elevation). Lists List of canyons Gorges of Ak-Shur. Bicaz Canyon, Romania Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado, USA Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga, South Africa Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, USA Canyon Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan Chicamocha Canyon, Santander, Colombia Colca Canyon, Arequipa, Peru Cotahuasi Canyon, Arequipa, Peru Fish River Canyon, Namibia Fraser Canyon, British Columbia, Canada Grand Canyon of Torotoro, Torotoro, Potosi Department, Bolivia Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA Guartelá Canyon, Paraná, Brazil Hells Canyon, Idaho and Oregon, USA Horseshoe Canyon, Alberta, Canada Huasteca Canyon, Monterrey, Mexico Kanionet e Skraparit, Albania Kings Canyon (Northern Territory), Australia Little River Canyon, Alabama, USA Matka Canyon, Republic of Macedonia Nfeye Canyon, Portugal Nine Mile Canyon, Utah, USA Ouimet Canyon, Ontario, Canada Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, USA Rugova Canyon, Kosovo, Europe Saturban canyon, Santander, Colombia Somoto Canyon, Somoto, Madriz, Nicaragua Shnizow Canyon, Uşak, Turkey Sumidero Canyon, Chiapas, Mexico Tara River Canyon, Montenegro, Europe Valla Canyon, Kure,Turkey Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, USA Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, Tibet Autonomous Region, China List of gorges Swaan gorge Aragvi River Gorge Aragvi River Gorge, Georgia (country) Avon Gorge, Bristol, England Bog Walk Gorge, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica Bued Gorge, Benguet, Philippines Cataract Gorge, Launceston, Australia Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England Columbia River Gorge, Oregon/Washington USA Corrieshalloch Gorge, Ullapool, Scotland Galston Gorge, NSW, Australia Gorropu, Sardinia, Italy Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, England Kloof, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (The word Kloof means 'gorge' in Afrikaans) Komati Gorge, South Africa Lanner Gorge, South Africa Letchworth State Park (Genesee River Gorge), New York, USA Linville Gorge Wilderness, North Carolina, USA Manawatu Gorge, Manawatu, North Island, New Zealand Montalban Gorge, Philippines New River Gorge, West Virginia, USA Niagara Gorge, Canada/USA North and South Gorges of North Stradbroke Island, QLD, Australia Katherine Gorge of Nitmiluk National Park in Australia Pankisi Gorge, Georgia (country) Pine Creek Gorge, Pennsylvania, USA Quechee Gorge, Vermont, USA Red River Gorge, Kentucky, USA Rio Grande Gorge, New Mexico, USA Royal Gorge, Colorado, USA Samaria Gorge, Crete, Greece Siq, Petra, Jordan Talari Gorges, Mali Tallulah Gorge, Georgia, USA Gorges du Tarn, France Taroko Gorge of Taroko National Park, Taiwan Three Gorges, Hubei, China Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China Verdon Gorge, Provence, France Viamala, Graubünden, Switzerland Vikos Gorge, Vikos–Aoös National Park, Greece List of other features causing gorges or canyons Ardèche River, France Bued River, Philippines Danube River, Europe, including the Iron Gate Ruinaulta, cutting Flims Rockslide, Switzerland Kings River of the Kings Canyon National Park, California, USA South Nahanni River in Canada [1] Steall Waterfall of Glen Nevis, Lochaber, Scotland Canyons on other planetary bodies Valles Marineris on Mars, the largest known canyon in the solar system Ithaca Chasma on Saturn's moon Tethys

Venus has many craters and canyons on its surface. The troughs on the planet are part of a system of canyons that is more than 6 400 km long. See also Antecedent drainage stream Canyoning Geomorphology Gully List of landforms Ravine Dalles Notes ^ http://www.mountainnature.com/Geology/Canyons.htm ^ http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/geology/gc_geol.htm ^ http://www.nps.gov/grca/parkmgmt/statistics.htm ^ http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/into_the_tsangpo_gorge/ ^ http://www.kepu.net.cn/english/canyon/hiking/hik301.html External links Media related to Canyon at Wikimedia Commons v · d · eRiver morphology Large-scale features Drainage basin • Drainage network • Strahler number (stream order) • River valley • River delta Alluvial rivers Meander • Meander cutoff • Point bar • Cut bank • Riffle • Stream pool • Braided river • Bar (river morphology) • Anabranch • River bifurcation • River channel migration • Oxbow lake • Floodplain • Riparian corridor • Avulsion (river) • Mouth bar • Thalweg • Channel pattern Bedrock river Canyon • Knickpoint • Plunge pool • Bedrock erosion Bedforms Lower plane bed • Current ripple • Dune • Upper plane bed • Antidune Regional processes Aggradation • Degradation (geology) • Base level • Erosion and tectonics Mechanics Playfair's Law • Hack's law • Sediment transport • Water erosion • Deposition (geology) • Exner equation Category · Portal