A canyon (from Spanish : cañón ; archaic British English spelling: cañon ), gorge or chasm , is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales . Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering.
20-538: Glen Finnan is a glen ( valley ) in Lochaber , Highland , Scotland , located at the foot of Streap in the Northwest Highlands mountain range . The River Finnan , which flows into Loch Shiel , flows the entire length of the valley. The Sgùrr Thuilm mountain stands at the head of Glen Finnan. This Highland location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Glen A glen
40-575: Is a valley , typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine , which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is Goidelic in origin: gleann in Irish and Scottish Gaelic , glion in Manx . The designation "glen" also occurs often in place names. Glens are appreciated by tourists for their tranquility and scenery. The word is Goidelic in origin: gleann in Irish and Scottish Gaelic , glion in Manx . In Manx, glan
60-569: Is actually 1 km wider than the Grand Canyon, making it the widest canyon in the world. Some canyons have notable cultural significance. Evidence of archaic humans has been discovered in Africa's Olduvai Gorge . In the southwestern United States, canyons are important archeologically because of the many cliff-dwellings built in such areas, largely by the ancient Pueblo people who were their first inhabitants. The following list contains only
80-639: Is also to be found meaning glen. It is cognate with Welsh glyn . Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower than a strath ". Examples in Northern England , such as Glenridding , Westmorland , or Glendue, near Haltwhistle , Northumberland , are thought to derive from the aforementioned Cumbric cognate, or another Brythonic equivalent. This likely underlies some examples in Southern Scotland . As
100-644: Is occasionally used in the United Kingdom . In South Africa, kloof (in Krantzkloof Nature Reserve ) is used along with canyon (as in Blyde River Canyon ) and gorge (in Oribi Gorge ). Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau or table-land level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion and weathering remain exposed on
120-580: 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). The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon (or Tsangpo Canyon), along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet , is regarded by some as the deepest canyon on Earth at 5,500 metres (18,000 ft). It is slightly longer than the Grand Canyon in
140-582: Is soluble to a certain extent, cave systems form in the rock. When a cave system collapses, a canyon is left, as in the Mendip Hills in Somerset and Yorkshire Dales in Yorkshire , England. A box canyon is a small canyon that is generally shorter and narrower than a river canyon, with steep walls on three sides, allowing access and egress only through the mouth of the canyon. Box canyons were frequently used in
160-619: Is the Fish River Canyon in Namibia . In August 2013, the discovery of Greenland 's Grand Canyon was reported, based on the analysis of data from Operation IceBridge . It is located under an ice sheet. At 750 kilometres (470 mi) long, it is believed to be the longest canyon in the world. Despite not being quite as deep or long as the Grand Canyon, the Capertee Valley in Australia
180-816: The Glens of Antrim in Ireland; Glenn Norman in Canada; Glendale , Glen Ellen and Klamath Glen in California , Glenview and Homer Glen in Illinois , and Glenrock in Wyoming ; Glenview , Glen Waverley , Glen Eira , Glengowrie , Glen Huntly and Glen Forrest in Australia; and Glendowie , Glen Eden and Glen Innes in New Zealand. In the Finger Lakes region of New York State,
200-454: The United States , place names generally use canyon in the southwest (due to their proximity to Spanish-speaking Mexico ) and gorge in the northeast (which is closer to French Canada ), with the rest of the country graduating between these two according to geography. In Canada , a gorge is usually narrow while a ravine is more open and often wooded. The military-derived word defile
220-631: The seabed of the continental slope are referred to as submarine canyons . Unlike canyons on land, submarine canyons are thought to be formed by turbidity currents and landslides . The word canyon is Spanish in origin ( cañón , pronounced [kaˈɲon] ), with the same meaning. The word canyon is generally used in North America , while the words gorge and ravine (French in origin) are used in Europe and Oceania , though gorge and ravine are also used in some parts of North America. In
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#1732868673153240-455: The western United States as convenient corrals, with their entrances fenced. The definition of "largest canyon" is imprecise, because a canyon can be large by its depth, its 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"
260-582: The United States, with an average depth of 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) and a volume of 4.17 trillion cubic metres (147 trillion cubic feet), is one of the world's largest canyons. It was among the 28 finalists of the New 7 Wonders of Nature worldwide poll. (Some referred to it as one of the seven natural wonders of the world .) The largest canyon in Europe is Tara River Canyon . The largest canyon in Africa
280-606: The United States. Others consider the Kali Gandaki Gorge in midwest Nepal to be the deepest canyon, with a 6,400-metre (21,000 ft) difference between the level of the river and the peaks surrounding it. Vying for the deepest canyon in the Americas is the Cotahuasi Canyon and Colca Canyon , in southern Peru. Both have been measured at over 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) deep. The Grand Canyon of northern Arizona in
300-723: The canyon walls, in a process known as frost wedging. Canyon walls are often formed of resistant sandstones or granite . 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. In the United States, 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. As limestone
320-889: The element glyn ("valley"). Canyon A canyon may also refer to a rift between two mountain peaks, such as those in ranges including the Rocky Mountains , the Alps , the Himalayas or the Andes . Usually, a river or stream carves out such splits between mountains. Examples of mountain-type canyons are Provo Canyon in Utah or Yosemite Valley in California's Sierra Nevada . Canyons within mountains, or gorges that have an opening on only one side, are called box canyons. Slot canyons are very narrow canyons that often have smooth walls. Steep-sided valleys in
340-963: The lakes below. Many place-names in Scotland with "glen" derive from the Gaelic gleann ("deep valley"), with some being from the cognates in the Brittonic languages Cumbric and Pictish or from the Gaelic loanword glen in Scots . Some place-names in England contain the element "Glen". Many of these are derived from Brittonic cognates of Gaelic gleann (Welsh glyn ). Note that some place-names in England with "Glen", such as Glen Parva in Leicestershire, are actually more likely to derive from river-names named with Brittonic glan ("shining"). Some place-names in Wales contain
360-687: The name of a river , it is thought to derive from the Irish word glan meaning clean, or the Welsh word gleindid meaning purity. An example is the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland where nine glens radiate out from the Antrim plateau to the sea along the coast between Ballycastle and Larne . The designation "glen" also occurs often in place names such as Great Glen and Glenrothes in Scotland; Glendalough , Glenswilly , Glen of Aherlow , Glen of Imaal and
380-536: The southern ends of Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in particular are etched with glens, although in this region the term "glen" refers most frequently to a narrow gorge , as opposed to a wider valley or strath. The steep hills surrounding these lakes are filled with loose shale from glacial moraines. This material has eroded over the past 10,000 years to produce rocky glens (e.g., Watkins Glen , Fillmore Glen State Park and Treman State Parks ) and waterfalls (e.g., Taughannock Falls ) as rainwater has flowed down toward
400-456: The valley walls. Canyons are much more common in arid areas than in wet areas because physical weathering has a more localized 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
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