Nature · Earth Science
Deep gorges carved by water and time
A canyon is a deep, steep-sided valley cut by a river through rock, while valleys are the broader low troughs between hills and mountains. Together they reveal the raw power of erosion — and their exposed walls read like a book of Earth's history, layer by ancient layer.
When a river runs across slowly rising land, it cuts downward faster than the walls can crumble, incising a narrow canyon. In arid climates the dry walls stay steep. Valleys widen over time as rivers meander or glaciers grind through, and weathering wears the slopes back.
A river cuts down through rising rock layers, exposing bands of geological time in the steep canyon walls.
Gorges cut by relentless rivers
The classic canyon, cut as a river saws downward through rock that is slowly rising. The walls expose bands of strata recording millions of years of the past.
Narrow, sculpted and flood-carved
Sudden desert flash floods funnel through cracks in sandstone, scouring narrow, sinuous corridors barely wide enough to walk through, with sunlight filtering from far above.
Broad U-shaped troughs of ice
Glaciers bulldoze through valleys, grinding the classic V of a river valley into a broad U with steep walls and a flat floor, sometimes leaving waterfalls from hanging valleys.
Vast gorges hidden under the sea
On the seafloor, dense sediment-laden currents carve enormous canyons into the continental slope, funnelling nutrients downward and supporting rich marine life.