The Chicamocha Canyon is a steep sided canyon carved by the Chicamocha River in Colombia. With a maximum depth of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), an area of 108,000 hectares and a length of 227 kilometres (141 mi), the canyon is the second-largest worldwide. The canyon is situated in the departments of Boyacá and Santander, stretching from Soatá in the southeast to Girón and Betulia in the northwest.
Chicamocha Canyon at the confluence of the Suárez and Chicamocha Rivers, and the Sogamoso River.
View of the Sogamoso River in the Chicamocha Canyon, Girón to Zapatoca.
Chicamocha River
Chicamocha National Park cable car
A canyon, 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.
The Grand Canyon, Arizona, at the confluence of the Colorado River and Little Colorado River.
Sumidero Canyon, Mexico
Kevo Canyon in Utsjoki, Finland
Snake River Canyon, Idaho