Why Don’t All Rivers Make Canyons?

2024-11-13

[public] 139K views, 10.3K likes, dislikes audio only

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The Grand Canyon is super-wide and super-deep, which might make you think that the Colorado River, which carved it, is particularly old or powerful. Or at least that's what I thought.

LEARN MORE

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

- Canyon: a deep gorge, typically one with a river flowing through it.

- River equilibrium: a state in which a river's water flow and sediment transport are balanced.

- River incision: a natural process where a river cuts downward into its bed, deepening the channel

- Tectonic uplift: the geological process that occurs when the Earth's surface rises due to tectonic forces, such as plate movements or volcanic activity.

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CREDITS

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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director

Lizah van der Aart | Storyboard Artist

Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation

Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke

Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes

Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich

Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

OTHER CREDITS

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Panoramic view of Colorado River, Marble Canyon

Credit: iStock via Getty Images

Canyon Cotahuasi, Peru

Credit: rchphoto/iStock via Getty Images

Yarlung Tsangpo River in mountain gorge, Brahmaputra, highlands of Tibet, China, Asia

Credit: imageBROKER/Bernd Bieder via Getty Images

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REFERENCES

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Beywater-Reyes, Sharon. “Technical Help.” Received by Cameron Duke.

Bierman, Paul R. Key Concepts in Geomorphology. S.L., W H Freeman, 2019.

Karlstrom, Karl. “Email Questions.” Received by Cameron Duke.

National Park Service. “Geology - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service).” Nps.gov, National Park Service, 2016, www.nps.gov/grca/learn/nature/grca-geology.htm

Roberts, G. G., et al. “An Uplift History of the Colorado Plateau and Its Surroundings from Inverse Modeling of Longitudinal River Profiles.” Tectonics, vol. 31, no. 4, Aug. 2012, p. n/a-n/a, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012tc003107

“The Dizzying Depths of Cotahuasi Canyon.” Nasa.gov, NASA Earth Observatory, 7 Feb. 2018, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91686/the-dizzying-depths-of-cotahuasi-canyon

“Yarlung Tsangpo: The Everest of Rivers.” Earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 2 Mar. 2013, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/80558/yarlung-tsangpo-the-everest-of-rivers