Grand Canyon facts
Deep valley
The Grand Canyon is a deep valley with steep edges, carved by the Colorado river in the state of Arizona. Grand Canyon is considered one of the seven natural wonders.
Old history
The Grand Canyon is 446 km long, up to 29 km wide and reaches a depth of over 1800 meters. Width and depth varies considerably with location. Nearly two billion years of Earth’s geological history have been exposed by the Colorado river. The river has carved its way through layer after layer of rock to get to the current depth. The specific geological processes and the time scale that formed the Grand Canyon is still debated amongst geologists. Recent evidence suggests that the Colorado river established its course through the Grand Canyon over 17 millions years ago. Since then, the Colorado river has shaped the current appearance of the Grand Canyon. The geology is still changing at a slow pace.
World heritage
The Grand Canyon was admitted into the UNESCO world heritage list in 1979. You can find more information about the world heritage and Grand Canyon in general on their web site.
Tourist attraction
The Grand Canyon National Park is one of the world’s most popular natural attraction, attracting about five million visitors a year. About one million of these visitors are from outside the U.S. Many believe that the Grand Canyon is place you should experience at some point in life.
Activities
There are many options on how to experience the Grand Canyon. A popular choice is to sign up for a tour that starts in Las Vegas. More physically demanding activities like several days hiking and challenging white water rafting are also available.
Climate
The valley depth and height of the edges creates big temperature differences between the edges and the bottom with higher temperature at the bottom. The desert climate also makes temperature differences between winter and summer. The summer is very hot and it can sometimes get up to 50 degrees Celcius warm.