The
Grand Canyon is a colourful, steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado
River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the
Grand Canyon National Park. The canyon, created by the
Colorado
River over 6 million years, is 277 miles (446 Km) long, ranges in width
from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 24 kilometers), and attains a depth of more
than a mile (1.6 Km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history
have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their
channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau
was uplifted.
