"What Was That?" -- Valleys and Canyons

Valley and Canyon Features

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How to Use This Tool: Say you just flew over some interesting canyon feature, and now you want to know what it is. Scroll down through some of the possibilities below. If you find what you're looking for, you can open it in Google Earth by clicking the Google Earth icon:

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U-Shaped Valleys - A wide valley with steep sides - a cross-section of the valley would look like a U. These valleys are carved by glaciers, and are usually only seen in the northern regions of the U.S. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~12 miles, and so are each ~3 miles across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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V-Shaped Valleys - V-shaped valleys typically form from rivers. Their sides are gentle slopes straight down to the river below, unlike U-shaped glacial valleys that have very steep sides and a rounded, flat bottom. V-shaped valleys are common in recently-uplifted, young terrain; for example: in the western states. Older, more well-developed terrain rarely have V-shaped valleys. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Joints in Granite - Joints (fractures) in granite can often form steep-sided gashes that look (from above) like mini-canyons. Granite joints are easily identified, since they tend to be irregularly spaced and occur across bare rock faces. They are easily seen when flying over the Sierra Nevadas of California or Nevada. {read more}.

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Water Gaps - Water gaps are the small, narrow valleys by which a river cuts across a mountain range. They typically indicate that the river is older than the mountain; in other words: the river established its course before the region was uplifted. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Fault-Controlled Valleys - Faults often produce straight, steep valleys. Faults grind rocks together, creating a plane of weakness, which is more easily eroded than surrounding rock. This plane is a good place for a valley to form. (Note: Not all faults look like valleys, though. In fact, most do not.)

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Syncline - Folded layers of rocks can make mountains and valleys. When viewed from the side, syncline folds look like smiley-faces. When viewed from above, syncline folds tend to have valleys in the middle. Syncline valleys are common in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Entrenched River- A river that is constrained by a canyon, usually formed as the land is tectonically uplifted, for example, in the case of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Slot Canyon - A deep, very narrow canyon, typically formed in limestone or sandstone and so frequently found in the Southwest {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.